Homemade Cherry Marshmallows |Cooking With Amanda

When I wrote about my new favorite Russian tea cake cookies recipe, I mentioned that I am always striving for a balance of flavors when I put together my holiday cookie plates. But I forgot to mention my new secret weapon for gifting said cookie tins: they also include homemade marshmallows.

Last year, in my quest to perfect my creamsicle marshmallows recipe, I made way more marshmallows than Dan and I could ever hope to eat. We're talking "drink hot cocoa two times a day and some of the marshmallows will still go bad before you can get to them" levels here. So I added a few to each tin of cookies that I handed out to family and friends.

They were an immediate hit. Everyone reported back that they loved having fluffy, pillow-y marshmallows to add to their hot chocolate while they were trimming their trees or watching holiday movies or doing their own holiday baking. So I plan to make "add homemade marshmallows to the cookie plates" an annual tradition - because who doesn't love homemade marshmallows?

For these cherry marshmallows, I used the juice from my maraschino cherries (though store-bought will work just as well!), whipping it in at the last minute or so. Because the cherries themselves don't contain any dyes, the marshmallows turned an unappealing brown-ish color, so I also added a few drops of gel-based food coloring to make them a pretty pink. This part is totally optional, though it does make everything look a little more appetizing.

We've enjoyed these with both milk and dark hot cocoa. If you really want to get fancy, they are also amazing with an almond-spiked hot chocolate (just add a few drops of almond extract or a shot of amaretto).

Want to spike your homemade marshmallows? These chambord marshmallows would be great for the holidays as well!

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Homemade Cherry Marshmallows Recipe

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Ingredients

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup water, cold, divided
3 unflavored gelatin envelopes, 1/4 ounce size
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons juice from maraschino cherries
coling red or pink gel food coloring, optional

Directions

Whisk the powdered sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl.
Line a 9"×9″ baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper, including up the sides of the pan, and heavily dust it with the sugar + cornstarch mix. You should use up about 1/2 of the cornstarch mixture for this.
Pour the gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow to rest, undisturbed, until the gelatin absorbs much of the water. This should take a few minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of water with the sugar, corn syrup and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, cover the pan, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes before removing the cover.
Allow the syrup to boil until a candy thermometer says it is 240°F, about 3-5 minutes. Do NOT stir the syrup during this time. Immediately remove the syrup from the heat.
With the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and running on low, gradually pour the syrup into the gelatin. Increase the speed to high and beat until the marshmallow is thick, lukewarm, white and beginning to lose its shine. This should take 12-15 minutes. Add cherry juice and a few drops of food coloring in the last minute or so.
Pour the marshmallow into the lined baking pan. Dust with the remaining powdered sugar and cornstarch.
Allow to rest uncovered at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or until firm.