Homemade Marshmallows: Recipes & Tips (Part 2)

[John DePaula]

When he was biting into the moon pie, the chocolate was visibly bloomed.

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exactly

[FoodMan]

When he was biting into the moon pie, the chocolate was visibly bloomed.

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exactly

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I see. Thanks. I've never taken the temp for the chocolate when I use the heat pad method to 'temper'. Maybe mine is lower than what he recommends, so it works fine. I'll make sure to test it next time.

[Desiderio]

Finally I got to try the caramel ones.After I tried the ones from the Rocky mountain chocolate factory ( or something like that :-P ) I had my mind into these delicious things.

I made a vanilla bean marshmallow for these and its perfect combination, the caramel I used the sea salt one, poured into a cookie sheet, ( i was in a hurry , but parchment paper would work better ).

They are DELICIUOSLY addicting!

[tammylc]

Marshmallows killed my KitchenAid! It's not totally dead - it still does a fine job on cookie batter - but it's not able to maintain speed 10 for 10 minutes and sounds really sickly when it tries.

So now I have to decide whether to abandon marshmallows, or buy a new mixer. It will certainly drive up the per batch price... On the other hand, i've had this mixer for 10 years, and it's the 4.5 quart baby model, so it might be time for a new one anyway.

What kind/size of mixer is everyone using for making marshmallows?

[Kerry Beal]

What kind/size of mixer is everyone using for making marshmallows?

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Mine is the 6 quart kitchen-aid, but when I was using the 5 quart it worked just fine. Mine are the mixers where the bowl lifts up to the beater.

[KrazedMom]

[quote

What kind/size of mixer is everyone using for making marshmallows?

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[Tri2Cook]

I use a 5 qt. bowl lift (350w or 375w I think, I'd have to check, it's at least 10 years old) and it does fine. I did 6 batches right in a row yesterday with no trouble or overheating. To be fair, they were actually half batches. I'm using Nightscotsman's recipe halved for each flavor (I have about 18 flavors in total I'm doing and plan to get them all done in the next day or two so it should be a good test for the mixer).

[patris]

We used two 5-quart, 325/350w, bowl lift Kitchen Aids (one about a year old, plus my trusty 8-year-old one) for our holiday production - they were going pretty constantly for about 8 hours without a single groan or mechanical complaint. We do a marshmallow with loads of almonds and toasted coconut mixed in, and even 7 pans of those didn't make the mixers break a sweat, as it were.

I'm dreaming of the day when this business actually makes money and we can buy a couple 10-quart mixers, but for now it's nice to know that my trusted mixer can take the punishment!

[equality5271]

here are some rhubarb marshmallows i made earlier this year

[jsmeeker]

Just cranked out my first batch of marshmallows. I wanted to make mini-marshmallows to use in hot chocolate, so I piped it out into long strips. Of course, mym piping skills are much to be desired, and the bag I have is not very big and I overfilled it, creating a bit of a mess. But it cleaned up pretty easily with plenty of hot water.

I'll take some pics later and post them.

I was about to toss the excess marshmallow fluff, but decided to quicky prep a quarter sheet pan and pour out what was left into it and spread it out. It's not very even, but I found that if I worked SLOWLY, it was actually easier than working fast. It had been sitting around for several minutes while I fooled around with piping the minis, so I think it would have worked even better if it hadn't started to set up in the mixer bowl.

FWIW, I used the recent Alton Brown recipe. Gave the wet fluffy marshmallow stuff a quick taste and what do you know. It tastes like marshmallows!!

[Tri2Cook]

I've found that the easiest way for me is just to dump it in the pan, give a hand a spritz with canola spray and pat the stuff around the pan with my hand. It's quick, easy and if the fingertips start sticking to the marshmallow you just curl them into your palm to regrease 'em and keep going.

[Tri2Cook]

Nightscotsman beat the molecular gastronomy folks to the punch! I think the methocel warm ice cream showed up sometime in '05 if I'm not mistaken (which I very possibly am). I used callebaut cocoa in his chocolate marshmallow recipe (from early '04) and it tastes exactly like chocolate soft-serve and has the smooth, creamy mouth feel of soft-serve until it sets. Warm chocolate soft-serve!

[Chris Hennes]

OK, I thought since I'm just learning confectionary that I would jump on the bandwagon with Nightscotsman's marshmallows (the vanilla variety, since my wife looked at me quite suspiciously when I suggested the strawberry...):

The had a wonderful texture that I figured must be great covered in chocolate, and this seemed like it would be good enrobing practice, so here they are:

I'm not sure if the streakiness on top is a flaw with the tempering or a result of getting potato starch in the chocolate... any thoughts? I've got more photos up at my website.

[Tri2Cook]

Nice! Not sure about the streaking, I'm a hack when it comes to the chocolate/confectionary stuff. I don't dust them if I'm going to dip them, I just put a thin "foot" on them before I turn them out of the pan. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but it works for me.

[KrazedMom]

mine do that also. I also get dark pinpoint spots and I'm not sure why. I am nowhere near pro on this & still learning the basics of tempering.

[gfron1]

Chris, are those made in tubes and sliced or cut out like a cookie cutter? I like the shape - pop-in-your-mouthable!

[Tri2Cook]

Will marshmallows do their thing with fairly significant levels of alcohol in the mix? Like if you were to use some form of booze as the flavor base? I know wine/champagne work, I've done those before, and I'm happy to experiment with the stronger stuff but I thought I'd check in first in case somebody already knows I'd be wasting time and ingredients.

[tammylc]

I've had bloom problems with marshmallows as well, in chocolate that I know was well tempered. I find it happens when the chocolate is too thick, and the heat generated by it setting drives it out of temper. If I have a thin enough shell, then I don't get any bloom.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris, are those made in tubes and sliced or cut out like a cookie cutter?  I like the shape - pop-in-your-mouthable!

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They are cut out with the tiniest biscuit cutter I have - they are about the size of regular jumbo marshmallows, but have scalloped edges. It was a pretty wasteful way of doing things, but they do little neat .

I've had bloom problems with marshmallows as well, in chocolate that I know was well tempered. I find it happens when the chocolate is too thick, and the heat generated by it setting drives it out of temper. If I have a thin enough shell, then I don't get any bloom.

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Ah, that could be it. The chocolate was a blend of some leftover Ghiradelli I had, which I brought to 120 F and then seeded with the E. Guittard I have been using of late. The chocolate was definitely thicker (at least, in the bowl) than I was used to using just the E. Guittard, although the coating on the finished marshmallows was perfect - not too thick at all, but not so thin as my previous attempt at hand-coated truffles (these were dipped, obviously). Do you all pre-bottom the marshmallows?

[Mariam]

OK, I thought since I'm just learning confectionary that I would jump on the bandwagon with Nightscotsman's marshmallows (the vanilla variety, since my wife looked at me quite suspiciously when I suggested the strawberry...):

The had a wonderful texture that I figured must be great covered in chocolate, and this seemed like it would be good enrobing practice, so here they are:

I'm not sure if the streakiness on top is a flaw with the tempering or a result of getting potato starch in the chocolate... any thoughts? I've got more photos up at my website.

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wow Chris those are awesome! I love the size and shape too! I really wish I could cover mine with chocalate like u guys do but I don't have the right tools :hmmm

Take my word for it try strawberry or raspberry flavoured ones you or your wife wont b disappointed n when they have a chocolate coating they''re even more yummy mmm...

btw your website is pretty cool too

[Chris Hennes]

wow Chris those are awesome! I love the size and shape too! I really wish I could cover mine with chocalate like u guys do but I don't have the right tools  :hmmm

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Thanks - I promise, you do in fact have the "right tools" - I took an old dinner fork and bent the middle two tines back to give a two-pronged fork, which I then used to dip the marshmallows. I kept the chocolate at the right temperature by setting the bowl on a heating pad set to low, but I don't think that is even really necessary. I still have much learning to do, but at least I feel like I'm making progress, and the mistakes are edible!

[tammylc]

I'm with Chris - doesn't take much equipment to do chocolate! It does help to have a good thermometer for tempering, but that's about it! I made and sold 100's of truffles without buying anything special. I have some fun toys now, but they just make my life a little easier, is all.

I used a regular dinner fork for a long time, not even bending the tines back. Now, when I teach truffle workshops I used desiderio's trick - just break off the two center tines of a plastic fork.

The best trick i know for neat dipping is just to wipe off your fork after every dip. It makes a huge difference.

[Chris Hennes]

The best trick i know for neat dipping is just to wipe off your fork after every dip. It makes a huge difference.

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That's good advice - I could have used it last night . I knew I was forgetting some piece of information I have gleaned from these forums over the past weeks... the chocolate started to build up on my fork and the tines quadrupled in size... it made the last truffles a bit unstable.

[McAuliflower]

OK, I thought since I'm just learning confectionary that I would jump on the bandwagon with Nightscotsman's marshmallows (the vanilla variety, since my wife looked at me quite suspiciously when I suggested the strawberry...)

And I'll jump on the bandwagon here with telling you how cute your marshmallows came out!

Just wait till you try lemon ones, and peppermint ones, and cinnamon ones and mango ones...

Your biscuit cut mallows are begging to be set on a cookie- like a ginger snap?

So, did you earn the right to make more when your wife saw how successful these were? I admit- my household was quite suspicious of the feel of my first ones. We resisted the urge to make boob shaped strawberry mallows, but just barely!

[McAuliflower]

Marshmallows killed my KitchenAid!  It's not totally dead - it still does a fine job on cookie batter - but it's not able to maintain speed 10 for 10 minutes and sounds really sickly when it tries.

Wasn't there a thread some time back about new vs old KitchenAids and the quality difference since manufacturing changed?

My previous landlord owned a repair shop that worked on kitchenaids. 90% of the problems he encountered with them was a simple ball bearing replacement.