Homemade Vanilla Marshmallow's with Agave
This Christmas it was my goal to have a hot chocolate bar for my family to enjoy. They were coming to Kansas from New York (my home state), Illinois and Seattle, so I wanted to make an extra special gesture by providing some hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows. They sound intimidating to make but if you know what to look for they’re really not hard, and can actually be really fun to make.
When I was looking for a recipe online, I wanted something without corn syrup, the recipe that I found was from The Flavor Bender, Dini provides soooo much information on how to get it right with step by step pictures so if you’re new to the marshmallow or just cooking sugar game in general you should definitely check it out. If not, read below how I adapted the recipe by just changing some of the order of things, to get perfect pillowy soft marshmallows using agave instead of corn syrup.
Time: 30 minutes prep, 6 hours of curing time
Serves 64 1x1 marshmallows, feel free to cut them any size you’d like
Adapted by Tierney Larson, from Dini at “The Flavor Bender”
Ingredients:
For the Mallow Base:
14.5 oz White Sugar
1/3 cup (110g) of agave syrup
1 cup of water divided (1/2 for base, 1/2 for gelatin)
7 tsp of gelatin or 3 packets of Knox gelatin
1/4 tsp (1g) Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla extract or 1/8 tsp of peppermint extract
A few teaspoons of confectioners sugar for sifting over top of the mixture
Dusting:
1 cup of confectioners sugar sifted
1/2 cup of cornstarch
Ok so…
1-Grease an 8x8 pan with shortening or butter, or line with parchment paper, leaving about a 2 inch overhang on each side for easy removal. Also grease a spatula for later on to help you transfer the mixture.
2-Whisk together the gelatin and 1/2 cup of water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Let sit to bloom while you do the rest, or for a minimum of 10 minutes.
3-Place the sugar, agave and water into a medium sized pot and stir until the sugar is moistened with the water. Have a pastry brush and bowl of water nearby. Set the pot with the sugar mixture over medium high heat, and fit it with a candy thermometer, or have an instant read thermometer near by.
4-Heat until the sugar syrup comes to a boil, being sure to brush the sides of the pot with the wet pastry brush to keep the sides of the pan clean and avoid crystallization of the sugar syrup. While the mixture boils, do not stir it, but swirl the pan to distribute the heat evenly.
5- Cook until the mixture reaches between 242-245F, remove from the heat and let the bubbles subside. Put your stand mixer on medium-low speed and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl of your mixer so as not to scorch the gelatin. Continue to pour it down the side until all the mixture is added.
6- Add the pinch of salt and increase the speed to medium-high for 3-5 minutes until the mixture has doubled in size, is white fluffy and smooth. Bump the speed up to high and beat for a further 3-5 minutes until it has grown up to 3 times the size.
7- Add the vanilla (or peppermint) and mix for a minute more to combine.
8-Using a greased spatula, scrape the marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan and spread it out as evenly as possible. Sieve confectioner’s sugar over the top of them and let them set at room temperature uncovered for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
9-Once set, mix together the confectioners sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Sieve some of the dusting powder onto a work surface and turn the marshmallow out onto the work surface. Spray a knife or kitchen scissors with non stick spray and cut the mallow’s into 1 x 1 cubes (or bigger if you’d like). Toss the marshmallow's in the dusting powder and store in an air-tight container for up to 3 weeks at room temperature.
