Please Note:
There seems to be some question as to whether or not regular gelatin is fast friendly, since it is an animal product. It’s not meat, milk, or eggs so I’m assuming it’s a go–but I wanted to point that out. Obviously, it’s not vegan! But there are vegan gelatins available.
my first attempt
Over the past couple of years, I’ve thought from time to time of trying my hand at making some homemade marshmallows. I saw Ina Garten do it on her Food Network show and it looked pretty easy–and who could resist the beautiful, large, fluffy, fully customizable marshmallow she turned out in no time? Not I. But it was only a couple of months ago that I actually got up and did it. And it was easy.
Every year at Christmas, I make goodies to give to friends and family. This Christmas is no exception, but I wanted to do something a little different, and also something less expensive. Butter and eggs are not cheap! But guess what is? Sugar. And that’s basically what a marshmallow is made of. Also, since I have to mail some of these goodies to far off lands, marshmallows provide the added boon of lightness, which really helps to reduce my shipping costs.
But enough about my reasons. You, too, may require some kind of goody this season for a Christmas party, to give as gifts, or for some other occasion. If so, these marshmallows are great for many reasons–and they’re fast friendly to boot. So without further ado, you will need:
0.75 oz. (3 packages Knox brand) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
2 cup sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
You will also need a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. I don’t know how well hand-held beaters would work for this as I’ve never tried, but you’re welcome to use yours as the guinea pig and come back here and let me know! 
Prepare a 9×9-inch pan with a layer of cling wrap that has been lightly oiled.
Put the 1/2 c. water in the bowl of the stand mixer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let it sit for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, put the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/2 c. water into a saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. Boil hard for about one minute. (Please note: A friend of mine has made these and said that she needed to boil it for several minutes in order to reach the correct temperature–which must be reached in order to make a proper marshmallow. Said temp is 234 degrees F, by the way, so you might bear that in mind!) Then pour the sugar mixture into the bowl with the gelatin. Add the salt and beat on high for 12 minutes. Then add the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
Pour the marshmallow goo into the prepared pan. Using a spatula that has been oiled is very helpful! Then cover the top with another piece of oiled cling wrap and press down to form a seal. Let it sit for a few hours or overnight, until the marshmallow is cooled and set.
Once it’s set, you can easily remove it from the pan and the plastic wrap. Use scissors to cut it into pieces, whatever size you like. And here’s a fancy trick: coat the marshmallow in powdered sugar (or, to make it a little less sweet–which is good!–mix equal parts of powdered sugar and corn starch) so it doesn’t stick to your hands. You’ll be sugaring it momentarily anyway! Once you cut a strip, coat it in the powdered sugar-corn starch mixture again and then you can cut the squares (or whatever shape you’re cutting) with ease. Then coat each piece in the powdered sugar-corn starch mixture again.
These marshmallows are great just this way. I like to put a little one in my coffee. I’m sure they’d be great in hot chocolate, too, or you could make s’mores with them, or really do anything you do with storebought marshmallows.
There are also a lot of variations you could make on this. You could dip them in caramel and/or chocolate* (semisweet would work best with the super sweet marshmallow, in my opinion). You could just drizzle the chocolate on (put them on a sheet of wax paper atop a cookie sheet and freeze until the chocolate is set). You could put toasted coconut on them. You could roll them in colored sugar, or crushed peppermint, or nuts. Or chocolate and nuts. You could replace the vanilla with something else like peppermint flavoring. Oh, the possibilities…!
By the way, the finished marshmallows can be frozen. They thaw quickly and are just as good after having been frozen as they were before.
* I don’t think there is such a thing as fast-friendly caramel. However, some semisweet chocolate chips are dairy-free, such as the Kroger brand (not Great Value, but the actual Kroger brand that comes in a white package with red and blue lettering). I’ve also heard tell that Trader Joe’s sells vegan chocolate chips.
