Did you know that it’s really easy to make homemade marshmallows? And that they taste incredible?! Once you make your own you’ll never go back to store bought!
I dug out my homemade marshmallow recipe earlier this week and made a batch so we could enjoy some at home and give some away for holiday teacher gifts. To say that my daughters love them is a huge understatement. For my last birthday, the cards that they made me had a bit of a recurring theme:
Hopefully their teachers will love their gift of marshmallows as much as my girls do:
More about the teacher gift packaging and those adorable candy cane spoons after the recipes. Let’s get to making some marshmallows:
*Wash all of the dishes as soon as you’re done making the marshmallows. I know, sometimes I tend to leave mine lingering in the sink too but don’t do it this time. The marshmallow mixture will harden on your bowls and utensils like a rock if they sit for a while. Then you have to do lots of soaking before you can clean them and that’s just no fun.
*Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in small bowl. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 baking or jelly roll pan very lightly with Crisco. Also grease a spatula. Add the powdered sugar/cornstarch mix to a sifter and sift to coat the bottom and sides of the pan (this is best done over the sink!) and the spatula. Keep the remaining mix to use later.
*In a small saucepan, mix the remaining 1/2 c. water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan, turn down to medium heat, and continue cooking, mixing occasionally, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F. It will take about 7-8 minutes.
*Once the syrup mixture reaches the 240 degrees, remove it from the heat.
*Turn the mixer on low speed and, while mixing, very slowly pour the hot syrup mixture down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup mixture, increase the mixer speed to high. Whip until it becomes very thick, about 12-15 minutes. During the last minute of whipping, add the vanilla. When you’re done it will look a lot like marshmallow fluff:
*Once cut, generously dust all sides of each marshmallow with the sugar/cornstarch mixture. (I do this by sifting a layer of the mixture onto a cutting board and rolling the marshmallows in it). You’ll end up with 8-9 dozen of these fluffy, scrumptious beauties:
*Let the cut marshmallows sit uncovered for about an hour so that they develop a bit of a skin (this helps keep them from sticking to each other). Store in an airtight container – if you are going to be eating them in just a few days they are fine to keep at room temp but otherwise, keep them in the fridge to keep them fresh longer. They. Are. Delicious.
A simple gift idea is to put a few in a mug like one of {these cute dotted ones}, and add a candy cane spoon and some hot chocolate:
You can also make marshmallows in different shapes by using cookie cutters like heart marshmallows for Valentine’s Day (I turned them pink by using a few drops of red food coloring in the last minutes of mixing):
They make the cutest little Valentine’s gifts packed in {these little cake pop boxes}:
I also thought I’d share my quick and easy hot chocolate recipe since nothing goes with marshmallows than a cup of hot chocolate:
Ingredients:
5 c. instant milk powder
3 c. powdered sugar
1 1/4 c. Hershey’s cocoa powder
1 c. powdered creamer
Directions:
*Put milk powder in a a food processor or blender and blend until it’s a fine powder.
*In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk powder, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and powdered creamer. Stir to combine all ingredients.
*Store mixture in an airtight container.
*To make a cup of hot chocolate, pour 3/4 c. water into a mug with 1/3 c. mix. The recipe makes enough mix for about 30 servings.
For our teacher gifts, I found these galvanized bins at Michaels and simply wrapped a ribbon around them, using a few glue dots to hold the ribbon in place.
Since the bins are curved, you’ll have to angle your ribbon up in the back:
Along with one mason jar filled with marshmallows and another filled with hot chocolate mix, I added a bundle of edible candy cane spoons:
They come individually wrapped and are peppermint flavored. Love them. You can get them on Amazon {here} (this is an affiliate link – see my full disclosure statement {here}).
I finished off each teacher gift with a tag that has the recipe for the perfect cup of hot cocoa – you can download the tag that I made in two sizes {here}.
Now go get mixing… and enjoy!!!!
XO,
Love this so much! First love your daughter’s sweet birthday cards and the pick your favorite design detail…adorable! The peppermint spoon is the cutest thing ever…getting some! And definitely saving these recipes and your tips. I’ve never made homemade marshmallows, but they look amazing! Super cute gift idea!
Oh my!! This is SO cute, Kris!! I can’t wait to try them, I have a feeling my boys would have a hard time waiting for the cocoa to go with them! Happy Birthday, those darling cards are too sweet!
Kris, So super cute and yummy! Those are some very lucky teachers!
Thanks!!
Wow, what a great idea! As a retired teacher, I can assure you that gift will be well received. Thank you for the recipes and ideas.
Glad to hear you think it will go over well! We recently moved and the school our girls now go to prohibits gift cards or anything of much monetary value for the teachers so this was the best I could come up with!
How amazing! What a wonderful gift!! You’re such a domestic mom. Love it!
Lindsay, if you saw my mess of a house right now, you would sooo not be saying that. 🙂
Pin – pin – pin…..It’s a pinning frenzy again at Driven By Decor 🙂
Kris I am SO excited, seriously, to try these recipes! I have never made homemade marshmallows OR cocoa mix and can’t wait to try them! Homemade cocoa thus far has meant mixing the store-bought mix on the stovetop, instead of ripping open the envelopes of Swiss Miss. You are bringing the whole hot cocoa thing to a whole new level!!!!! My kids will thank you so very much for this!
Kris, Thanks for this. We’re so doing this today. Perfect for the snowy weather they’re predicting here. Thanks!
You will love them!!!
this is amazing! next year’s co-worker gifts…can’t wait…
Enjoy Aaryn!!
kris, love this post and the home tour today!
questions:
1) where did you get the cute cocoa chalkboard with barnwood frame?
and
2) where did you get the small bells that you put on your DR chandy?
i rec’d my Amazon “cow bells” the other day and LOVE them….they’re huge/heavy, but gorgeous!
Your home looks absolutely beautiful….and the snow! So pretty…..my house isn’t fully decorated this yr, yet….we’ve been behind….but maybe next yr i’ll be able to take some good pics…just love seeing everything you’ve done though….happy holidays!