My kitchen is so sticky right now! Sugar season is in full force: caramels, chocolate kisses, truffles, turkish delight, and yes…marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows are one of the first things I attempted to blog about 3 1/2 years ago (Egads! With a film camera!) and they’re still a favorite. I haven’t changed the recipe one bit.
The great thing about homemade marshmallows is full control over the size. These are fantastic when made as big, puffy, fist-sized treats and just as wonderful as minis tossed into hot cocoa. Hot cocoa is an important winter treat around here. It’s easy enough to keep a carton of chocolate soy milk in the fridge, or you can make your own chocolate syrup like I do and mix it into whatever dairy-free milk is in the fridge that day.
Mini Peppermint Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 3 (1/4-ounces) envelopes unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup water, divided
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Peppermint stick candy
- Cornstarch (lots!)
Instructions
- Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with aluminum foil sprayed with oil.
- Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer to soften.
- Heat sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
- Raise heat to medium and bring to a boil, swirling occasionally, don’t stir or scrape down the sides. Continue boiling until a candy thermometer reaches 240, or soft ball stage. Remove from heat.
- With mixer at low speed, pour hot syrup into the softened gelatin slowly, until incorporated.
- Crank the mixer up to high and beat like crazy for 15 minutes, it will be really fluffy and thick.
- Add the vanilla and beat 1 minute more.
- Pour into 9 x 9 pan, smooth the top as best you can.
- Let stand, uncovered at room temp until firm, about 1-2 hours.
- Mix up the peppermint dust while the marshmallows cool. Grind the candy canes into a fine powder with a spice mill/coffee mill/food processor. Add some cornstarch to the mix. Just eyeball it, I use about half candy canes, half cornstarch. The cornstarch keeps things from getting too sticky.
- Dump the marshmallows onto a cornstarch-dusted cutting board. Cut into strips and cubes as you see fit, dredging in the peppermint stick powder as you cut.
- Space the marshmallows out on a well dusted baking sheet, and allow to dry overnight before storing in a covered container.
Dairy Free Chocolate Syrup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dairy and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Mix water, cocoa, sugar and salt in a 2 quart saucepan over high heat.
- Whisk until everything dissolves and then bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat and boil for a full 3 minutes, make sure it doesn’t boil over!
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Allow to cool and then pour into a pint-sized canning jar, or an old cleaned-out Hershey’s squeeze bottle.
- Store in the fridge for a month or two.
Cheers!!
I so want to make homemade marshmallows! My boys love marshmallows in their homemade hot chocolate…your chocolate syrup sounds divine too! The peppermint addition sounds delish! Susan H. @ The Food Allergy Chronicles
When do you add the salt? Your recipe has it being added twice…? THANKS!
Whoops! I fixed the recipe, thanks Carolyn! Add it at the beginning, so it dissolves really well into the chocolate syrup.
Hi, I’ve just found your blog – so many lovely recipes! re marshmallows – do you know of any alternative to the corn syrup as we can’t use it.
Hi Sian, I’ve used homemade sugar and caramel syrups in many other recipes…but never marshmallows. Here’s one I’ve used in the past for cookies when I didn’t have corn syrup in the house. The ingredients are really cheap, so not a big deal if it flops! http://www.thekitchn.com/pantry-staples-diy-cane-sugar-131934