Homemade Marshmallows: Recipes & Tips (Part 2)

[pringle007]

So I was wondering, since I am a newbie to the Mallow world.. what are all of you using to dust your mallows with. Ive been using a 50-50 mix of corn starch/confectioners sugar (10x). I cut them , then kinda toss them around in the mix. Im not sure that I'm enjoyng it though.. it seems to be a bit heavy, maybe even overpowering??

[tammylc]

So I was wondering, since I am a newbie to the Mallow world.. what are all of you using to dust your mallows with. Ive been using a 50-50 mix of corn starch/confectioners sugar (10x). I cut them , then kinda toss them around in the mix. Im not sure that I'm enjoyng it though.. it seems to be a bit heavy, maybe even overpowering??

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As recommended somewhere in this very long thread, I use half confectioners sugar and half potato starch. The potato starch is very neutral and cuts the heaviness of the corn starch and sugar.

Can you post the Splenda recipe?

[Kerry Beal]

Hey - check this out - our own Patris making marshmallow.

Clickity, click.

[Tri2Cook]

Hey - check this out - our own Patris making marshmallow.

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Nice! That Kitchenaid closeup was a bit painful until I could get the volume down but it was still cool.

[pringle007]

In the past week or so I've been going mad on these marshamallows. Ive done the following

Strawberry

Blood Orange

Lime

Lemon Honey

Blueberry Honey

Mai Tai

Coconut

Mango Coconut

Vanilla

Vanllia Bourbon

Sugar Free Vanilla (splenda)

Espresso

All came out awesome, and I'll share any recipes anyone would like. I know a few people have asked about the Splenda mallows.. I'll post that recipe as soon my wife gets back from San Diego with my other laptop.

But heres my issue. I've tried the chocolate ones twice, and each time I ended up with small bits of firm cocoa scattered through the mallows. I used the nightscotsman recipe. I used a 1/2c boiling water mixed with a 1/2c cocoa and let it cool. It was basically a cocoay mass of firm mud. I then bloomed my 4 packs of gelatin in 1/2c water. I made the sugar mixture like always, added the cocoa mash to the gelatin, then added in the hot syrup mixture and beat it like the devil. What am I doing wrong? do I, or can I use more water to dissolve the cocoa in ? Should it be so firm, almost like playdough, before being added?

[Joni]

I would like the mango coconut one and the blood orange! Thanks!

[Madhat]

In the past week or so I've been going mad on these marshamallows. Ive done the following

Strawberry

Blood Orange

Lime

Lemon Honey

Blueberry Honey

Mai Tai

Coconut

Mango Coconut

Vanilla

Vanllia Bourbon

Sugar Free Vanilla (splenda)

Espresso

All came out awesome, and I'll share any recipes anyone would like. I know a few people have asked about the Splenda mallows.. I'll post that recipe as soon my wife gets back from San Diego with my other laptop.

But heres my issue. I've tried the chocolate ones twice, and each time I ended up with small bits of firm cocoa scattered through the mallows. I used the nightscotsman recipe. I used a 1/2c boiling water mixed with a 1/2c cocoa and let it cool. It was basically a cocoay mass of firm mud. I then bloomed my 4 packs of gelatin in 1/2c water. I made the sugar mixture like always, added the cocoa mash to the gelatin, then added in the hot syrup mixture and beat it like the devil. What am I doing wrong? do I, or can I use more water to dissolve the cocoa in ? Should it be so firm, almost like playdough, before being added?

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I would recommend making sure to use cocoa that is as low in fat as possible. Fat is not your marshmallows friend. Also maybe increase the water used with the cocoa to 2/3c and whisk it into a slurry until just before you add it to the rest mix.

[KrazedMom]

bump for the fluff...

I just noticed in the BBQ issue of Bon Appetit, there is a little homage to our little friends on page 66.

Also, could the person who did the Splenda marshmallows please post the recipe. I work with a lot of diabetic patients and that would be a godsend for them to have a sweet goodie that was OK to eat.

Thanks!

[prairiegirl]

In the last few days I have made Passion Fruit, Vanilla, and Green Apple. I want to make a Saskatoon Berry batch and..Chocolate. I am going to use an alkylized Valrhona cocoa powder for my batch. I am looking at my "Marshmallows" recipe book at the chocolate recipe and it says to make a "cocoa slurry" of 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 T instant expresso crystals or powder, 2/3 cup boiling water. It also states to go high quality dark cocoa powder and use the lowest fat content (as already mentioned). At the end of cooking, you add the bloom, mix, then add the cocoa slurry. Then whip in blender.

[prairiegirl]

Question: How does everyone cut their marshmallows?

Would you use your guitar (if you have one)?

Currently I used my large scraper and scissors but I need something that will give me uniform pieces.

[Chris Hennes]

Question: How does everyone cut their marshmallows?

Would you use your guitar (if you have one)?

Currently I used my large scraper and scissors but I need something that will give me uniform pieces.

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For the marshmallows I show in this post I used a small biscuit cutter. You get a lot of waste, but also nice little uniform marshmallows.

[KrazedMom]

Question: How does everyone cut their marshmallows?

Would you use your guitar (if you have one)?

Currently I used my large scraper and scissors but I need something that will give me uniform pieces.

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I use a large pizza cutter....a circular hand held one. It works great even on the fat, fluffy ones.

[tammylc]

I use a large pizza cutter....a circular hand held one. It works great even on the fat, fluffy ones.

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I use a pizza cutter too.

[patris]

Question: How does everyone cut their marshmallows?

Would you use your guitar (if you have one)?

Currently I used my large scraper and scissors but I need something that will give me uniform pieces.

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I'd absolutely use a guitar if I had one, but for the moment I'm using a 12 inch drywall taping knife. I pilfered the idea from Chris Hennes's chocolate making. It's one of several Chris Hennes Process Improvements that I've implemented. Man is a genius.

[pringle007]

Several people have asked for my Splenda Mallows recipe. I used the famous Nightscotsman recipe broken down for a half batch. I added a 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar to the gelatin at blooming. I then did a straight substitue of splenda for sugar in the sugar solution, and replaced the corn syrup with sugar free honey.

[pringle007]

I have also been asked for my mango-coconut and my blood orange recipe. For the Blood Orange, I used the nightscotsman recipe for a fruit mallow. In the gelatin soltion, I used fresh squeezed Blood Orange juice for both the water and puree (so the gelatin mix was just gelatin and juice, no water.) In place of the vanilla, I used orange extract. The sugar solution stayed the same. The mango coconut recipe was again the nightscotsman fruit mallow, with mango puree used in the gelatin. I subbed out the water in the sugar solution for a good quality coconut liqour! Any questons, just ask!

[Bicycle Lee]

so it's been nearly four years since I began this thread and I just wanted to share one of my favorite marshmallow recipes that I have worked with for a couple years...it's fluffy and delicious

1 C egg whites (roughly 8 whites)

1/2 C sugar

put this in the mixer and whip to STIFF peaks...

2 C sugar

1/2 C water

1 Tbs Karo syrup (light; to prevent crystallization)

heat this up to soft ball and drizzle the hot syrup into the whites as you whip them on high (I shouldn't have to say "be careful" but.... BE CAREFUL)

you can substitute vanilla sugar and or make vanilla syrup for this.

whip for at least 5 minutes... usually about 7 or 8.

enjoy...

[Pam R]

1 C egg whites (roughly 8 whites)

1/2 C sugar

put this in the mixer and whip to STIFF peaks...

2 C sugar

1/2 C water

1 Tbs Karo syrup (light; to prevent crystallization)

Does this make 'firm' marshmallows or does it stay more like fluff? I've been looking for a good non-gelatin recipe. . .

[dcat]

I recently switched from dusting marshmallows with a 50/50 mix of potato starch and confectioners sugar to straight potato starch and have been having problems with the starch picking up so much moisture that the starch isn't really usable for dusting after about 1/3 of a 1/4 sheet pan of marshmallows (it clumps up, won't stick to the marshmallows, and has to be replaced with fresh starch). I never had problems with the starch/sugar mix picking up any significant amount of moisture.

I prefer the end result from using all starch but the moisture problem makes for a frustrating work session. I also don't have much use for all the wet potato starch that I have left at the end. I've tried drying it in a 200F oven, but even after 12 hours of drying it's still not as dry as the fresh starch out of the bag. (Would a higher temp or more time help?)

The first time I encountered the problem I thought it might be a humidity issue, but the humidity level in the house was typical for springtime here (about 45-50% RH), in other words not any higher than during previous marshmallow sessions. The only difference was the switch to straight potato starch. The marshmallows themselves also did not seem to have any more moisture than normal. In fact the strawberry marshmallows I did yesterday had less moisture than the strawberry marshmallows I did a month ago (I modified the recipe so they wouldn't be as wet this time), but I had problems with the starch picking up moisture that I didn't have with the starch/sugar mix before.

Any ideas on how to deal with the moisture problem? Or is this just the nature of potato starch? I'd prefer to not go back to a starch/sugar mix if at all possible.

[pansophia]

Has anyone used their homemade marshmallows for toasting over a fire?

I made a batch of raspberry marshmallows, lovely shade of pink, in hopes of dolling up smores at the cabin this week. When I tested my theory at home the marshmallow melted more than toasted.

Are these just too delicate? Was it too fresh? I'm bringing them up anyway and plan to try again with a larger and more "aged" mallow.

Any tips? I was going to do a batch of classic vanilla as well but I'm running out of time before we leave so if it's not going to work, I'll probably skip them.

[KrazedMom]

Has anyone used their homemade marshmallows for toasting over a fire?

I made a batch of raspberry marshmallows, lovely shade of pink, in hopes of dolling up smores at the cabin this week.  When I tested my theory at home the marshmallow melted more than toasted.

Are these just too delicate?  Was it too fresh?  I'm bringing them up anyway and plan to try again with a larger and more "aged" mallow.

Any tips?  I was going to do a batch of classic vanilla as well but I'm running out of time before we leave so if it's not going to work, I'll probably skip them.

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I have dried out the marshmallows and gotten a nice golden toasty finish but they are still pretty oozy. Overall, it works OK

[Sethro]

My impression is that staypufts, campfires and the like contain a LOT more gelatin. I actually prefer the housemade when toasting with a torch. If the mallow is large enough you can do it on a sizzle platter, hit all sides evenly to get a nice caramelized shell, and slightly warm, gooey interior.

[Sebastian]

we made black raspberry mallows this weekend (picked 15 lbs of blackies - oye!), and tried to roast both them and the vanilla ones we did as well.i concur that commercial ones have less sugar ,more gelatin, which provides a much higher level of stability. plus commerical ones are extruded with a very high level of air in them, which means less sugar/corn syrup to melt, and the air expands when heated so you get more browning, more structural rigidity, more puffing, less melting...

edited to include photo of mallow

Edited July 1, 2008 by Sebastian (log)

[Madhat]

Hey Sebastian (or open question really), did you find that enrobing your tasty looking treat above kept the cracker from becoming mushy after a short period of time? I've found that just a graham cracker/ fresh MM combo results in a less than appetizing softness of the cracker.

[KrazedMom]

has anyone explained why little darker spots appear on the chocolate when coating the marshmallows? I've tried thinner coats and I still get those spots. I'm tempering per guidelines in books; nice & slow and to the right temps.