homemade marshmallows: impress your friends s’more

• Cooking spray (like Pam – if you don’t have this, dab a little vegetable oil on a paper towel)
• 1 cup cold water, split into two 1/2 cups.
• 3 1/4-ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups regular white sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• a dash of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or almond extract or coconut extract or lemon extract etc etc)
• 1/2 cup potato starch (flour works fine if you don’t have this in your pantry)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

First, cover the bottom of a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with aluminum foil. Hit it with a generous dose of Pam (these things are sticky!). Set this aside. You’ll be thankful you have this prepped later. Unlike me, who always forgets and scrambles to assemble it when the marshmallows are ready to hit the pan.

Next, get out your beloved KitchenAid mixer. Don’t have one? A large metal or glass bowl will do, just be prepared to be slightly less lazy compared to the original recipe.

Put half cup cold water in the mixer bowl, and empty the gelatin packets over it. It’ll look really weird and kind of gross. It’ll even kind of smell bad. This step reminds me of when I cultured mouth bacteria on Petri dishes to test the effectiveness of different brands of mouthwash for my 5th grade science fair project. and my teacher made me take them home because they started to smell. But it was all in the name of science and oral hygiene !! (aren’t you proud Jenn?? ;-)).

Anyways. Pour the sugar, corn syrup, a quick sprinkle of salt, and other half cup of water in small saucepan. Give it quick whirl with a whisk. Cover the pan and put the burner of the stove to medium heat. Leave it this way for four minutes. Then, and clip a candy thermometer on the side of the pan. Sadly, this is the one part of the recipe that requires a little bit of fanciness. And there really isn’t a decent way around it. Cooking sugar can go from perfection to crap in a very small time window. So go buy a cheap candy thermometer or borrow one from a friend. These are worth the extra mini-hassle.

Watch it bubble for around 8 minutes, until the thermometer reads 240. (this is between the soft ball and hard ball stages – lolz). Then remove it from heat quickly!! Return to your mixer and turn the wisk on a slow setting. Gently cascade the glorious sugary goo from your saucepan down the side of the mixing bowl, with it turned on. (If you use a bowl and a hand mixer, you might need a hand with this step). When all your sugary friends are together, turn the mixer on HIGH and let it whip itself into a fury for about 15 minutes until its fluffy and looks like a cloud of childhood dreams. Add your vanilla (or other extract) towards the last minute, and continue whipping. Stiff peaks won’t form, so don’t wait for them. It’ll be a bit gooey after 15 minutes and this is normal. It’ll firm up later.

Next, spread the fluff into your pan. You can recruit a friend to  lick your whisk:

Pop it in the fridge for about 4 hours or overnight. Spray a sharp knife with cooking spray and cut into cubes. Mix the flour and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Roll each cube in the powder sugar mix and put them in something airtight or enjoy  immediately.

Creativity has no limits with these – I’ve done all sorts of things. A few ideas:

• Dip them in melted chocolate and freeze them until the chocolate firms up. (Take it to another level by rolling in shaved almonds or coconut shreds before freezing)
• Mix chai powder into your powder sugar mix instead of flour/potato starch
• As mentioned above, use a different extract or oil (peppermint for the holidays!)
• Use them in homemade s’mores with a high quality chocolate bar and perhaps a drizzle of carmel sauce and then a dash of sea salt- (this is money)

That’s it! Happy Eating and Happy 4th of July!!