A festive Christmas marshmallow recipe to make your hot chocolates merry!
Combine icing sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and set to the side.
Put the sugar, water and corn syrup into the clean saucepan. Place over medium heat and cook until the syrup starts to boil.
Turn the heat down to create a medium/slow bubble. Leave it alone – no stirring – and let it heat until it reaches a 121c, 250f or firm ball stage in ‘candy speak’. Make sure your candy thermometer is working properly.
While it is heating, butter and liberally dust the pan with the icing sugar/corn flour mix.
Put the gelatin into a small bowl and add ½ cup of hot water. Let it stand while you prepare the meringue.
Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into an electric mixer and beat on high until the egg whites form peaks.
Turn down the speed and gradually add the sugar. Resume speed and keep beating until you get firm peaks in the meringue.
When the syrup has reached 121c remove it from the heat and carefully pour the gelatin mixture into the syrup. Be warned it will bubble so be careful. Stir until the gelatin in incorporated into the syrup.
Now turn down the electric mixer to slow speed and slowly add the syrup to the egg whites. The heat from the sugar will cook the egg whites and stabilize them. When they are combined, turn up the speed and allow the mixture to cool down while it continues to beat. Add the flavoring and colour at this time. I used one drop of blue icing colour and one drop of lemon flavor.
Don’t beat until the mix is completely cold. Wait until it just starts to thicken and form ribbon patterns. This will take about 8 minutes.
When your mixture reaches the ribbon stage pour it into the prepared pan and leave it to set for 2 hours.
Sometimes you will achieve a very sticky mixture. This is to do with the amount of water retained in the mixture due to atmospheric conditions – rainy day, humidity etc. If this happens to you simply dredge more of the cornstarch sugar mix over the tray and pop it into the freezer for an hour to firm it up.
Once it is firm, cut with a large knife or a cookie cutter to create festive shapes. Liberally dust the knife and the cutter as you work to prevent sticking.
Finally dust the final marshmallows so they don't get too sticky. But don't go too crazy. The kids love this next step and you need a little bit of stickiness left for it to work!
Have the kids decorate their marshmallows with candy sprinkles before adding to your favourite hot chocolate.
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