Marshmallow Dreams
There’s a wintery chill in the air and a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. This extra cold and snowy winter has turned out to be every winter sports enthusiast’s dream. When you come in from a chilly day of ice skating, skiing, snowboarding or sledding, the first thing that comes to mind is a steaming cup of hot cocoa. And the perfect thing to complement your hot chocolate is a sprinkling of marshmallows.
I’m not talking about just any old marshmallows, like those measly little ones that come in the premade cocoa mix package. What you want are pillowy soft freshly made marshmallows. If you’ve never tried this trick at home, then this winter you can amaze your friends and family (and yourself) with the magic of the homemade marshmallow.
All it takes are the right ingredients, and a good candy thermometer. It’s less intimidating than it seems. You’ll need gelatin, corn syrup, egg whites, sugar, and your choice of flavorings.
For plain marshmallows, use vanilla. Or add almond or mint extract instead of vanilla, mix in toasted coconut, citrus zest, or chocolate chips. Or take some dehydrated fruit such as strawberries or mangoes, grind them into a powder in a blender or spice grinder, and fold into your marshmallow mixture for fruity and colorful fun.
Bring the sugar mixture to a moderate boil at 240 degrees F; this is where it’s important to use a precise candy thermometer. Then combine with gelatin, and beat at high speed until the mixture increases in volume like magic. Finally fold in beaten egg whites and flavorings.
Take care when forming the marshmallows, or you might end up in a sticky situation. It’s best to wet your hands with a little warm water before touching the marshmallow mass, and you can coat your spatula with a touch of cooking spray or vegetable oil to prevent sticking. Another option is to use a pastry piping bag to form any type of shape, letter or number you like. Chill them for a few hours, and you’re ready to cut into squares using a sharp knife or oiled pizza cutter.
It’s simple pleasures like hot chocolate and marshmallows that compliment all the fun cold weather activities of the season. But don’t just stop with garnishing your hot chocolate. If you’ve got an outdoor fireplace, crank it up and toast some gooey homemade S’mores.
Even by themselves, they’re so good. In these bleak winter days between the holidays and warmer weather to come, little pick-me-ups can help brighten everyone’s mood. In a practice that would probably be frowned upon by pediatricians, my mom used to give us kids a marshmallow to cheer us up when we had a winter cold or injury. And it always made us feel better!
Any quick browse on the Internet or Pinterest will show you that there are a ton more ideas on how to use homemade marshmallows. Chop them up and add to brownies, swirl them in dessert fondue, coat with caramel or colored candy coating and stick with a skewer for homemade lollipops.
These are little treats you can custom make for your sweethearts for Valentine’s Day too. Try drizzling or dipping them in melted chocolate, or rolling them in cocoa powder in place of the powdered sugar. Or make a delightful sweet salty treat of Sea Salt Caramel Marshmallows, perfect for hot cocoa or chocolate fondue.
To kids both big and small, there’s nothing quite like a marshmallow. Try making them homemade and you may never go back to the artificially flavored store-bought ones again. Après-slopes or just cocooning inside, they’re a wonderful midwinter treat!
Made with butter, sea salt, unflavored gelatin powder, sugar, water, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla extract
Serves/Makes: 80
***Salted Caramel***
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
***Marshmallows***
- 2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin powder
- 4 tablespoons cold water
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- powdered sugar, as needed
For Salted Caramel: Stir together sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Continue to stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil. Then gently swirl pan until caramel reaches light amber color.
Remove from heat and carefully whisk in cream. (mixture will bubble) Stir in butter and salt and transfer caramel to a medium bowl to let cool.
For Marshmallows: Prepare an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan by oiling or spraying with nonstick spray and coating bottom and sides lightly with powdered sugar.
Combine gelatin and water in medium bowl and let dissolve.
Meanwhile combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in saucepan and cook over medium heat until syrup comes to a boil and reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or "soft ball" stage. Remove from heat and carefully stir syrup into gelatin mixture.
Whip egg whites on high speed of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment just until they reach stiff peak consistency. Add syrup mixture and continue whipping until very thick and glossy.
Fold vanilla and cooled salted caramel sauce into marshmallow mixture. (For plain marshmallows, omit the salted caramel sauce).
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan, smooth with a lightly greased spatula, and dust top with more powdered sugar. Let chill for 3 hours or more, until firm.
Invert pan onto work surface and cut into one inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. If necessary, toss with more powdered sugar to prevent sticking.
Serve with chocolate fondue or over hot cocoa. Can be kept in an airtight container for up to one week.
related articles
Write a comment:
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1326-homemade-marshmallows/