Aren’t they cute??!! Let me tell you how they came to be.

My brother-in-law, Josh (otherwise known as “2-Stix”), is an avid supporter of the Little Yellow Kitchen and as such, always  has his food recommendations. The three top foods on his list are the following: beef jerky, dark chocolate, and marshmallows. The LYK is not a smoke house, so beef jerky is out of the question for the time being. Delicious dark chocolate is sold everywhere, so it’s all too tempting to just go buy a chocolate bar, rather than buy the ingredients to make a chocolate bar. Someday. Well, that leaves the marshmallows up to bat. Boy, did we knock it out of the park with the combined efforts of Jen, Josh, and myself. Actually, I think a more appropriate label for Josh’s “help” should be, “utensil licker extraordinaire”. Here, you’ll see why.

The spatula he is devouring, only happens to be one of the many utensils that he manually cleaned. Then there was the mixing bowl, the other spatula, the whisk attachment, the cutting board, and the counter. If you couldn’t tell by now, making marshmallows from scratch is a messy, messy task. It gets e-v-e-r-y-where. No worries, just invite somebody over with an absurd affinity for marshmallow cream or extremely sweet fluffy things, and the mess that is made in the process will be cleaned up in no time. Just as if you had a fairy godmother.

Here is how you start the whole marvelous marshmallow mess:

First add 1/2 the cold water into the mixing bowl along with the 3 packets of unflavored gelatin. Let stand for 10 minutes, while the sugars get melty, hot, and sticky.

Combine the rest of the water, honey, sugar, brown rice syrup, and salt into the saucepan with candy thermometer attached to the side. Just stir until dissolved, then let it heat until 240 degrees F.

**Little Yellow Note: Jen had the fabulous idea of substituting brown rice syrup for the light corn syrup since she had that on hand, and also because the sugars in brown rice syrup have a lower glycemic index than that of corn syrup, so it is better for the body to consume.

Beware. Be very aware that you may need a slightly bigger sauce pan that you would think. The liquids bubble up like this when they get hot, and may decide to dance over the edge of the pot. My advice to you is that if this happens, simply turn down the flame and quickly stir the mixture (with a silicone or metal device, that won’t melt). You should probably refrain from quickly moving the pot to another location on the stove, only to spill and leave a huge trail of boiling hot sticky syrup trailing behind. Thank you, Jen, for teaching us this very valuable lesson. =) We learned that Simple Green cleaner is a very excellent marshmallow glue remover.

Stream the hot sugar liquid into the mixer bowl with gelatin, and whisk on a low speed.

Extract the vanilla bean seeds and be ready to add to the marshmallow fluff.

Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds. LOOK how fluffy it’s getting! So exciting.

Check out that vanilla spotted marshmallow fluff! It’s so tempting not to eat it all now.

Add to the prepared powdered pan.

Pour the load  of mallow cream into the prepared powdered baking pan. Word of caution: we made the cream first, and let it sit in the bowl, then powdered the pan. That was a terrible idea, because in the time that

Pizza cutter, to the rescue!

I think this is what people mean when they say Santa Claus’ belly is like a bowl fully jelly. They are so squishy and fluffy and sweet!

Everything was white, like ant wier wonderland. Well, since its springtime we had to blast them with some COLOR! With the simple task of creating colored sugar by adding a drop of food coloring to a ziploc baggie, containing a 1/4 cup sugar, we brightened up these little guys in no time!

Also, the mini chocolate chips for eyes and heart-shaped sprinkles for noses, didn’t hurt either. Insta-bunny! Beware, without facial features, the bunny cut-outs looked more like upside-down jellyfish blobs. Not very Easter-y.

Happy Easter!!! Jesus is Resurrected! Time to celebrate!

Ingredients:

1 cup cold water, divided

3 1/4-ounce packages unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup honey

2/3 cup brown rice syrup (or light corn syrup, we just wanted it a bit “healthier”)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 of a vanilla bean, seeds scraped out and reserved

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Combine the cornstarch and powdered sugar.  Spray a 9x13x2-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and then coat with some powder mixture. Set aside for later.

2. Pour 1/2 cup cold water into the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment.  Pour the three gelatin packs over the cold water and let sit while you are making the hot sugar mixture (for about 10 minutes).

3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar, honey, corn syrup, salt and the remaining cold water to a boil.  Just stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Attach a candy thermometer* to the side of the pan and bring mixture up to 240 degrees F. Turn the heat off, and turn the mixer with the firmed gelatin and on a low speed.  While, the whisk is moving, carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the bowl in a steady stream.

4. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer once all of the hot liquid is in the mixing bowl. Beat on high for several minutes until a thick, fluffy and white, which is about 8 minutes.  Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean and beat for another 2 minutes.

5. Immediately after mixing, spread the marshmallow mixture into the powdered pan and smooth with a clean, wet spatula to keep from sticking. You may have to re-wet the spatula a few times.

6. Top the marshmallow with powder mixture and let set and rest for at least 4 hours, or overnight. If you absolutely cannot wait four hours, it will set a lot faster in the fridge for a few hours.

7. When the marshmallow is set, remove it from the pan and place on a large cutting board coated with cornstarch and powdered sugar. Use a pizza cutter, or a large knife, coated with non-stick cooking spray to slice marshmallows.  Once sliced, toss the cut marshmallows in the cornstarch and powdered sugar and store in an airtight container for up to a week, or store in the fridge for even longer.

*Little Yellow Note: It’s worth buying an actual candy thermometer, rather than using an instant read thermometer, even thought those are so much more tempting to purchase. It’s easier to keep an eye on the status of your hot melty sugar, which is so important.

From the Little Yellow Weir Kitchen,

Chrissy, Jen, & Josh