Peppermint Marshmallows

There was the cupcake fad, then the homemade marshmallow hit the big scene. I wanted to try my hand at it and here is what happened.

I used this Alton Brown recipe for marshmallows because his way is always well thought out and scientifically based. Foolproof, right?

Clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and cook water, sugar, corn syrup and salt until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

In the bowl of my standing mixer I placed gelatin and water and mixed on low speed. When the corn syrup was ready I slowly added it to my mixer.

Once you have added all the syrup to your gelatin, you can turn the speed up for approximately 15 minutes.

Instead of vanilla extract I added 4 drops of Peppermint Essential Oils (not peppermint extract) and a good squeeze of red gel food coloring (from the bake shop, not the watery food dye from the grocery store).

Combine confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl and then using a sifter I sprinkled over my metal baking pan. 

My first go at marshmallows was not that smooth - it was actually VERY sticky. I was so flustered that the mixture was sticking to EVERYTHING.

So I started over. The second batch was much better and the only thing that I can contribute my success to was the fact that I had experience. I knew to spray my spatula with non-stick cooking spray and I worked much faster to pour out the lukewarm marshmallows into my pan.

Don't get me wrong, the first batch tasted amazing, it was just a pain in the butt to work with. I sprinkled the tops of my peppermint marshmallows with crushed peppermints to make them pretty.

I wanted to cut large squares like I had seen in a gourmet food shop in Paso Robles. I dusted my cutting surface with more of the confectioners sugar and corn starch mixture. These made great gifts and the flavor combinations are endless!