Homemade marshmallows

I told my friend Mary that I was making marshmallows and she kindly informed me "you can also buy those at the store".

No kidding?  What they won't think of next...

It all started with a garage sale.  I found an ancient candy thermometer for $5, and the woman insisted that it still worked.  I've been wanting one forever, and figured that for $5, it was worth a shot.

What did you do when you were a kid and got a new toy?

You played with it of course!

I was like a kid in a candy store when I found this.  Har har.  Photo by my 3 year old.  Tops of heads are overrated!

I needed to find something to use this on- STAT.  I remembered reading about marshmallows in The Homemade Pantry; my new favorite cookbook of all time.  I highly recommend checking any cookbook out from the library before purchasing to decide if you'd like to spend money on it.  With this one, it's worth it, but still check your library first!  My friend Mary sent me this one as a surprise.  What a sweetie.  Maybe I should stop referring to her as a ho bag?

Nah.

Alana's recipe in The Homemade Pantry calls for white sugar and Lyles Golden Syrup (which is crazy spendy and hard to find in podunk, WA), but I thought that perhaps I could replace both with honey.  I aimed to find out.  The recipe below is inspired by the one from The Homemade Pantry, with tweaks by me.

Homemade Marshmallows
2/3 cup + 1/2 cup of water
1 & 1/4 cup of honey
1/8 tsp salt
6 tblsp of unflavored gelatin (that is the equivalent to 3 small packets.  I buy mine in bulk)
2 tsp of vanilla (try homemade)

1) Put 2/3 cup of water in a pan, add the honey, and salt, and cook without stirring until the temp reaches 230 degrees (the original recipe said 250, but I couldn't get the honey to go up that high).

The candy therm came with a clip, but it doesn't work with my pan edges, hence the ghetto chip clip.

2) Pour 1/2 cup of water in the bowl of your stand mixer, and sprinkle the gelatin over the water.  Let sit for a few minutes.

3) With the mixer on low, slowly pour the hot liquid mixture in and mix until the pan is empty.  Add your vanilla.

Super safe to pour 230 degree liquid with your left hand while taking a photo!  (insert fart noise here)

4) Slowly increase your mixer speed (I have a Kitchen Aid and I upped it from "stir" to a "3", and then after a few minutes to a "5", then up to a "7"), and mix for 10-15 minutes.

After 2 minutes

After 4 minutes

After 6 minutes

After 8 minutes

After 10 minutes

5) While it's mixing, butter a 9x9 baking dish.  Pour the thickened mixture in, and push it down with your hands.  You're supposed to leave it uncovered for 12 hours, but I had to put some parchment paper over it because the fruit flies in my kitchen are reenacting scenes from Boogie Nights right now.  Fly lovin' has no business on my marshmallows.

6) After at least 12 hours, cut through the "brick" to create your individual marshmallows.  I found that using kitchen shears was the easiest for this.  An alternative would be to let your toddler stab it to death with their knife.

"What's in the box man?  What's in the box"?

7) You can also roll the individual marshmallows in powdered sugar if you so choose, but I didn't.

These were delicious, and so much richer tasting than store bought marshmallows.  Troy said they weren't nearly as sweet as premade ones, but I thought they were little pillows of perfection.  Much like my breasts prior to two years of breastfeeding.

I've shared this over at Monday Mania and Fat Tuesday