I have been wanting to make homemade marshmallows for so long. The marshmallows I’ve seen all over Pinterest are so pretty, I thought they must be difficult to make. Nothing that gorgeous could be anything less than crazy hard. I have to say, they ain’t all that bad.
Marshmallows only take a handful of ingredients, most of which you probably have to hang around in your kitchen if you like to bake. Most of the time spent on this recipe is low maintenance, namely whipping and allowing the marshmallows to set. I wouldn’t call homemade marshmallows easy, but they definitely aren’t hard. Just make sure you have a calibrated candy thermometer. You’ll also need a stand mixer and a piping bag with a large round tip.
And c’mon, you could just make these for the cute factor. They’re so adorable! You could just eat them up. Tar tar tar. But let’s also talk about flavor, here for a moment. These taste just like candy cane-flavored clouds. They’re soft, pillowy, and have a cooling sensation from the mint. I’d say that the texture of these marshmallows is superior to store-bought, but maybe I’m just a bit biased because I made them all by myself.
Tip time! Piping and cutting mini marshmallows is quite a task. If you’re feeling like you’d like to make marshmallows that are a bit less labor-intensive, read on. You can pour the marshmallow mixture (right after it’s whipped until lukewarm) into a 9×13-inch casserole dish that is well-dusted with half of the cornstarch-powdered sugar mix. You could even swirl the red food coloring into the marshmallows for a candy cane look. To do this, add random dots of red food coloring to the top of the marshmallow mixture once it is in the 9×13-inch pan. Run a knife through the dots of food coloring to create swirls. Dust with the remaining powder mixture, allow to set for 4 hours and cut.
Once you have your super tasty little marshmallows, here are a few applications you can consider:
- Melt between two soft, warm chocolate cookies.
- Put ’em on pancakes.
- Garnish a minty milkshake.
- Sprinkle them on top of a pan of brownie batter, then bake.
- Fold ’em into white chocolate fudge.
- Use them to make crispy rice treats (add mini chocolate chips, too!).
- Make a holiday Rocky Road ice cream.
- And, finally, put them in hot chocolate.
Come hang out with us on Friday! We’ll have yet another sweet treat in store for you to continue our 1 week of sweet holiday recipes. It’s deep-fried and Mexican-inspired. (Really, how could you say no to that?) See you, then!
Candy Cane Mini Marshmallows Recipe
Author: Danielle
Prep time: 5 hours
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 5 hours 10 mins
Serves: 1½ pounds marshmallows
Time to kick up that holiday hot chocolate! These Candy Cane Mini Marshmallows have a refreshing mint flavor and soft texture. They can also be made into large marshmallows.
Ingredients
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 cup cold water, divided
- 3 (7 gram) packages unflavored gelatin
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon mint extract
- red food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Lightly grease the paper with vegetable oil. Sift together the powdered sugar and cornstarch, then sprinkle half of the powdered sugar-cornstarch mix onto the prepared cookie sheets. These pans will be used to catch your marshmallow mixture later.
- Prepare an electric mixer with a whisk attachment. Pour ½ cup of the cold water into the mixer bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top.
- Combine the remaining ½ cup water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat to create a sugar syrup. Stir until the sugar is melted, then heat without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 240ºF. Immediately remove from the heat.
- Turn the mixer on a low speed. Slowly add the hot sugar syrup to the gelatin, pouring it down the side of the bowl while the mixer is running. Once all of the sugar syrup is incorporated, turn the mixer to high speed. Whip the sugar-gelatin mixture until it becomes thick and a little warmer than room temperature. This will take about 15 minutes.
- While the marshmallow mixture is whipping, you can prepare your piping bag. Fit a large pastry bag with a large round tip. If you would like red candy stripes on your marshmallows, pour a small amount of red food coloring into a small bowl. Dip a pastry brush in the red food coloring and paint 3 stripes inside of the piping bag, starting at the end of the bag with the round tip, and then going all the way to the opening of the bag.
- Carefully transfer the marshmallow mixture into the piping bag. Pipe long marshmallow strips onto the prepared cookie sheet, leaving 1 inch between strips. Allow to set and dry for 4 hours. Remove the strips from the cookie sheets and snip them into small sections to form mini marshmallows. You can do this with scissors or a pizza cutter. Dip your tool of choice into the powdered sugar mixture before cutting to prevent sticking.
- Coat the marshmallows in the powdered sugar mixture, then transfer to a large strainer and shake to remove the excess powder. Devour right away or store in a zip-top plastic bag for up to a week.