Homemade Marshmallows
Soft, white, fluffy clouds of vanilla bean studded marshmallow goodness is what is on the dessert menu today. Making homemade marshmallows is incredibly easy, takes few ingredients and has the most luscious rewards. These are wonderful eaten as is, dropped in a cup of coffee for a fun surprise, or better yet, in a smores inspired cookie. Recipe coming soon!
One of my most cherished baking cookbooks is Bravetart by Stella Parks. My husband gifted it to me for Christmas a few years back and it has so many well written, old-fashioned American dessert recipes. I love the historic significance and background behind specific recipes she writes about but I’m a huge nerd when it comes to history. I cannot recommend it enough if you need some good baking reads. Her recipes are in depth and well thought out and I haven’t made a recipe that didn’t come out great from the book. The brownie and cinnamon roll recipes are ridiculously good.
I will be using her recipe for the buttered marshmallows that I will be making today. It doesn’t require many ingredients but special attention is required to timing and temperature, so make sure to save this recipe when you have at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted free time. For me, that was after I put my kids to bed. A glass of wine, a good recipe and my husband picking out cool tunes to listen to, that’s a good night!
After some thought, and me being new to this cookie blogging world, I won’t be putting this into a recipe card because it’s not my recipe to share. I could not find anywhere online that Stella Parks has posted this recipe to use and be viewed publicly so I will err on the side of respectful caution and not post it. What I DID find is a recipe for Vanilla Marhsmallows by Stella Parks shared on Eating Well. It is very similar to the one in her book and a very easy recipe to make. Of course if you want other amazing recipes from her, I highly recommend investing in a copy of Bravetart !
Below are my tips and thoughts when I make marshmallows at home.
Here is What You Need
-water
-gelatin
-sugar
-vanilla bean- I didn’t use vanilla bean seeds from the pod but added a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
-light corn syrup
-powdered sugar
-cornstarch. Here is where I deviated from Stella’s recipe. I used a mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch to coat the cooled and set marshmallows after cutting them into squares. I feel the cornstarch cuts back on the sweetness of using just powdered sugar and makes them less sticky.
-8×8 baking dish. I used a glass baking dish
-Pan spray. I used avocado oil in can. I’m sure any oil will do so the marshmallows don’t stick to your dish.
First, we want to proof the gelatin in cool water and add our vanilla bean paste to it. Mix it all up in a bowl then set aside. Get you mixer out and set up the whisk attachment.
She then goes to the next step which is putting the water, corn syrup and sugar in to a sauce pan and heating up to a simmer.
Stella recommends using a thermometer but also gives a time reference for how long to cook the sugar/water mix. My thermometer is unfortunately broken and I need to replace it. I used her time suggestions in her recipe for the marshmallows and they came out great so don’t fret if you are thermometer-less like me.
You can hear when the syrup mixture begins to thicken on the stove and special attention to time and temp at this stage is critical. I moved the hot syrup into the bowl of a stand mixer to let cool for a few minutes before adding the bloomed gelatin.
From here you let cool a few minutes then mix with the whisk attachment until it is big and fluffy, add your butter at the end and carefully scoop it out into your pan. This stuff is so sticky so a little patience goes a long way.
I left mine to set up, covered, on the counter overnight. They were firm and ready to slice the next day for pictures. They are so fluffy and delicious and the small specks of vanilla bean seed from the vanilla bean paste gave a warm vanilla aroma and flavor.
I used a very large sharp knife to cut them into 16 squares. In order to get nice clean edges make sure to have a glass of very hot water and a towel to wipe your knife down between cuts. It’s a little tedious but worth the extra work for picture perfect squares. Cut the slab in half, then cut those two halves in half. Repeat in the other direction and you have equally cut marshmallow squares.
I dusted them with a mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch after they are cut on all sides. I used 1/3 cup powdered sugar sifted with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Use a sieve to gently tap out sugar to coat all sides of the marshmallow squares. I placed the marshmallows in a covered container in the pantry and will be using them to stuff inside cookies.
These will last up to 2 weeks in your pantry. They are amazing eaten plain, toasted, sandwiched into smores, in coffee or hot cocoa, topping for cupcakes, dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkles, the list is literally almost endless. But my favorite way to enjoy marshmallows is inside my Ultimate S’mores Cookie An incredibly intense smores cookie that is for the most avid smores fan.
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