My Christmas present givers helped remind me of a significant gift for foodies in the kitchen: a kitchen aid stand mixer!
We promptly broke it out of its box and made fluffy eggnog with it. Good mixer.
In a moment of divine food blog inspiration, Michelle at Accidental Scientist made a batch of Christmas marshmallows- a recipe I have been dying to try out myself. However, the step of adding the hot sugar syrup to whipping stuff always made me hold off with out having a stand mixer. So guess what my second kitchen aid recipe was?
Nightscotman’s eGullet listed recipe of Strawberry Marshamallows has been taunting me ever since I discovered this wonderful cooking forum. Nightscotman, aka Neil Robertson, is one of the Pastry and Baking forum hosts and generous Baker at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
This recipe for strawberry marshmallows shows how easy it is to customize the flavor of this treat. It’s also interesting in that it does not use egg whites, but relies on gelatin, fruit puree and sugar syrup. There is a robust discussion of recipe variations at eGullet as well. A great flavor trick I found is to grind up crunchy dehydrated fruits into a powder to mix with your dusting sugar/starch mixture. This added fruit dust helps color as well as flavor your marshmallows. If dipping your homemade marshmallows into chocolate, the fruit dust makes a great decoration on top.
The consistency of these marshmallows is very Japanese feeling… like soft bean paste candies we often have brought into my work. Very flesh like in their give, not sticky, and delightfully pink! This recipe of strawberry marshmallows is begging to be made in breast shaped candy molds next time!
Nightscotman’s Strawberry Marshmallows
pdf of basic vanilla marshmallow recipe for print out
These are a variation on a recipe from Martha Stewart. Discussed in this thread.*for Kosher and
veganmarshmallows, use Emes Kosher Jel
*order freeze dried crunchy fruits and berries here.4 envelopes gelatin
1/2 cups strawberry puree
1-1/4 cups water
3 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp orange flower water (optional)
powdered sugar and potato starch or rice flour for dusting (this is where I added in the fruit dust)Line a sheet pan with a 1″ rim with aluminum foil. coat the foil with vegetable oil or non-stick spray. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the strawberry puree, orange flower water (if using) and 1/2 cup of the water. Sprinkle the gelatin over this mixture to soften (aka bloom).
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, remaining 3/4 cup water and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240 F).
With the mixer at full speed, pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the side of the bowl. Be careful as the mixture is very liquid and hot at this point and some may splash out of the bowl - use a splash guard if you have one. whip until the mixture is very fluffy and stiff, about 8-10 minutes. pour mixture into the foil-lined pan and smooth with an oiled offset spatula so that it’s level with the top of the rim (it won’t completely fill the pan). Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temp for 10 to 12 hours.
Mix equal parts powdered sugar and potato starch and sift generously over the rested marshmallow slab. Turn it out onto a cutting board or counter, peel off foil and dust with more sugar/starch mixture. Slice with a thin-bladed oiled knife or oiled cookie cutters (pizza cutter works even better). Dip all cut edges in sugar/starch mixture and shake off excess. Marshmallows will keep several weeks at room temp in an air-tight container.
Variation - Chocolate Marshmallows:
Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of cocoa dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water in a separate bowl. Soften gelatin in an additional 1/4 cup cold water in mixing bowl. Add cocoa mixture to mixing bowl and proceed with recipe as above. This will produce a marshmallow with a strong chocolate flavor, but somewhat denser than the strawberry version. To get a lighter texture as well as a lighter chocolate flavor, reduce cocoa to 1/4 cup.
Also check out my post on how to make chocolate swirl marshmallows.
Variation - Vanilla Marshmallows:
Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 3/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or the seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans.
Flavor Variations Ideas:
- Purees
- raspberry
- passion fruit
- pumpkin
- cranberry orange
- lychee
- mango
- cherry
- banana
- Liquid Flavorings
- lemon essential oil
- orange
- peppermint
- cardamom honey
- coffee
- tangerine (using the juice in place of water)
- pomegranate
- coconut (the fat in the coconut milk made them dense), using coconut milk for fruit puree
- 1 tsp of liqueur
- honey thyme
- Spices
- saffron
- cinnamon (excellent in hot cider)
19 Comments
I could see these as a great treat for Valentine’s day … in a heart shaped mold. Thanks! (And Happy New Year!)
what a lovely idea. great photos there, too! happy new year to you and your family!
Aaaah, they’re so pretty! I bet they tasted great. 
Hi McAuliflower - I hope you had a lovely christmas and new year! These marshmallows are so pretty, I’m not really a marshmallow person but I think I can make them for my other half…
[...] This is now the third time I have used the [amazing!] recipe provided by Brownie Points, to much success, I might add. For anyone curious, for the first try, I just made them plain vanilla, dipped / drizzled in chocolate with a smattering of colorful sprinkles for my sister. By far that was the favorite method, the second time opting for the exact instructions to the strawberry version. [...]
[...] I’ve got my first post up on ReadyMade magazine’s blog! Spicy Hot Cinnamon Marshmallows are a new flavor variant on the ever encompassing marshmallow recipe. [...]
I can see myself trying out this recipe using freshly picked strawberries next week. Thank you for the recipe, you have got a nice blog here.
[...] One recipe I often find myself coming to look up on my site is the basic recipe for straight-up regular vanilla marshmallows. This recipe is actually hidden within my post on making strawberry marshmallows, so it requires that I look down into the variations to double check my ingredient measurements for making this basic marshmallow composition. I’ve created a pdf of the basic vanilla marshmallow recipe for others to share, as I often wish I had this recipe nicely formatted for printing. An additional feature of this particular printout is that I have included measurements for a half-sized batch of marshmallows, the size I find myself making more frequently. [...]
I went to Santa Rosa JC to the baking and pastry certificate program. All I really wanted was a great brownie recipe and to learn how to make marshmallows. I got neither from the program, but thanks to Brownie Points, I gave all my friends and family little tins of scrumptious homemade marshmallows. Cant wait to try the beautiful swirls…many thanks and happy holidays!!
[...] We have been wanting to make homemade marshmallows for quite some time, but just never got around to it. Well, what better occasion for homemade marshmallows then new years? We used a great recipe that we found on the Brownie Points Blog. We decided to go a bit crazy and make three different kinds: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. They were surprising easily to make, although it took us about 1.5 hrs in total b/c we had to make three different batches. In case you didn’t know, a marshmallow is basically sugar and gelatin. After a long night of sitting out (they needed to sit out uncovered for 10-12 hrs, we woke up this morning and sliced them up. As you can see, they came out beautifully. [...]
The strawberry marshmallows were out of this world–we gave them out as Christmas presents–and now I am getting ambitious: Does anyone have any guidance on how much liquid flavoring to add on the alternative flavors? In particular–how much orange or lemon oil–and how would you add coffee flavoring–I am thinking a small amount of instant espresso powder dissolved in water, but am unsure how much additional water the recipe will bear….
Hi Jude,
I’m working on a flavoring guide that may help with some of these questions. Checkout my other marshmallow reports to pick out flavoring amount suggestions.
Briefly- substitute the liquid called for in the recipe with your liquid based flavorings. If using essential oils, add one-two drops at the end of mixing and taste to adjust. With essential oils, err on the side of adding too little.Glad they worked out so well for you!
–McAulflower
[...] Discussions on eGullet, where I gathered the strawberry marshmallow recipe from, have suggested that the fat content in chocolate marshmallows causes a decrease in their volume. [...]
when you say strawberry puree….frozen strawberries ok?
definitely- in fact non-flash frozen (for example, ones you just pop into your normal household freezer) strawberries will produce a superior puree to blending fresh strawberries. The ice crystals that build up in the fruit when freezing rupture the delicate cell walls of the fruit and will produce a soggy strawberry mess when those berries thaw.
–McAuliflower
I made chocolate and strawberry marshmallows for v-day. I cut them into heart shapes and plated them with graham crackers and ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over top (it was kinda like a frozen smore)! BIG HIT! They were sooo good. I took some pictures of it but don’t know how to post them. THANK YOU!!
Great to hear Yvonne! Sounds like a wonderful sweet touch.
–McAuliflower
How big of a sheet pan are you supposed to use for this recipe? 1/4 or 1/2? Thanks!
Good question Cheryl. This recipe uses a 1/2 sheet.
However, in my more customized recipe I use a 9″ x 13″ for the 4 gelatin packet sized recipe, and an 8″ x 8″ sized pan for the 2 gelatin packet sized recipe.
I have the customized vanilla marshmallow recipe in pdf format.–McAuliflower
Could you help by giving me another measure for the gelatin measured in your recipe of Strawberry Marshmellows. Where I live, the gelatin comes in tins so how much would 4 envelopes of gelatin be.
Sure- this is easily found online:
One envelope of plain granulated gelatin = 1/4 ounce = 1 tablespoon, enough to gel two cups liquid.
4 sheets leaf gelatin = 1 envelope granulated gelatin = 1 tablespoon granulated gelatincheers
–McAuliflower
I made raspberry marshmallows and dipped them in chocolate for a party. I thought people would eat one or two but they devoured them! I used frozen rasperries and the flavor was incredible!
I think I want to try lime marshmallows next. From what I’ve seen on your site it looks like I should try a an extract rather than the juice. Is that right?
thanks for all the great Marshmallowformation.
Oh Thank You!!!
I am a marshmallow LOVER. I am in the process of making any kind of recipe for marshmallows. I made a yummy batch of toasted coconut vanilla ‘mallows and then I made some chocolate ones. However, I used melted semi-sweet chips added to the vanilla recipe and I was disappointed. They were flatter and WAY TOO sweet. I am pleased to see your comments about using coco powder. I will try it again and I will swirl the coco syrup into the finished mallow. I liked the textural look of the swirl. I can’t wait to try strawberry mallows and blackberry (fresh from my yard)mallows.
Can I use agar agar in place of the gelatin? can these be “roasted” over a fire?
