Cooking For Engineers

[new cookie]

I just made some marshmallows substituting 1 package of sugar free cherry flavored gelatin (cherry Jell-O) for 1 package of unflavored gelatin. I used half-and-half equal parts honey and molasses to equal the amount of corn syrup. I added cocoa powder just before the egg whites at the end. I also coated the marshmallows in cocoa powder. The molasses, cherry Jell-O, and cocoa powder all change the color slightly but the result was a very pleasing light pinky-brown. They turned out great. Cocoa powder on the outside cuts the sweet factor a little. Not sure if they will last the week for Christmas unless I hide them well.

I think I will try maple syrup next. I will also try rolling in potato starch. I also liked the cinnamon sugar idea.

I have a food allergy to corn so I do not want to use corn syrup. In addition, most icing sugar has cornstarch in it.

[jrobin276]

For pete's sake everyone... google "corn syrup substitute". The one I have successfully used was:

2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy, large pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and put cover on for 3 min (to removed any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan). Remove the lid and cook until it reaches soft ball stage.

Cool, and store in a covered container at room temperature. Keeps for 2 months or so. Makes about 2 cups.

*I usually halve this recipe - works fine.
*Do NOT refrigerate. Trust me...
*Any granulated sugar should work, but I prefer raw caster sugar. I would not use brown sugar.
*Recommend a candy thermometer, but I've done without one too and it's still OK.

[Guest]

agave works in place of the corn syrup. I never use corn syrup and I've never had a problem with agave. TASTY!

[Mizell]

I have been making home made marshmallows for years. It started out as a curiosity and yeah once you go hm made there is no comparison to the store bought ones. This was very close to my recipe except alot of sugar in this one. I use half of the sugar,same amount on corn syrup, and I use one part corn starch to one part powdered sugar. You can roll them or place them on a large baggie and shake them. The corn starch cuts the sweetness so you can dip them in chocolate or sugar. Try this you will enjoy it.

[Julie]

Here is the EASIEST way to make marshmallow. Pour 1 cup of granulated white sugar into your mixing bowl. In a cup dissolve 2 tablespoons powdered gelatine into half a cup boiling water. Pour boiling gelatine over the sugar and start beating on high. Keep going until its really thick and white. Now you can add vanilla to taste and some food colouring if you like. Beat a little more to combine. Working quickly (its going to start to set) pour into deep tray lined with greased baking paper. Put into fridge to set. Cut into cubes and dust with icing sugar (confectioners) and corn flour mixed equal parts. Just takes off the sticky ends but does not add that much more sweetness. OR toast some desicated coconut and roll in that. What could be easier, sugar, water, gelatine.

[Sheryl]

I have so appreciated everyone's insight and suggestions. It is my turn to return the favor. As a birthday present, my mother hired a candy chef to give my teenage son and I private candy lessons. Our quest? Marshmallows! Results? Divine! We used an egg white based recipe.

Some things that we learned that you may find helpful: Chilling the bowl and whisk helps. Once the syrup hits the right temperature, it can cool for several minutes before being added to the bowl of egg whites. We stirred in chopped maraschino cherries (juicy, not blotted) and finely chopped chocolate before we blobbed the lot of it onto parchment to cool and set.

Probably the best trick we learned was how to release the marshmallow from the parchment. On day two, get a second piece of parchment and dust it with confectioners sugar. Flip the marshmallow over onto the new parchment, so you have a dusted parchment layer on the bottom, then the marshmallow layer, and on top you have the parchment that the marshmallow is stuck to. Then get a damp, but not dripping kitchen towel and lay it across the top parchment. Check on it in about 10 minutes. The moisture penetrates just enough to dissolve the layer of candy holding fast to the parchment, and you can peel the paper away easily. Once released, then dust the exposed surface with confectioners sugar. We then used cookie cutters to make shapes which we then paired with like-shaped shortbread and drizzled with chocolate to make "S'mores."

Hope you guys find this helpful.

[Guest]

Just wanted to pass along that we'd found some marshmallows in a natural food store awhile back by a company named PASKESZ. Their website is http://www.paskesz.com/marshmallow.html and the marshmallows are fat free, but use fish geletin. Anyway, their taste & texture is the closest to regular marshmallows we've ever come across.

[sdlane]

I made Alton Brown's exact recipe today, because of all the rave postings that followed. Well, I don't think they taste so great. The texture is fantastic... but my 6 year old daughter made a face, and my 8 year old nephew pretty much gagged. He said they tasted salty and like cooking spray. I felt myself that there was an oddly chemical-ish taste to them, even though I added an extra teaspoon of vanilla at the end. The two other adults that ate them raved about them. So it's dislike: 3, like: 2.

Based on all I'm reading, no one else encountered these problems. I felt as though I could actually taste the Knox gelatin or something - it was just an odd taste I couldn't figure out.

Any suggestions are definitely welcome!!

[Persistent]

I love your site. We developed a marshmallow on Bettina's Blog - www.bettina-network.com. We used maple syrup instead of corn syrup, but found that organic turbinado sugar works as well, but doesn't taste the same. The organic turbinado sugar needs to be boiled with water to 240 degrees. There is much discussion here about gelatins vs other things. We use marshmallow root - tried it several times and the organic powdered marsmallow root works very well. It also works well as a hair conditioner after you wash your hair - it is spectacular.

[samarinbooboo]

Michael Chu
Can you make fondant out of this recipe?

[Michael Chu]

[Lamat]

I have made many batches of marshmallows since discovering this recipe on CfE a couple years ago -- all very fluffy and tasty! I've stirred in chocolate chips, chopped maraschino cherries, replaced the syrup with other sweeteners, flavored the sugar water, and so on.

For the most part, 2/3 c. syrup makes the marshmallows way too sweet for my tastes. I aim for between 1/3 and 1/2, depending on the sweetness of the other ingredients stirred in/substituted. One batch was hand-beaten because my electric mixer broke the night before. It turned out denser than the others, but not bad. There has been quite a variety in height/fluffiness in general, which I'm going to guess can be attributed to my estimated boiling times. Next few batches, I plan to use my cooking thermometer to track how hot I get the sugar syrup.

Thanks for the recipe!

[Lucky Duck]

Hello! I've made marshmallows with two cups of sugar and 1 cup of corn syrup for the longest time and they were perfect. However, recently I've had quite a few people saying that they were a bit too sweet. So, after reading a ton of recipes, I took away 1/2 cup of sugar. I thought that this wouldn't affect it too much. But since then, I have made 3 separate batches and all of them ended up too soggy within a couple hours. I would sugar them again and after a short period of time they became moist and dense. What do you think is the problem? I've treated them the same way as the other marshmallows except for using less sugar. I can't think my way out of this one. THANKS!

[Guest]

my marshmellows melt? how do i solve this issue?

[Guest]

All the recipes I've seen require marshmallows to rest for at least a few hours. Does anyone know why marshmallows need to rest? Why can't we use them freshly whipped? I'm thinking of making some crispy treats. Since the marshmallows are already soft, I thought I'd be able to cut out the step of melting them down.