This recipe is easy to modify. You just have to be willing to experiment. I have crushed red hots to make cinnamon marshmallows, and made a caramel version that were both okay, but not great. I think the chocolate modification is the best (see below), and I will probably try to use some flavoring oils sometime, also. Try not to be intimidated by candy making, it is not nearly as hard as you think, but you do need to have the time and concentration to complete the work safely and quickly. I am going to try using either honey or golden syrup to see if they make a good substitute for the corn syrup, to make this safe for Jerome.

4 envelopes of gelatin
3/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups sugar
3/4 cups water
1 1/4 cups corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Line a 9 X 13 inch pan and a loaf pan with parchment paper (or use an 11 X 15 inch pan). Coat paper with oil.

Fit your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Combine 3/4 cup of water with vanilla extract, sprinkle gelatin over to bloom.

Add sugar, salt, corn syrup and remaining water to a heavy saucepan (you want one that is large enough to handle the sugar boiling). Bring to a boil with the lid on and without stirring. When this mixture is at a boil, remove the lid and continue to cook without stirring until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240 degrees F), you will want a candy thermometer for this.

With the mixer at medium speed (yeah right!, slow-medium at first, boiling sugar spraying at my face is not my idea of a good time), pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the side of the bowl into the waiting gelatin mixture. Be very, very careful - use a splash guard if you have one. When all the syrup is added, bring up the mixer to full speed.

Whip until the mixture is very fluffy and stiff, ~8-10 minutes. Pour marshmallow into parchment lined pans, smooth with an oiled offset spatula if necessary. Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temperature for 10-12 hours.

Sift confectioner's sugar generously over the rested marshmallow slab. Turn the slab out onto a cutting board., peel off paper and dust with more sugar. Slice with a pizza cutter into desired shapes. Dip all edges in sugar and shake off excess powder.

If you want to use cookie cutters for cute shapes, make the marshmallows thinner by using a jelly roll pan.

Yield: A lot. They will keep for several weeks at room temperature in an air tight container. If you don't eat them all.

For chocolate, replace 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar with sifted cocoa (dark is best), and sift the confectioner's sugar with cocoa to dust them. For caramel, use brown sugar for the white sugar when boiling. Both of these will reduce the volume of the marshmallow a little, but they are still tasty.

You can make these fruit flavored by replacing about 1/4 cup of the water to soften the gelatin with 1/2 cup of fruit puree. You can also replace about a third of the sugar with ground up hard sugar candies.

I read that you can add some peppermint oil to the mix and swirl the top with a few drops of food coloring when it is still warm. I imagine you could do this with other flavoring oils. I'm interested in cinnamon, but I would probably do it by grinding up red hots and adding them to the sugar, then swirling red food coloring on top.

You can also use fancy spoons that you get at thrift shops or those nicer plastic spoons to scoop up swirls of them to wrap in cellophane or paper candy cups to package with cocoa kits. Tie with a ribbon and voila!

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:28 AM