Homemade Marshmallows: Recipes & Tips (Part 1)

[adrober]

Wow, I just made marshmallows (see the movie on my website) and I am suffering the exact same problem: they're all wet and gooey! The bottom of the tupperware is a layer of syrupy water. Yuck.

[bripastryguy]

use a thermometer to check your syrups temp

[Scotty O]

When I make my marshmallows, I cook the syrup to 260, is that what you do?

I cooked the syrup to 240, and let it set for 3 hours before cutting and storing. Perhaps next time I'll cook to 260 and let it set overnight--or maybe just use the technique of cutting off just what you need and wrapping the rest in plastic.

[Katherine]

I made some homemade marshmallows and rolled them in a mixture of corn starch and powdered sugar and stored them in an airtight container, and now a couple hours later, they are all moist and sticky again. I let them set for about 4 hours before cutting them and then stored them immediately after cutting. Are there any tricks to prevent them from turning gooey again?

Could you give us your ingredients list? All recipes are not equally reliable.

[Scotty O]

3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup hot water (about 115°F.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites*

1 teaspoon vanilla

I got if from epicurious. Its out of a '98 Gourmet magazine.

[Katherine]

Do you let it set in the refrigerator, or at room temperature? My recipes call for leaving it in the refrigerator to set overnight, as the foaminess tends to insulate the interior from proper chilling.

[Scotty O]

Fridge, but only for 3 hours -- that could be the problem

[bripastryguy]

Do not refrigerate the marshmallow.....

Scott call me tomorrow and I'll give you my recipe.

Brian

516-794-4478

just say that its Scott O from Egullet. I'll be glad to walk you through. I've been on a marshmallow diet.... I luv ee!

[challah-baker]

Well, we got "snowed in" which in North Carolina means anything over 1/4 inch, so with hot cocoa in mind I tried making marshmallows using coffee instead of water and Lyle's golden syrup instead of corn syrup and mixing some unsweetened cocoa in with the confectioner's sugar for dusting. Yummy.

[Bicycle Lee]

I was interested in making my own marshmallows and I figured I would ask my eGullet compatriots....eh?

[tchorst]

I believe there are quite a few posts with recipes in this forum already. If you search and can't find what you like, try these:

marshmallows

they work pretty well.

HTH,

Tim

[alanamoana]

be cautious with the gelatin!

i have a recipe from the "time/life" series book on candy making. it sounds pretty similar to the french laundry one linked in tchorst's post...

you can probably cut the gelatin in half (or at least reduce it a little).

i made mine following the recipe to the letter and when they had set up, i had little super balls...you could barely bite into them without your teeth bouncing back and causing your jaw to dislocate

when they're good though, homemade marshmallows are great!

p.s. if you want the time/life recipe, i can pm it to you...i guess there are issues with copyright

Edited April 7, 2004 by alanamoana (log)

[TrishCT]

I like Gale Gand's recipe...She uses them for hot chocolate and calls them Marshmallow Footballs, but you can make them whatever shape you like.

Edited April 7, 2004 by TrishCT (log)

[nightscotsman]

My recipe for Strawberry Marshmallows is here. Is you want to make plain vanilla ones, you can replace the puree with 1/4 cup of water and add a teaspoon of vanilla, or scrape in some vanilla seeds.

[ellencho]

I hope you have a kitchenaid stand mixer because it always took me upwards of 20 minutes of whipping and I've heard folks' horror stories about their hand mixers burning out.

That said, as long as you have a good recipe homemade marshmallows are delicious.

Edited April 7, 2004 by ellencho (log)

[Betts]

Follow Nightscotsman's advice - he helped me with my last marshmallow craze.

With the leftovers, I tossed them with a mix of cocoa( the good stuff), powdered sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Perfectly delicious, a big hit but they looked just like cubes of browned meat -

[Moopheus]

Has anybody made marshmallows using agar instead of gelatin? I was thinking of trying this, and wondering what sort of substitution to make.

[Wendy DeBord]

I made Nightscotsmans recipe for Easter and it was fabulous! I highly reccomend it and I can't wait to try other puree flavors.

Thanks Neil for sharing that!

[nightscotsman]

I made Nightscotsmans recipe for Easter and it was fabulous! I highly reccomend it and I can't wait to try other puree flavors.

Thanks Neil for sharing that!

You're very welcome

So far I've tried them with raspberry (good), passion fruit (really good, but could use a touch of food color), cinnamon (excellent in hot cider), coconut (the fat in the coconut milk made them dense), and chocolate (using cocoa powder - made them very fudgy tasting). Strawberry is still my favorite, but I would like to try lemon or peach sometime.

[FWED]

I also used the nightscotsmans recipe for marshmallows for easter. I made three batches. One was made with fresh strawberry puree and colored a pale pink. The second was colored a pale green and flavored with mint. The third was a pale yellow and flavored with lemon. Instead of pouring them out into a flat pan I poured them into Chocolate molds shaped like small bunnies and chickens and easter eggs. I let them set for 24hr and them put them into the powered sugar potato starch mix. For Easter gifts I put them into 6 inch birds nests made of Chocolate and slivered almonds and cornflakes. The pale colors worked well with the dark chocolate. The kids at our family dinner devoured them as did many of the adults.

[cdh]

Tis the season of marshmallow making, it would appear... Just made a big bunch of them the other day. Have been wondering what the differences between the egg-white ones and the whipped gelatine ones are. The final results seem alike... Did I not need those six egg whites in there after all?

The recipe I use was from a workshop I took with Dorie Greenspan, and her recipe brought the syrup up to 265, and threw that into some eggwhites at stiff peaks (which double in volume when hit with the hot syrup), and then beating a hell of a lot of gelatine into that. They have turned out perfectly... but a friend who uses just the whipped gelatine method comes up with a nearly identical result .

So, pros and cons of the egg white method?

[nightscotsman]

Well, depending on the recipe, I think the egg white version can be made lighter and fluffier. But then, the egg version also won't keep as long. I tend to like the creamier mouthfeel of the corn syrup and gelatine method, myself.

[Bond Girl]

Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets book has recipes for marshmellows. It worked pretty well, even for novices like me who play with candy thermometers about twice a year.

[Behemoth]

Has anybody made marshmallows using agar instead of gelatin? I was thinking of trying this, and wondering what sort of substitution to make.

I haven't tried agar in marshmallows, but I have heard people complain that it doesn't set up well. Also, I find that agar sometimes contributes an off flavor unless the other ingredients are strong enough to hide it. (I wasn't so happy with Agar panacotta, but stronger flavored fruit-based jellys were fine). Kojel or other vegetable-based gelatin seems to be more popular. Here's a recipe I bookmarked a while ago...most recipes I've seen seem to be a variation on this.

vegan marshmallows

Note, some Kosher gelatins are not vegetarian, but you probably already knew that.

[Moopheus]

Thanks for that link. I've never seen Kojel, but it looks like something that might be useful.