Homemade Marshmallow Kabobs

You’ve never tasted marshmallows until you’ve made your own.

Fairly simple to make, they’re light, soft fluffy little bundles of goodness just waiting for exotic flavors. I did several different flavors on a wooden kabob stick for a recent event, and they were amazingly popular. Sadly, no pictures exist. Ugh.

But in the interest of getting the recipe out to you (I’ve been lambasted publicly for not doing so sooner) here are the details.

The basic recipe is for strawberry-flavored marshamallows, but you can experiment with a variety of different ingredients — I did coconut milk/lemongrass, mojito (spearmint leaves and lime juice), cinnamon coffee (with Kalua and fresh cinnamon), vanilla, pomegranate and chocolate swirl.

You’ll need a stand mixer to do these right, along with a reliable candy thermometer.

(The above picture is of the BiteClub Bakesale, taken by PD photog Crista Jeremiason. You can kind of see the kabobs by my hand. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures.)

Homemade Strawberry Marshmallows

(This recipe is from the Brownie Points Blog browniepointsblog.com and
has been adapted from a few other sources. She does some incredible
versions of this that you should check out.)

4 envelopes gelatin

1/2 cups strawberry puree

1-1/4 cups water

3 cups
sugar

1-1/4 cups light corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp orange flower
water (optional)

powdered sugar and potato starch or rice flour for
dusting

Line a sheet pan with a 1″ rim with aluminum foil. coat the foil with
vegetable oil or non-stick spray. Fit the mixer with the whisk
attachment.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the strawberry puree, orange flower
water (if using) and 1/2 cup of the water. Sprinkle the gelatin over
this mixture to soften (aka bloom).
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, remaining 3/4 cup
water and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the soft-ball
stage (234-240 F).

With the mixer at full speed, pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the
side of the bowl. Be careful as the mixture is very liquid and hot at
this point and some may splash out of the bowl – use a splash guard if
you have one. whip until the mixture is very fluffy and stiff, about
8-10 minutes. pour mixture into the foil-lined pan and smooth with an
oiled offset spatula so that it’s level with the top of the rim (it
won’t completely fill the pan). Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at
room temp for 10 to 12 hours.

Mix equal parts powdered sugar and potato starch and sift generously
over the rested marshmallow slab. Turn it out onto a cutting board or
counter, peel off foil and dust with more sugar/starch mixture. Slice
with a thin-bladed oiled knife or oiled cookie cutters (pizza cutter
works even better). Dip all cut edges in sugar/starch mixture and shake
off excess. Marshmallows will keep several weeks at room temp in an
air-tight container.

Variation – Biteclub’s Lemongrass/Coconut milk
Replace puree with 1/2 cup coconut milk and 2 tablespoons lemongrass (i
boiled the lemongrass, then pureed the fibers really well).

Variation – Coffee/cinnamon
Replace puree with 1/4 cup of Kahlua and a tablespoon of ground cinnamon.

Variation – Mojito
Replace puree with 1/2 cup of squeeze lime juice and pureed mint leaves
(I used a big handful and threw the whole thing with the juice in the
blender). I added 1 drop of green food coloring, too.

Variation – Chocolate Marshmallows (BIteclub note: These didn’t work out as well. Try just swirling the coco mix into vanilla marshamallows. It looks amazing)

Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl
with 1/2 cup of cocoa dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water in a separate
bowl. Soften gelatin in an additional 1/4 cup cold water in mixing
bowl. Add cocoa mixture to mixing bowl and proceed with recipe as
above. This will produce a marshmallow with a strong chocolate flavor,
but somewhat denser than the strawberry version. To get a lighter
texture as well as a lighter chocolate flavor, reduce cocoa to 1/4 cup.

Variation – Vanilla Marshmallows:
Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl
with 3/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or the seeds
scraped from 2 vanilla beans.

Related Posts

1. Marshmallow Brownies
2. Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
3. Halloween Candy Bar Pie
4. Gluten-free Garam Masala Snickerdoodles
5. Chocolate Mint Cookies