No Corn Syrup Marshmallows and Marshmallow Topping

              I mainly had bought marshmallows to make cereal treats and s'mores.  I  have two kids who will just eat them straight.  In my quest to get corn syrup out of our lives I stopped buying them.  Nooooooo! Yet another product I could no longer allow in my house.  Yes, my kids are so deprived.  I was on a new mission.  I had to find a recipe for marshmallows.  I did succeed.

             If you like eating marshmallows straight, this recipe is great and easy.  If you like marshmallow topping, it's awesome.  I will admit though that they do not work so good for s'mores.  They go from solid to liquid in a microwave in about 3 seconds.  There is no gooey stage for these marshmallows for s'mores.  Of course I didn't try them over a flame. 


Ingredients (I found this recipe on food.com)

1. 2 Tbl gelatin (knox unflavored)
2. 1/3 Cup cold water for the gelatin
3. 2 Cups sugar
4. 1/2 Cup cold water
5. 1/4 tsp salt
6. 2 tsp vanilla
7. 1/4 Cup powdered sugar

First, pour the gelatin in 1/3 cup of cold water.  Stir and put aside to let it set.

Then add the sugar and the 1/2 cup of cold water in a pot.  Dissolve the sugar over medium heat.

Once it is dissolved, add the solidified gelatin.  Let the gelatin dissolve in the sugar.  Let the mixture come to a boil.

Once it boils, remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl.  I poured it into my stand mixer bowl.  Let it cool down a bit.  I let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Then, add the vanilla and salt to the bowl.

Here is where the stand mixer makes the work easy.  Turn on the mixer, using a whisk attachment and let it go for about 15 minutes.  The mixture will turn white in color, and will  thicken up.  It should have doubled in size as well.  This is now what we in the US call "Fluff" which can be used to make peanut butter and fluff sandwiches.  We also use it for "no- cook s'mores".  We place Fluff and Nutella between 2 graham crackers.

While the marshmallow is in the mixer, take a 8x8 baking dish, or one close to that size and spray it down with cooking spray or butter.  Then pour powdered sugar in the dish and dust it with the sugar.

To make solid marshmallows, pour it in the dish, cover it, and place in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to set.

 If you want marshmallow topping right away, use it right away.  You can also let all of it solidify.  For marshmallow topping in the near future, just place some of the solidified marshmallow and just microwave it.  One cup of the marshmallow took 25 seconds to come out of the solid stage.  I did this when I wanted to make chocolate marshmallow ice cream, which I will be posting.  Of course if you just want to keep the marshmallow as "Fluff", just store it in a sealed container at room temperature.

When the marshmallow has cooled in the dish,  slice it, and roll the pieces in powdered sugar.  You can also roll them in cocoa, or in a mixture of corn starch and powdered sugar.

These do taste different than store bought marshmallows.  They are actually better.