Vanilla marshmallow for gifts

I had never considered marshmallow as something that could be made at home and it had never crossed my mind to try and make it at home until  I came across a recipe for vanilla marshmallows.  The recipe used egg whites instead of gelatine and I followed it step by step butI was not impressed with the results because it was too sticky.  After doing some more research I found a recipe that contained gelatine which I tried and I was very impressed and with a bit of adjustments I now have a vanilla marshmallow for gifts recipe.

I call this the vanilla marshmallow for gifts recipe because it makes a lot, perfect for sharing with friends and family. When I make some marshmallow to give as gifts I put it in transparent cellophane bags and tie with ribbon. There are quite a few ways to package the marshmallow, you can use gift boxes or little tins with some food grade tissue paper.

Ingredients

• 120 ml cold water
• 24 grams powdered gelatin
• 120ml cold water (yes, again)
• 400 grams white caster sugar
• 240 ml glucose syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Coating

• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup icing sugar

Method

• Lightly butter the bottom of a 33cm x 23 cm x 5cm baking tin. Then line it with baking parchment. Then sift about 3 tablespoons of icing sugar and cornflour mixture on top. This is very important because if you do not do that the vanilla marshmallow will stick to the pan and you will not be able to cut it into neat shapes.
• Pour the powdered gelatine into the bowl of your mixer fitted with a K-Mik and pour the 120 ml cold water and let it sit until the gelatine softens, about 13 minutes.
• Place the caster sugar, glucose syrup, 120 ml water and salt in a heavy based saucepan on a stove set on high. Stir until the sugar dissolves and then let it boil without stirring until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage on a sugar thermometer, which is 116 Celsius.
• With the mixer on at a slow speed pour the hot mixture into the softened gelatine until you use it all up. Pour quickly because the sugar mixture hardens quite quickly. Add the vanilla extract.
• Gradually increase the speed on the beater and let it beat the vanilla marshmallow until it increases in volume and becomes slightly firm if you make it too firm it is much more difficult to scrape out of the bowl.
• Pour and then scrape the mixture into the prepare tin and use a spatula to ease it to the sides of the tin. The mixture will be stick so you can use and oiled spatula or wet spatula to make it easy.
• Let it set for at least 12 hours or overnight.
• Run a knife along the edges of the vanilla marshmallow to loosen it from the tin and you can slice it in the tin and dipping the vanilla marshmallow in the coating. You could also dust a chopping board with the coating and then tip the marshmallow onto it and cup into little squares and dip in the coating each time to stop them from sticking to each other.
• Vanilla marshmallow will make a great homemade gift!