Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows
These soft and fluffy homemade marshmallows are flecked with real vanilla bean seeds. Serve them with hot chocolate, or toast them for s'mores!
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Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable shortening or softened butter, for greasing the pan and utensils
- ⅔ cup cold water, divided
- 2 envelopes (1/4 oz each) unflavored powdered gelatin
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup light corn syrup
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- ½ cup powdered sugar, for coating the pan and the cut marshmallows
Instructions
- Grease the bottom and sides of the pan thoroughly with the shortening or butter, then dust with enough powdered sugar to coat the pan in a thin layer. This will keep the marshmallow from sticking to the pan.
- Pour 1/3 cup of the water into the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, but don't stir it in. Leave it to sit while you complete the next step.
- In a saucepan, stir together 1/3 cup of water with the granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. If there are any grains of sugar on the sides of the pan, brush them off with a wet pastry brush.Over medium heat, cook the syrup (without stirring) until it reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit. You can check the temperature with a candy thermometer or a digital instant read thermometer. This step might take around 10 minutes.
- Turn the mixer on to low speed, and slowly drizzle the boiling syrup into the gelatin mixture. Increase speed to medium (#6 on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer), and whip for about 10-11 minutes.The marshmallow should now be pure white, lukewarm, very sticky and thick, but not so thick that you won't be able to spread it into a pan. Beat in the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste.
- Using a greased spatula, immediately scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan. Lightly grease your hands with butter or shortening and press the marshmallow out evenly in the pan. Lightly sprinkle the top of the marshmallow with more powdered sugar.
- Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel, and let sit at room temperature for 6 hours (or overnight) before cutting.
- To cut the marshmallows, turn the pan over onto a cutting board. The whole slab should fall out of the pan onto the cutting board if you prepped the pan with shortening/butter and powdered sugar.
- Grease a sharp chef's knife with butter or shortening. Cut the marshmallow into 5 strips, then cut each strip into 5ths, to get 25 large marshmallows. If you like, you can cut each of those into 4ths, to get 100 small marshmallows. You'll need to grease the knife again in between cuts. As you cut the marshmallows, dust the cut sides with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking.
- Store the marshmallows in an airtight container at room temperature. They will stay soft and fresh for about 2 weeks.
Notes
- Homemade marshmallows should not be refrigerated or frozen.
- I don't recommend using non-stick baking spray for greasing the pan or utensils, as it can leave a yellowish residue.
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