Snowflake Marshmallows

I have no idea what possessed me to make homemade marshmallows BUT here they are. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart and have been intrigued by the shear beauty of these since I first laid eyes on them. Now of course, Martha’s are much prettier than mine and a heckuva lot neater looking but hey….I tried and this was really my first marshmallow workshop (and I was the only attendee).

I was going to give you another video today just to show you how much fun this was but it won’t upload so instead I’m sharing a few minor bloopers from my marshmallow making adventure. I hope these confessions don’t change the way you feel about me.

Step one of the process involves melting a bunch of sugar and corn syrup. You then need to place a candy thermometer into the sugar mixture which is boiling slowly on the stove. WHELP. I didn’t have a candy thermometer and I never thought I needed one, so I used a meat thermometer instead. A THERMOMETER is a THERMOMETER right? WRONG. First of all, it wasn’t reading the temperature AT ALL. Secondly, it slid into the pot and I lost it in the sugar mixture. Lastly…… I need to get a candy thermometer. Next up on the blooper list. The marshmallow mixture. Did I ever imagine that within a millisecond the stupid marshmallows would harden? NEVER. So as you know, by the time I futz around with a photo shoot, things tend to lay around for a while. That’s what happened when I returned to my stand mixer after taking pictures of just the tools below↓ I actually yelled HELP but no one was home. I quickly scraped the marshmallow mixture into the baking pan and had to wet my hands to spread it out. Do you know how many times I have made Rice Krispie Squares? A MILLION. I know that you need to work fast with that stuff. Why would I have thought this would be any different? Duh. SOOOOOOOO……after I managed to save the marshmallows from completely turning into a concrete slab, I followed the next step to a T. and that was to….. LET THEM HARDEN. And the only way I could be trusted NOT to touch them was to leave the house. So I did. Once they were firm enough to cut, I made these little snowflake shapes with my handy dandy Wilton Cookie Cutters. There’s another story coming. Ready? I wanted these cookie cutters when I saw them in November. They are clearly a  seasonal item so when I returned to the store OF COURSE they were sold out. I looked everywhere…..I MEAN EVERYWHERE IN THAT STORE. I was hoping that maybe by chance there was a pack of these just thrown onto a clearance table or left behind on a shelf by someone who changed their mind. I even asked a salesperson to check online to see if they had any inventory stock left. BINGO! They had ONE and it was on DISPLAY. Huh? What does that mean? ON DISPLAY? Once again I looked high and low along with 2 other salespeople. We were on a hunt for these snowflake cookie cutters and then….. We came up empty. Then I found some cute little spatulas and whisks which I told myself would make me feel better but were not a substitute for the snowflakes. As I was standing in line, a thought occurred to me. There was ONE ON DISPLAY. THERE WAS ONE ON DISPLAY…….IT MUST BE ON DISPLAY!!!! I looked behind me and there was long line of people waiting to check out. I made a decision and it was a quick one. I gave up my place in line and ran. I needed to LOOK ONE MORE TIME. Just in case we missed it. I walked back to the DISPLAY wall of cookie cutters. Saw the gingerbread cutters, Santa cutters and Christmas Tree Cutters just hanging on the wall. As I flipped through the boxes LO AND BEHOLD there was the box of snowflake cutters behind 6 others. (Who put that there?) So guess what? IT WAS ON DISPLAY…..and NOW they were MINE. What’s better than to use these snowflakes in a nice cup of hot chocolate. Food photography tip: If you are planning on shooting fresh marshmallows or any marshmallows…..don’t let them float in HOT LIQUID. They melt. YES…Another blooper.