Holiday Bonanza: Make Homemade Marshmallows with Karen Solomon

Homemade Marshmallows

This post is part of Creativebug’s Holiday Bonanza. Check out the rest of the videos in the series here.

This holiday season, forego store-bought marshmallows and whip up a batch of these light, fluffy, and flavorful homemade treats. Not only are they the perfect topper for your mug of cocoa, but they also toast up perfectly over open flame. In this class, Karen will show you how to use a candy thermometer to ensure perfect texture and prepare the pan so you don’t wind up with a goopy mess. At the end, Karen will show you how to roll the marshmallows in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and toasted coconut, which make for perfect gourmet gifts.

Make Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients

(Makes about 30 medium [1 1/4-inch] marshmallows)

  • Cooking oil, for greasing the pan
  • 2/3 cup water, divided
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • 3 (1/4-ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
  • 1 cup toasted unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

Equipment and Tools

  • 8 by 8-inch pan
  • Fine mesh sieve
  • Straight-sided saucepan
  • Clip-on candy thermometer
  • Pastry brush
  • Spatulas
  • Cutting board
  • Sharp knife
  • Electric mixer with whisk attachment
  • Parchment paper or waxed paper
  • Paper towels
  • Chopsticks (optional)

Karen Solomon has been a well-published food writer for over a decade. In addition to the Asian Pickles series, she’s also author of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It (Ten Speed Press/Random House). Additionally, she’s the author of The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to San Francisco (Globe Pequot Press) and contributing author to Chow! San Francisco Bay Area: 300 Affordable Places for Great Meals & Good Deals (Sasquatch Press) and a former contributing editor to Zagat Survey: San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants. Her edible musings on DIY cooking, the restaurant scene, sustainable food programs, culinary trends, food history, and recipe development have appeared in Saveur.com, Fine Cooking, Prevention, Yoga Journal, Vegetarian Times, Food52, Organic Style, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and elsewhere, all of which showcase the diversity of her word-wrangling plate.

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