It’s the first Monday of October, so I’m going use this Marshmallow Monday to get going on some Halloween treats. And love them or hate them (people seem to have very specific and strong feelings about these particular holiday sweets), candy corns are just too cute…I couldn’t resist. (I’m in the “love them” camp, by the way.)
To make these marshmallows, I just layered three batches of batter into a jellyroll pan. It’s not hard, it just takes a little extra time. And I think it’s worth it, because look how adorable they are!
Happy Marshmallowing!
M
Candy Cornmallows
Prep time: About an hour | Ready in: 8 hours
Ingredients for 1 batch of “basic marshmallows:”
NOTE—this is imporatant! To make this full recipe, you’ll be making 4 batches (though, just three rounds of mixing—the orange batch is a double), so you’ll need 4X the below ingredients.
- Cooking spray
- 3 packages unflavored gelatin (see vegetarian options)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Plus:
- Red food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
Make sure you have up to a full bottle of each—all food colorings are different in strength, so it’s tough to say exactly how much you’ll need.
Cooking tools:
- A candy thermometer
- Tin foil
- 9×13-inch cake or jelly roll pan
Candy Cornmallow directions:
- Bottom layer: make one batch of “basic marshmallows” (directions below), but add yellow food coloring after step #4 until you get the shade you want. Go a little darker/bolder than you might think—when you coat the cut marshmallows with powdered sugar, it will mute the color somewhat.
- Middle layer: make two batches of “basic marshmallows,” but add yellow and red food coloring after step #4 until you get the shade or orange you want. Note that two batches might be a little more than you’ll need (you want to leave about 1/4 of an inch at the top for the white layer). I had a little extra orange myself, so if you end up in the same boat, just pour the excess into a smaller pan and you’ll have yourself some straight-up orange marshmallows, too.
- Top layer: make one batch of “basic marshmallows.”
Basic marshmallow directions:
- Line the inside of the pan with tin foil, then coat well with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine a 1/2 of a cup of cold water with the packets of gelatin and allow to sit until gelatin forms, about 15 minutes.
- In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine the sugar and 1/2 of a cup of water, then stir until sugar has dissolved—about 3 to 5 minutes. Increase heat to bring mixture to a low boil, and continue to boil until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer—about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Slowly pour sugar mixture into the bowl with the gelatin, simultaneously using a mixer on low. Gradually increase speed to high and continue whipping until the mix is very thick, about 10 to 15 minutes—imagine the consistency of pourable taffy.
- Pour the mixture into the pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. (Spray spatula with cooking spray as needed to keep it from sticking.) Let the marshmallow sit for about 6 hours, uncovered, until completely set.
- Cover a surface larger than the marshmallow slab with powdered sugar and flip the cake pan over so that marshmallow lands on the dusted surface. You have to do it quickly, and it’s going to kick up some “dust,” so just prepare yourself.
- Cut marshmallows in whatever shapes you’d like. (It helps to continually coat the knife or cookie cutters with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking. A pizza wheel is great if you’re just cutting into squares or rectangles.)
- Dust all sides of marshmallow pieces with powdered sugar.
Pine and Crave 