Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows | Easy Marshmallows Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade marshmallows not fluffy? ›

The key to getting the perfect marshmallow consistency is in the mixing. As you mix all the hot ingredients together, you inherently add air to the recipe. This air gives your marshmallow its fluff. And as more and more air enters the mix, the gelatin and sugar cool and set.

Marshmallows are made of sugar, corn syrup (sugar), water and gelatin. They can have other things added for flavor and color, but that's it. The magic is how the ingredients are combined. Marshmallows are a scaffolding of sugar and gelatin that stays rigid enough to become a network of stable air bubbles.

Let the marshmallows stand at room temperature until they are no longer sticky and you can gently pull them away from the sides of the pan. This takes about 4 hours, but marshmallows can also sit overnight. While it's not required, you can cover the pan of marshmallows loosely with aluminum foil.

Creating Fluff and Sweetness

To make a marshmallow, you whip air into the gel between its melting and solidifying stages so that the gel grabs the air and enmeshes it in a tangled 3D polymer, Hartel explains.

Cornstarch and powdered sugar.

This makes up the dusting mixture, which we'll be sifting over the top of the marshmallows while they set and rolling them in after they've been cut.

Foods like jellybeans, marshmallows, and other gelatin-based foods also typically contain pork byproducts and are not considered Halal. Even products like vanilla extract and toothpaste can contain alcohol! Muslims will generally not eat meat that has also come in contact with pork.

The addition of cream of tartar or citric acid will help stabilize the inverted sugars by discouraging the formation of sugar crystals. This effect can also be achieved with a small addition of corn syrup to the sugar syrup mixture.

If you find that this happens to you and you haven't been attempting to mallow on a humid or rainy day, then the batter needed more whipping time to dry out a bit before it was scraped into the pan to set.

Simply seal your homemade or store-bought marshmallows in a bag and throw them in the freezer.

The reason marshmallows in a bag don't stick together and form a sugar-monster glob is that they're coated in a thin dusting of cornstarch. You can use cornstarch, or, as in this recipe from King Arthur Baking, with powdered sugar, which contains cornstarch.

Are marshmallows good for you? ›

Marshmallows are a sweet treat that many of us enjoy with hot chocolate, on top of sweet potatoes, or even shaped into peeps at Easter time. But these fluffy white puffs aren't very nutritious. Marshmallow ingredients usually include just sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin.

To keep marshmallows fresh and unstuck, put them in a freezer-safe plastic bag or a container with a tightfitting lid and store them in the freezer. When needed, remove and thaw at room temperature, and they are good as new.

In the microwave, an ordinary marshmallow will puff up until it's enormous! Kids, please don't try this without the help of an adult.

If the temperature is too low the marshmallow will be too soft and won't hold its shape. Too high of a temperature will cause the texture to become far too sticky and the marshmallows would likely pull out your fillings. A Thermapen^®® is perfect for spot-checking the temperature of your sugar.)