What is your family’s favorite Christmas tradition?
We have several, but here’s a hint to one:
Yep, you guessed it. I’m in the kitchen ALOT, but at Christmas the baking and candy-making seems to turn up a notch!Recently, I had the opportunity to share a little bit about our family’s traditions with my new friend Karen. I sent her this cute apron, a new recipe book with a few of our favorite Christmas recipes, and some homemade marshmallows. Here’s my marshmallow recipe. It’s yummy!
- Prepare a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan by lining it with aluminum foil and greasing the foil with Vegetable shortening.
- Put 1/2 cup cold water in the large bowl of your stand mixer.
- Sprinkle 3 envelopes (3 tbsp.) unflavored gelatin over the water and let it sit.
- Place 2 cups granulated sugar, 3/4 cup light corn syrup, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup cold water in a 2 quart saucepan over med-low heat.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is boiling.
- Cover the pan for 3 minutes.
- Uncover and raise the temperature to high. Insert a candy thermometer and let the syrup cook until 240 degrees. Do not over cook.
- Remove from the heat.
- While your mixer is beating at medium speed, pour the syrup slowly into the gelatin mixture.
- After all the syrup is added, turn your mixer to high and beat for 10-15 minutes until the mixture is lukewarm, white and a whipped consistency. Add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract towards the end of the beating. You will also need to scrape the bowl occasionally. (My big Kitchenaid doesn’t take quite 10 minutes. Something less powerful–I don’t know.)
- Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and smooth. (It is super sticky-so be prepared!)
- Let the marshmallow stand uncovered at room temp for about 12 hours. I usually leave mine overnight.
- Sift powdered sugar over your cutting surface.
- Invert your marshmallow over the sugar and remove the foil.
- Sift powdered sugar over the top of the marshmallow.
- Cut the marshmallow into 1 inch cubes using a long, sharp knife. It helps if you grease the knife first. After the first cut, keep the blade covered in powdered sugar.
- Roll each side of the marshmallow in powdered sugar to coat.
- Store these in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
Anyone who makes their own marshmallows is amazing to me! Thanks for the recipe – cute apron!
Rusty was under the false impression that he didn’t like marshmallows. We made yours on Saturday, and I think he’s converted!