Gluten Free Home Made Marshmallows Recipe

I had the best of intentions this Holiday Season. To get the house decorated, buy and wrap the gifts, have a wonderful Christmas Eve party for 40 of my closest friends, make marshmallows (a gluten free recipe) to give away as gifts (keeping some for myself of course!), post my blog and enjoy to the fullest this time of year all while remaining stress-free.
Well, I got the house decorated, bought and wrapped the gifts, cooked, cleaned, had a lovely party, spent Christmas day with the family and I even made marshmallows for my friends. I did not however post my blog or remain stress-free.

It all started when my husband who works in California (while we live in Florida) missed his flight home on the 22nd. But no worries, he caught a flight on the 23rd in plenty of time to full-fill all his duties as man of the house and carry out the enormous list of duties to ready the house for the party.

However, as luck would have it the woman sitting next to him on the plane suffered some sort of physical breakdown and while my husband was able to revive her (sitting next to him on a plane is like sitting next to Harrison Ford, he can handle anything and save the day!) the plane had to make an unscheduled stop in Texas to get this woman to a hospital. This meant he missed his connection in Miami and did not effectively get home until Christmas Eve. So much for that big list! I had to do a whole lot of the list (that will teach me to make such big honey-do lists for him, what’s the point if I have to do it all myself?)

But the good news is the woman is fine, he made it home for Christmas and somehow it all got done. Well, except remaining stress-free and posting my blog.

I have been making Marshmallows for Christmas gifts for ages. They are naturally gluten-free and if you have never had home-made marshmallows you are missing one of the true joys of winter (even if it is 80 degrees on Christmas morning). They are easy to make but you do need a good mixer and a candy thermometer.

When I first started to make marshmallows as gifts the response was always the same “I didn’t know you could make marshmallows!” Now what with marshmallow making demonstrations on morning shows, The Food Network and what-not they don’t seem as mysterious as they once did but that does not in anyway lessen the specialness of truly home-made marshmallows (as opposed to the “home-made” kind you but at specialty food stores.)

Marshmallows can be cut in any shape you desire, rectangles and squares are probably the most popular but one could use cookie cutters for unique shapes if desired. Now while my pantry and sock drawer may be a symphony of chaos, I am a tad O.C.D. when it comes to the size and shape of my marshmallows. I like squares. I have tried all sorts of ways to make perfect squares and the easiest is to lay the block of uncut marshmallow on a cutting surface, cut off a small strip at the edges to get rid of the rounded corners and then cut in half, then cut the halves in half and then again. Once that is done you will have strips and then I line those up and cut into squares.

Last night, after the house was finally put to right and the noise had worn down from Christmas, my husband and I had a big mug of hot chocolate with home made marshmallows and watched a movie. Such joy!

I hope you will consider making yourself this amazing treat.
Marshmallows

Ingredients

4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups water
3 cups granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons gluten free vanilla extract
About 1 cup confections sugar – maybe more

Directions

Oil a Pyrex lasagna baking sheet with vegetable oil. Line the dish with foil (don’t use the heavy duty stuff) and then lightly coat the foil with oil.

In the bowl of an electric mixer soften the gelatin with ¾ cup water.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, ¾ cup water and the salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

With the whisk attachment of the mixer at full speed, pour the hot syrup slowly into the gelatin. Continue to beat for 15 minutes. Mixture will be white and fluffy and very stiff. Add the vanilla and beat until completely incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared Pyrex pan and smooth the top with a lightly oiled spatula. Allow to rest uncovered for 10 -12 hours.

Using a fine sieve, sprinkle powdered sugar onto a cutting surface. Turn the marshmallow mixture onto the powdered sugar, remove and discard foil and sift more powdered sugar on top of the marshmallow mixture. Cut as desired. Roll the cut marshmallows in more powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

Prepare your taste buds for the absolute best marshmallow you have ever tasted!

Resource :http://simplygluten-free.com/blog/2007/12/home-made-marshmallows.html

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