What Was I Thinking?!

You know that moment, right? The exact moment you step back from a situation, take in the mess, and think to yourself "What was I thinking?!"

Weeks ago, Holly got the wheels turning in my head with that simple comment about making ice cream. Somehow, my mind jumped from homemade ice cream to a culinary project much more advanced and unusual than just plain ol' ice cream. A culinary project made for satisfying Libby's current food addiction. It was on that day that I vowed I would try making...homemade marshmallows.

In preparation for this complex task and in the weeks following, people who have heard about this accomplishment of mine have all had the same response: "You can make homemade marshmallows?!"

The answer is yes, yes you can. But I don't know that I would recommend it.

It's messy! What was I thinking?! messy.

You start out by letting some gelatin sit in cold water. Seems pretty easy, right?

And while that's sitting, you boil together some sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt until it reaches 'soft candy' temperature. About 240 degrees.

This is pre-boiling. Libby was sent out of the kitchen for the boiling part.

And once you reach the right temperature, you slowly pour the really, really hot stuff into the gelatin with the mixer running on low. Like so. (This is not easy to do when you're taking a picture at the same time!)

And then you ramp up the mixer speed to high and let it work it's magic for about 15 minutes. It's pretty neat to watch as it morphs from clear sugar syrup into a froth of sticky white stuff. You add some vanilla (or your flavoring of choice be it carrot juice or maple syrup or strawberry extract or whatever suits your fancy) at the end and let it mix in for about a minute. And, if you're Libby, you add some food coloring of your choice to make it a little more fun.

In our case, it was blue.

When you have a lukewarm and thick mixture, you spread it (as much as is possible with something so sticky) into a pan you've coated with a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar. Then you dust it with the same stuff and let it sit for at least 4 hours.

If you're Libby, you lick the beater clean.

And if you're the head chef, you take the 4 hours your confection has to sit and use it to clean up the crazy mess you just made.

There was powdered sugar and marshmallow sugar and well, mess, EVERYWHERE. Including on Libby. The picture doesn't do it justice. (I will admit though, since it's sugar, when you add a little hot water to it, the mess quite nearly disappears. It's amazing!)

Once your 'mallows have sat for awhile, you cut them out using a knife or pizza cutter dusted in powdered sugar. Then you take a pretty picture to prove that you have actually made your own (blue) marshmallows and enjoy.

I'm not gonna lie...the flavor punch and freshness in a homemade marshmallow is unparalleled. Best marshmallow I've ever eaten in my whole life. Not to toot my own horn or anything. And I don't really care for marshmallows in anything but a 'smore. But seriously, they were good. So good that it may outweigh the whole mess aspect of making them. We'll have to see.

love always, Kendra
P.S. If you're interested in making some marshmallows of your own, this is the recipe we used. It also tells you how to make miniature marshmallows. Just thinking about those babies in a cup of hot chocolate makes me wish were in the middle of a Minnesota blizzard...almost!