Marshmallow Deliciousness

One day I decided I just had to learn how to make marshmallows from scratch. It had always seemed crazy intimidating but armed with a recipe, I plowed ahead. Little did I know, they would be relatively easy and taste AMAZING. The first batch was plain old vanilla, and I covered them in some chopped up Reese's cups I had in the pantry, like so:

I played around with some other flavors, including mint and banana (yum!), and then made another batch of vanilla with my friend Laura (who has an amazing baking blog). We dipped them in dark chocolate and covered them with graham crackers, peanut butter, and other random goodness. While a little messy, they were delicious.

And here is the basic recipe for marshmallows, which can be tweaked in many ways to create new flavor combinations and textures. I thought briefly about selling them, but found out another little start-up beat me to the punch. Oh well, a better (novel) idea will come along sooner or later!

The original recipe (sans my commentary) came from the Food Network.

Ingredients:
- 3 packages unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup ice cold water, divided
- 12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar
- Nonstick spray (I like Pillsbury Flour Baking Spray)

Directions:
1. Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water.

2. In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes (I was able to do it without a thermometer). Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

3. Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows. (The mixer will sound like it is about to die--but it will make it!).

4. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with the spray or grease with shortening. Sift in some powdered sugar and move it around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan.

5. When ready, pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining powdered sugar to lightly cover. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

6. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. (Also great in hot cocoa or on a s'mores!).