Homemade Marshmallows
Did you know that you can make your own marshmallows? They’re not as difficult to make as you might think, and you can customize them to whatever colors and shapes that you want!
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Last year I was feeling crafty and probably a little stir crazy, so I seemed to have done a lot of Valentine’s Day projects, but didn’t blog any of them, and decided that I need to! One of them that I’d always wanted to try was making homemade marshmallows. They were relatively easy to make and fun to have the final product!
*If youfollow me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been eating low carb (this recipe is not). I’m looking into the details of making low carb homemade marshmallows, so stay tuned!
Homemade marshmallows are a great thing to make for yourself or as a gift. Depending on what you’re making them for, you can make them different colors and shapes, perfect for basically any celebration! They are so pretty on adessert charcuterie board, as part of a hot cocoa bar, or wrapped up in a pretty package as a gift!
If you’re planning to make the marshmallows for something special, I would do a practice round, just so you can be sure they turn out the way you want. They’re not difficult to make, but like with anything, practice makes perfect!
One of the things that I love about homemade marshmallows is that you don’t really need anything special to make them. You probably have all the ingredients and tools that you need already on hand, other than maybe the gelatin, but that’s easy enough to get! The ingredient list might seem a little daunting to you at first (I prefer mine to be about 5 ingredients or less), but if you get everything ready ahead of time, it won’t be a big deal at all.
What You’ll Need:
-Cooking spray– I use a spray bottle I can fill with olive oil, so I know exactly what’s in my cooking spray.
-1/2 cup champagne of your choosing (I used pink—the color doesn’t transfer to the finished product, though...)
-3 packets ofgelatin
-2 cups white sugar
-1/3 cup corn syrup
-1/2 cup water
-Pinch of salt
-Food coloring(optional)
-1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar
-1/4-1/2 cup corn starch
-Mixer (stand mixeris ideal)
Directions:
1. Pour champagne into bowl of mixer + add gelatin on top. Stir until it’s mixed. Let sit while the gelatin “blooms”
2. In a large saucepan, add sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir to mix. Bring to a boil (don’t stir anymore during this time). Brush sides of pan with water to prevent crystallization. Let the mixture reach 240-245 degrees. When the mixture reaches the right temp, remove it from the heat.
3. With the mixer on low, slowly begin to add the sugar mixture to the champagne and gelatin, letting it run down the side of the mixer. When all the sugar mixture is in the bowl of the mixer, then the mixer to medium high for 10 minutes. Toward the end of the 10 minutes, add the vanilla. In the last few seconds, add the food coloring, if you choose to use it. *I didn’t have any red food coloring (to make pink), so I added about 1/3 cup (by the spoonful) of strawberry jam. It gave a pretty pink color and delicious flavor!*
4. Pour the mixture into the prepped pan. (Pan should be sprayed with cooking spray, add a sheet of parchment paper, spray again, and coat with a layer of powdered sugar to help with stickiness.)
5. Let sit for 6+ hours. Turn out onto a cutting board coated with a mix of corn starch and powdered sugar. Sprinkle more of the mix on the top of the marshmallows and coat the entire thing. Cut into the shapes you want and coat all sides of pieces with more of the corn starch and powdered sugar mix. Store in an airtight container.
The homemade marshmallows actually stayed good for quite a while. There were a few left in a container well after I’d made them, and they tasted just fine when I sampled one! I mean…I know some people like stale food, including mallows, so why not? I did not try storing them in the freezer to see how they would do, so that will have to be an experiment you do on your own.
I think a lot about making our own food and how important it really is. We’re so dependent on store-bought, ready-to-eat things, that are full of chemicals and things we don’t really even think about. I’m so far from making everything homemade, especially for something I don’t eat all the time like marshmallows. It’s easier to just buy them if I need or want them. The more you choose to make things for yourself, though, it becomes easier to do. It was not at all my intention to get preachy with this post, but it’s just a little something to think about! If you know you can make marshmallows, why not do it?
I also love the idea of homemade gifts and these marshmallows definitely fit into that category! They are so beautiful and special that I know that anyone would be excited to receive them. Wrap them up with a couple of pretty mugs and some homemade hot cocoa mix—you’d have such a great gift.
If you’re making the marshmallows for a special occasion or holiday, specially shaped silicon molds can make them even more fun. Some options would behearts,Christmas trees, orteddy bears.
Seeing how pretty these homemade marshmallows are makes me so excited to make them again! I’m also going to try out a sugar free version, for all my followers who follow Keto and low carb eating plans.
I hope, that if you’re trying to get healthy this holiday season, you’ll make these keto shortbread cookies. They’re the perfect treat to satisfy your sweet tooth. If you make them, I would love to hear how much you love them—share your cookies in your Instagram story and tag me so I can see. You can find me on Instagram at @hilaryprall.
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