It is always a pleasure to follow marmalady, and I would certainly follow her advice as to dipping marshmallows into chocolate!
A little background info on marshmallows first...
Marshmallows are not made from egg whites (although marshmallow crème is!), but from gelatin beaten with a cooked sugar syrup. The texture of homemade marshmallows is denser than the store-bought variety, and the flavor is more intense. They are so good…and are really a snap to make.
This recipe will make about 36 large pieces, or 48 smaller pieces (about the size of traditional store-bought ones). Please note that this mixture, once you begin to combine the syrup and the gelatin, is going to expand some 3-4 times its original volume, as air is incorporated during beating. So, this is one of very few times I set aside my large KitchenAid stand mixer and get out the hand mixer.
Homemade Marshmallows
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (I use Knox)
1 ½ cups of water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Butter for coating the pan
Confectioners’ sugar for coating the candy
Lightly, but thoroughly, butter a 9x13 pan and set it aside.
In a large bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over ¾ cup of the water. Cover the bowl and set it aside to allow the gelatin to soften until you’re ready for it later.
In a heavy saucepan (2-quart size is fine), combine the sugar, ¾ cup of corn syrup and the remaining ¾ cup of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until all the sugar is dissolved, and bring to a rolling boil. Attach your CALIBRATED candy thermometer to the saucepan and continue to cook the syrup, without stirring, until it reaches 238 degrees (F) (soft ball stage). (Do not cook any higher than 240 degrees, or it won’t work.) Remove from heat and pour in the remaining ¼ cup of corn syrup.
With your mixer on its highest speed, begin beating the gelatin while adding the hot syrup poured in a slow, steady stream. Once all the syrup is incorporated, you will continue to beat, for a total time of about ten minutes, until the stuff triples in volume and becomes very stiff. Beat in the vanilla extract at this point.
Spread the mixture into your prepared pan, smoothing the top as much as possible using a thin, flexible spatula or wide knife dipped into hot water. Set the stuff aside, uncovered, for 5-8 hours at room temperature until it is cool and firm.
Dust a large cutting board or work area with confectioners’ sugar using your sifter, and sift additional confectioners’ sugar over the top of the marshmallow. Don’t skimp! Run a small knife around the edge of the marshmallow to loosen it from the pan. Invert the pan onto the prepared area…and you may need to use your fingers to coax the stuff out of the pan, and it will be sticky! Once you have unmolded the stuff, sift more confectioners’ sugar over the marshmallow until it is completely coated with the sugar.
Using a sharp knife dipped into hot water, cut the marshmallow into squares. Be sure to dip the cut sides of the marshmallows in additional confectioners’ sugar. Shake off the excess sugar and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks
A note on calibrating thermometers:
Call me sentimental, but I prefer using my grandmother’s ancient candy thermometer or my mother’s from the 1940s to digital ones (have one of those, too), and in total, I probably have 8-10 candy thermometers….and every one reads a different temp from its neighbor. Hence the need for calibration, which everyone should do before they try to measure the temperature of anything, moreover a temperamental syrup.
To calibrate: bring an amount of water to a rolling boil in a saucepan and clip on your thermometer. {Water boils at 212-degrees (F)} Take a reading from your thermometer. If it reads precisely 212 degrees great! If not, then you will need to add/subtract that amount from the target temperature of your candy. (A thermometer that reads 215 degrees for boiling water will require you add 3 degrees to the target temp….say your goal is 238 degrees, then you will need to cook to 241 on that thermometer.)
A few variations to consider:
Instead of confectioners’ sugar, coat and roll the pieces in about 4 cups of toasted coconut. You can also beat in 2 cups of shredded, sweetened coconut with the vanilla.
For Halloween, add orange food coloring with the vanilla.
Instead of confectioners’ sugar, you can coat and roll the pieces in cocoa powder.
For Almond Marshmallows, add ½ teaspoon almond extract and beat in with the vanilla, then coat and roll the pieces a ground, toasted almonds.
Lemon Marshmallows are made by substituting 2 teaspoons of lemon extract and some yellow food coloring for the vanilla extract; the same substitution method using mint extract and green food coloring will yield Mint Marshmallows.
And they are downright indecently delicious dipped in semi-sweet or milk chocolate!!
Do let us know how they turn out, southerncook!!!
