S'Mallows: Homemade S'more Marshmallows

‘Tis the season for hot chocolate and marshmallow bobbing. To be honest, I don’t like marshmallows at all (unless they’re campfire toasted in between a graham and melty chocolate bar, and even then they have room for improvement!). Once I learned how easy Marshmallows are to make homemade though, they’ve made the regular Holiday treat rotation every year since. If you can boil water, you can make marshmallows at home!

Significantly tastier and better in texture than the Jet Puffed version, homemade marshmallows are two simple ingredients: bloomed gelatin and soft ball sugar. Cooking sugar can be intimidating, and rightfully so. Molten sugar is very dangerous and causes wicked burns if it comes into contact with your skin…I have the scars on my forearms to prove it. But provided you understand how to take a few simple safety precautions, there’s no need to be intimidated.

Sugar can be cooked to several stages: thread, softball, hard ball, hard crack and caramel. The stages depend on what temperature the sugar is cooked to when dissolved in water:

You can cook sugar by dry melting it in a pan over heat, or by dissolving it in water. If you dry-melt it, you cannot stop at each stage along the way, you’ll go straight from granulated to caramel. When you cook sugar by dissolving it in water and then applying heat, the water will evaporate and allow the melted sugar to reach each stage before taking on the color and low moisture of caramel. The water gives you control over the stage, and the amount of water you add doesn’t matter; it will simply take longer to reach each stage the more water you add that has to evaporate.

Soft ball stage is the most multi-purpose in my world, and can be used for marshmallows, buttercreams, and many more confections. The sugar acts as a sweetener but also provides a unique structure. In the case of homemade marshmallows, they’re really just two ingredients- softball sugar and bloomed gelatin. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you can make any variety of flavor by adding an extract, powdered flavor, crumble, compote, jam or chocolate. To make them ‘s’mores’, I folded in melted chocolate and salted graham cracker crumble. It’s a relatively simple way to make a super impressive and decadent treat.

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S'Mallows: S'more Marshmallows

Yield: About 2 doz 2x2" marshmallows

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 20 Mininactive time: 10 MinTotal time: 35 Min

This receipe uses powdered gelatin, which is the most widely available. When using powdered gelatin, the water you use to bloom (hydrate) it, is incorporated into the recipe. If you have access to gelatin sheets, you would bloom it in an amount of cold water that is not included here. The corn syrup is also not necessary, but including an invert sugar like corn syrup in the cooking process will result in a softer final marshmallow. Be extra, extra careful around boiling sugar!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Tbsp (3 envelopes) plain, powdered gelatin
• 1 c cold water- divided
• 2 c sugar
• 2/3c corn syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (vanilla bean paste would be great here!)
• 8 oz melted chocolate (70% or darker, preferred)
• 1 c salted graham cracker crumble (recipe to follow)

Instructions

1. Add 1/2 cup cold water to the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle plain gelatin overtop, ensuring all of the powder reaches water. Let stand five minutes.
2. Add sugar, cornsyrup and remaining 1/2 cup of cold water to a saucepan. Ensure all sugar reaches water, and that the sides of the pot are clean from any stray sugar granules. Bring to a boil over medium to high heat and monitor constantly with a candy thermometer. Do not stir once the mixture is over heat.
3. Cook sugar until it reaches softball stage at 240*F. Remove from heat. Pour very slowly into mixing bowl while mixing on lowest speed. Once all sugar is in the bowl, increase speed to medium/high and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
4. While whipping, melt chocolate and let cool slightly. Line a 9x13" pan or baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together cornstarch and powdered sugar to make a 1:1 mix, lightly sprinkle overtop of parchment.
5. When marshmallow has cooled and stiff peaks have formed, stop the mixter and fold in remaining ingredients with a rubber spatula. Take care to add the melted chocolate last, and do not overstir. Overstirring will result in chocolate marshmallows rather than a chocolate swirl. 
6. Sprinkle cornstarch mixture on top and allow to fully cool. Using a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes and toss in remaining cornstarch mixture for easy handling. Brush off any excess.

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Salted Graham Cracker Crumble

Yield: 1.5 cups of crumbs

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 20 Min

The most delicious way to add texture to cakes, cupcakes, cookies, icecream, marshmallows and more!

Ingredients

• 1/2 c softened butter, unsalted
• 1 c graham cracker crumbs
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp coarse salt (kosher or maldon)

Instructions

1. Mix together soft butter and graham cracker crumbs to form a crumbly, paste-like mixture. 
2. Add flour, sugar and baking powder and stir to combine. 
3. Spread onto an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
4. Bake at 350* for 10 min or until slightly browned.
5. Allow mixture to cool before breaking into desired sized chunks.

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