The last time I made Marshmallows, I kept forgetting to bring them along when I went to back yard bon fires. The whole reason I had made them, was to roast over a fire so that I could compare them to the Jet Puffed ones you get in the stores.
Anyway, the Marshmallows won't actually be finished until tomorrow at the earliest, and I will be busy at least until Sunday. So I will see about posting the finished Marshmallow this weekend, and hopefully get the Rice Krispie squares done as well.
I started by lightly oiling, then dusting a 9x13 cake pan with a dust mixture that was one part cornstarch and one part confectionery sugar. The final marshmallow is very sticky, or what I'm saying is this is a very important step if you want the marshmallows to be easy to work with.
I let the gelatin bloom in a 1/2 cup of water for a few minutes, before putting the bowl over simmering water and making it all dissolve together.
I mixed all the sugars and water together. I misjudged how much corn syrup I had and ended up using honey for the bulk of what was needed. The too are very similar and in most recipes they are interchangeable, however, in this case, it is a main ingredient, not a sweetener (ok, well its both). So its flavour may change the final product. I am waiting for the final product to see how it was changed.
I stirred the ingredients together and then brushed down the sides of the pot. In candy making, if sugar crystals form on the side of the pot and they are not washed away, they may act as a seed and cause everything to crystalize, ruining the candy. Of course, the solution is to just reheat it and do it over again. But that takes effort that could be easily avoided. I also stuck the candy thermometer in at this point.
The mixture at 215 degrees Fahrenheit.
And again at 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
The firm ball stage (one of many stages sugar goes through while cooking) is between 244 and 246 Fahrenheit, however, it can shift up depending on the local environment. Humidity plays a big role here. It is always a good idea to do a cold water test as well as use a thermometer. In my case, I actually had to go to almost 250 before I was in the firm ball stage. At this point I quickly took it off the element and set the bottom of the pan in cool water to stop the cooking process before it moved into another stage.
I started beating the gelatin and slowly added the sugar mixture in a slow and steady stream. There is no picture because I only have two hand and no tripod. However, this is a picture taken immediately after I finished adding the mixture. The colour is a combination of the cane sugar I used (I prefer the taste of cane vs refined white) and the cooking of the sugars (more so the cooking than the ingredients).
However, as more air is added to the marshmallow mixture, the whiter it becomes. As it cools, the gelatin sets, this causes the whole thing to become harder to beat and it also becomes notoriously sticky and hard to work with. I added two table spoons of Vanilla at this point and mixed it until blended together.
All of the mixture is then poured into the 9x13 cake pan.
With a little coaxing, it sits level across the entire pan
When the mixture is cooled, I will dust the top with more of the cornstarch/sugar mixture and cover it with foil. It will then be left until tomorrow morning, when I will cut it into squares using kitchen shears dusted with the same cornstarch/sugar mixture. As I mentioned above, I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
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