I love making marshmallows. The flavour combinations are endless, they come together like magic, and they never fail to impress. They’re also easier to make than you’d think, which is a major plus. These particular marshmallows are infused with Cream of Earl Grey tea, but you can make them straight-up vanilla marshmallows easily enough (or use your favourite tea instead).
The first question I get about marshmallows is usually “what on earth are marshmallows?”, which is totally fair as they are an extremely odd food-type item. They’re basically the love child of a meringue and jello. You’ll be working with three distinct parts as you make ’em. Part 1: the sugar syrup. This is cooked to 250°F (the hard ball stage), and you’ll definitely want a candy thermometer for this part.
Part 2 is the gelatin mixture, which gives the marshmallows their characteristic “boingy” nature. I know of no vegan substitutes for this, and suspect there aren’t any that are easily available as most vegan recipes I’ve seen that call for marshmallows call for the processed fluff rather that some brand of magical (suspicious?) vegan marshmallow, but perhaps that has changed in the last few years. At any rate, the next part really vetoes vegan alternatives.
Part 3 is whipped egg whites, whipped to medium stuff peaks. This is what makes the marshmallows all light and airy. And that’s it, really.
The start of marshmallow making is generally pretty slow as you wait for the sugar syrup to cook. While this happens you’ll want to grease & icing sugar your pan, and beat your egg whites. You’ll also want to make sure you’re ready for the quick action at the end—be sure you’ve read through the entire recipe before getting started so you know what’s coming. Once the sugar mixture reaches 250°F it is go time… and then it isn’t (it takes a good 5–10 minutes to beat the egg whites and sugar/gelatin mixture into marshmallowy goodness), but hey, that’s show business.
So, what are you waiting for? Whip up a batch of marshmallows for your next camping trip or birthday party. Yum!
Cream of Earl Grey Marshmallows
1 tbsp Cream of Earl Grey tea leaves
1 ½ cups boiling water water4 tbsp gelatin
½ tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup tea
2 cups white sugar
1 tbsp light corn syrup
¾ cup tea2 egg whites, at room temperature
Pour the boiling water over the tea leaves in a strainer and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove the leaves and discard. Divide the liquid in half.
Combine half the liquid with the gelatin and the vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat to dissolve the gelatin in the liquid and keep heated. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Lightly grease a 8 x 8″ (20 x 20cm) pan and generously dust it with icing sugar.
Combine the remaining water, white sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan, preferably one with high sides. Heat until the sugar dissolves, and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Boil until the thermometer reads 250°F (121°C). Do not stir—disturbing the mixture will encourage it to re-crystallize, which will result in a rock hard clump of sugar that will be really hard to clean up. The syrup will hold at boiling, 100°C (212°F), for quite a while before heating further as all the water evaporates off.
While the sugar mixture burbles away, beat the two egg whites in a clean glass or metal bowl until they form medium-stiff peaks.
When the sugar mixture reaches 250°F (121°C), whisk in the gelatin mixture. Be careful when doing this, as the temperature difference will cause the mixture to burble up like mad. You need to work quickly at this point. With the beaters running, slowly add the sugar/gelatin mixture to the egg whites, beating until the mixture is thick and silky—it’ll take a while (at least 5–10 minutes). Quickly transfer the marshmallow mixture to the icing-sugared pan, spreading it out with a silicone spatula. Leave to set for at least 2 hours, and then cut into cubes with a lightly greased knife. It’s a good idea to cut some big 1″ (2.5cm) cubes, suited for s’mores, and some smaller ½” (1cm) cubes for cocoa.
Clean up is pretty easy—just boil everything, and the marshmallow goo will dissolve.
I originally created these for DavidsTea’s Think Outside the Mug contest (and they won the contest!), so the instructions are also available in a step-by-step format on Snapguide.
Wow, I didn’t know that you could do marshmallows yourself! Have you ever tried agar agar or Xanthan gum instead of the gelatin? I’m no friend of gelatin anymore, so I would prefer other kind of jelly-maker, if possible.
Hi Signe! I haven’t tried anything other than gelatin, sorry. Let me know if you give it a go 🙂
I have been making marshmallows for 7 years. Every Christmas, I make about 500 very large ones–like a powdered sugar cloud in my kitchen for a few weeks. There is vegan gelatin available for those who don’t use the real stuff.
Faves: vanilla bean (my own vanilla w/bourbon and Balinese beans I bought there) and half/half orange flower water/zest and vanilla–creamsicle!! Most unusual flavor–maple bourbon bacon. Chocolate mint for cocoa drinkers, too.
Wow! I can just imagine your kitchen—if it’s Christmas time it must be just as white inside as out 😉 Some of my favourite flavour combinations have been caramel coconut and mocha—yum!
Hi Marie…and….yum,yum!! your recipe looks very yummy!…and i have a question for you! (yeah now i have one!) lol!….is it true that the marshmallow is a traditional American recipe;……however shows very tasty…Athanasia.
Hi Athanasia! From what I’ve been able to find, marshmallows started out as a medical confection that used the marshmallow root, and that pre-dates the existence of the USA (back to ancient Egypt). It sounds like the earliest candy-like marshmallow confection was made in France in the early 1800’s. Interesting, eh?
this looks delicious and I will be trying it, but I want to let you know that there is a vegan substitute for gelatin, it’s called Chill Over Powder made by MaryJanesFarm.org
It is delicious and so much better than gelatin!
Oooh, very interesting. Let me know if you make these with the sub, I’d love to hear how it turns out 🙂
Hi Marie,
How essential is that 2 tablespoons of corn syrup? My grandson can’t have corn products but marshmallows would be a big hit.
Carol
The corn syrup is there as an invert sugar to help prevent the re-crystalization of the sugar syrup, and it is the invert sugar of choice as others may burn at such high temperatures. You can try leaving it out, just be extra careful not to agitate the pan as the syrup cooks 🙂
Hi Marie! and WHAT?….OH!….I see the history of the marshmallow is very old … and starts from ancient Egypt … amazing … but what can be learned looking! incredible things .. yes … I admire very ancient Egyptian civilization in .. thank you wrote these very useful things here …hello from Grecce.Athanasia.
Cool, eh? The history of food & medicine is really neat!
Hi Marie,
Very delicious looking recipe! Do you know how long these keep? I only ask because I’m hosting a 60th birthday/retirement party for my very excited Mom in June, and I’m trying to collect portable food ideas that I can make in advance. This sounds like a great and unusual idea, but only if they last for a few days in a container without going sticky and weird. Any thoughts? (Also I would have to develop some stronger willpower to make them last, I think….)
In a sealed container they keep for at least a week—just make sure there’s not too much extra air in the container, or they will dry out faster.
After a month or so they will mould something fierce, which I found out the hard/gross way when I wanted a s’more 🙁
I make mine about a month in advance, since I make over 700 chocolate dipped caramels, too. I let mine dry on rack for a few hours before I store them in large airtight palstic containers w/waxed paper between layers. I buy cello bags w/flat bottoms, before I ship them to family–often a week.
Oooh, you sound like a fantastic person to receive mail from 😉
The corn syrup may not be necessary as it’s purpose is to keep sugar crystals down to a minimal size.
Thanks, Sylvia!
I’ve read that these can be made with honey – a light, mild honey instead of corn syrup.
Love your posts!
I’ve read that as well, but I’ve also read that honey can burn when held at such high temperatures as it’s not such a processed syrup. I wonder if agave might be a better choice, given that it’s slightly more processed?
Marie, I think I can help you with a vegetarian if not vegan substitute for the gelatin. I used to subscribe to a magazine called “Mary Jane’s Farm” and if you type that in to a search on the internet, you will find her retail sales items. Among them is what she calls “chill-over powder”, a supposedly vegan sub for the gelatin. Check it out!
Thanks, Lin! Let me know if you try it in this recipe, k? And in the meantime, I’ll keep an eye out for it 🙂