I have never been a big fan of marshmallows. The extremely sweet, fluffy version that you buy in a bag at the grocery store was only good to me when melted in a s’more. However, all of that changed when I had some homemade marshmallows at a small coffee shop with a hot chocolate. The marshmallows weren’t overly sweet, had a great maple flavor, and melted so nicely in the warm drink.

So, I figured I would try making some myself and let me tell you, making marshmallows has proven to be quite the journey. I still haven’t perfected them but am really hoping that it will happen with more practice.

note: these marshmallows pair VERY nicely with a variety of the drink recipes that I have already posted.

Recipe for Marshmallows

• 1 cup Water
• 3 tablespoons gelatin
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• powdered sugar to keep marshmallows from sticking together

1. this recipe is best used with a stand mixer, but feel free to use a hand mixer if it’s all you have.
2. coat a 8×8 in pan in butter (or parchment paper) to prep for marshmallows.
3. add 1/2 cup of water and the gelatin to a mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and allow it to bloom.
4. While the gelatin in blooming, place the maple syrup and remaining 1/2 cup of water into a deep saucepan (you don’t want something too shallow in case the mixture boils over.
5. mix the water and syrup together then place on a medium to medium/high heat. Allow the mixture to heat to 240 degrees (a candy thermometer is really helpful for this). this typically takes 15-20 minutes.
6. Once the mixture is up to temperature, immediately pour over the gelatin while mixing on a low speed
7. Increase the mixing speed to medium, add the vanilla, and then increase the speed again to medium-high. The marshmallows should lighten significantly in color and double or triple in volume. Use the video I have linked below to help with determining when it’s complete, because after 5 attempts, I honestly haven’t figured that out quite yet.
8. When they’re done, quickly pour into the 8×8 pan. make sure to move quickly because they start to get really sticky!
9. allows to set up for at least 4 hours or overnight. Once set, cut into squared and cover in a layer of powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together.
10. store in the fridge and enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

The following are a list of things I have found helpful when creating these and issues I am still dealing with:

1. When heating the maple sugar, stir the syrup and water to combine, but leave it alone after that. Watch the mixture closely while its heating to avoid boiling over, but avoid stirring. It can create sugar crystals that make your marshmallows grainy.
2. make sure you’re heating your sugar mixture to the soft ball stage (240 degrees). If you don’t do this, your marshmallows will look sad, lack volume, and have a more jello-like consistency.
3. When you add the sugar mixture to the bloomed gelatin in your mixing bowl, make sure to begin mixing immediately to avoid clumps to sugar or cooling.
4. Know how to mix the marshmallows well, you don’t want to over or under mix. This is the part of the process that I still haven’t figured out. I nearly always end up over-mixing my marshmallows and ending up with a clumpy mass of marshmallows. They taste great, but don’t look very good.

I have found this video to be the most helpful in figuring out how to know when they are done mixing. I haven’t tried this recipe again since finding the video, but am looking forward to my next attempt!