The Ooey Gooey Truth About Marshmallows--You Can Make Them at Home!

Do you ever have moments where a culinary lightbulb goes off for you? Maybe it's just me, but I've had a lot of these moments in my lifetime. One in particular has haunted me through the years. About 10 or so years ago I was sitting in a bookstore (before I worked at Amazon...) reading a cookbook. The cookbook had a recipe for homemade marshmallows. At that moment I thought, "Wait, you can MAKE marshmallows?!" Despite being an avid cook and baker, marshmallows to me were things created by mysterious space-age machines and shipped to supermarkets in the middle of the night. I was fascinated that they could be created in your average kitchen.

This moment has haunted me for all these years because I never did just go home and whip up a batch of marshmallows. Until last night. Thanks to a marshmallow post on Serious Eats and their recommendation of the book Marshmallows: Homemade Gourmet Treats by Eileen Talanian, I can now cross off my decade-long goal of making my own marshmallows.

Making marshmallows is not difficult, though it does take a certain amount of precision and a few key kitchen gadgets, including a sturdy stand mixer and a reliable candy thermometer. You've got to make sure you've read the recipe thoroughly, as it all happens relatively quickly. For this same reason, you also want to have all your ingredients measured and laid out before starting. Talanian has tons of thorough guidelines and tips in her book, and my very first batch turned out perfectly! Snowy white, pillow-soft, and perfectly sweet.

Now I'm all fired up about homemade marshmallows and think it's going to be my next big thing. I can't wait to try some of Talanian's flavored-marshmallow recipes, including:

• Banana
• Amaretto
• Honey pear
• Toasted coconut
• Chocolate (of course)
• Cinnamon mocha

I'm also dying to get home tonight and make some s'mores using my homemade vanilla marshmallows.

Quick holiday gift idea! Make a batch of homemade marshmallows, box them up, and put them in a basket with the microwave s'mores maker (my favorite new kitchen gadget!), graham crackers (you could make those too), and some chocolate bars. Fun and delicious, right?!

--KitchenMaus

Comments

[Marilyn Terrell on November 19, 2008 at 08:41 PM]

Anybody have a recipe for FluffyPuff Marshmallows? ("They're fluffety! They're puffety! 6-7-8-9-10!"