Homemade Marshmallows

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Delicious homemade marshmallows are soft, fluffy, and melt slowly in hot chocolate.  They are also tasty as a treat on their own!

A bowl filled with soft, homemade marshmallows.

Ten years ago I decided to try my hand at homemade marshmallows.   I was nervous about it but there were very few ingredients and I thought that I could do it.

After making multiple flavors of homemade hot cocoa mix, I was anxious to get making these homemade marshmallows.  I thought they would be the perfect accompaniment for my homemade mix.

Ingredients:

  • unflavored gelatin
  • cold water
  • sugar
  • light corn syrup
  • salt
  • vanilla extract
  • powdered sugar
  • cornstarch
  • vegetable oil

1. Put the gelatin in the stand mixer mixing bowl along with ½ cup cold water. Stir gently.

2. In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cook over medium heat.

3.  Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the saucepan and boil until the temperature reaches 240 degrees, about 10 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.

4.  Turn the stand mixer on low.   Slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture. Once all the sugar mixture is in the bowl, turn the mixer on high.

5.  Continue to mix until your mixture because very thick and is white, about 15 minutes. Add in the vanilla the last minute of mixing.

It turns out that making homemade marshmallows isn’t hard at all!  While it is time consuming and you do need a stand mixer, it isn’t hard to do. I was very excited when during my mixing the clear liquid began to transform into fluffy white clouds.

I couldn’t wait to get it into the baking pan and wait until they were ready to go.  I figured that would be the easy part.

Once you try these Homemade Marshmallows you won't ever buy them from the store again!

I was wrong.  This mixture is extremely sticky.  The mixture will stick to your hands, the spatula, and the bowl.

After several attempts I covered my hands with oil, grabbed the mixture, and spread it out on the pan. It took about 3 coatings of oil on my hands but I got it all in the pan. The mixture looked fluffy and wonderful.

A second complication came after I began to cut the marshmallows. Cutting them proved to be easy; dipping each individual marshmallow was the hard part. There was literally powdered sugar all over out kitchen.  The sink, the counter, the kitchen table, the floor, and me…EVERYTHING was covered.

Pin Image:   A bowl of homemade square marshmallows, text, three packages of homemade marshmallows.

Can I use a hand mixer instead of the stand mixer?

While it’s possible that you can, I wouldn’t do it.   This mixture takes a good 15 minutes of mixing and that can be hard on the hand.  Plus, with a hand mixer you don’t get a steady pressure the entire time.  I would definitely make it easy on yourself and use a stand mixer.

Do I need the cornstarch in the powdered sugar mixture?

While you don’t have to have the cornstarch it is strongly advised that you do.   The powdered sugar gives the marshmallows a good flavor but the cornstarch helps to reduce the stickiness of them.   Since the marshmallows are very sticky I recommend using the cornstarch.

Can I add a different type of extract to give these marshmallows a different flavor?

You sure can.  While I recommend still adding in the vanilla you can add 1 teaspoon of another extract to add additional flavor.  Peppermint or almond extract are both tasty choices.

How do I store the marshmallows?  How long do they last?

I store my marshmallows in a large zip top baggie.   You can store them in any air tight container.  They last up to 3 months if stored properly but I doubt they last that long!

A sheet of homemade marshmallows that are cut into strips with a pizza cutter beside them.

In the end, it was a long process but one that was more then worth it. I packaged the marshmallows in clear bags with cute tags and wrapped them along with the homemade hot cocoa mix. They made wonderful holiday gifts but would also be cute for birthday parties or baby showers.

My husband and I tried some of each and it’s true what people say-once you eat a homemade marshmallow you’ll never eat store bought again.  They are so much better than the store bought ones.

Hot Cocoa Recipes:

The homemade ones melt very slowly in hot cocoa so they are in there almost to the end. They also have a better taste.  They are not chalky or syrupy sweet like the store bought ones.I’ve been making several batches of these every year since I first made them ten years ago!

If you’ve tried my Homemade Marshmallows or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:

Three packages of homemade marshmallows.

Homemade Marshmallows

Yield: Makes 75 marshmallows
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Delicious homemade marshmallows are soft, fluffy, and melt slowly in hot
chocolate. 

Ingredients

  • 3 packages unflavored gelatin
  • 1 c. cold water, divided
  • 1 ½ c. sugar
  • 1 c. light corn syrup
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ c. powdered sugar
  • ¼ c. cornstarch
  • Vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 x 9 cookie sheet with cooking spray. Sprinkle with
the powdered sugar mixture to coat the bottom and sides. Save the rest of the sugar mixture for later.

2. Put the gelatin in the stand mixer mixing bowl along with ½ cup cold water. Stir gently.

3. In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cook over medium heat.

4.  Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the saucepan and boil until the temperature reaches 240 degrees, about 10 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.

5.  Turn the stand mixer on low.   Slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture. Once all the sugar mixture is in the bowl, turn the mixer on high.

6.  Continue to mix until your mixture because very thick and is white, about 15 minutes. Add in the vanilla the last minute of mixing.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared pans, using an oiled spatula to
spread evenly into the pan. At this point I needed to oil my hands in
order to transfer all the mixture to the pans.

8. Dust the top of the marshmallow mixture with the sugar and cornstarch mixture. Let the marshmallows rest uncovered for 4 hours and up to overnight.

9. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1 inch squares using a pizza cutter. Once cut, dip each marshmallow in the remaining sugar and cornstarch mix, covering each cut side.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

Three packages of homemade marshmallows.

One Comment

  1. Love homemade marshmallows!! I just made them for the 1st time just before Christmas-I made 2 different recipe-one was Martha Stewarts and the other was from Joy the baker-they turned out quite different-feel free to check out my post on it:)
    ~The Peppered Pantry

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