Thursday, February 3, 2011

Raspberry Marshmallows


I've been craving raspberries for the past two weeks, so everyone will have to forgive what is likely to become a series of raspberry themed posts.

I've been wanting to post a fruit flavored marshmallows for a while now. However, I had not stumbled upon quite the right recipe. I could always fall back on my regular marshmallow base and dress it up with some food coloring and flavoring oils but I wanted something that had a fresher taste. A lush homemade marshmallow that packed real fruit flavor.

I lucked out when I stumbled upon this recipe at Butter Sugar Flour, utilizing only four ingredients and needing no artificial flavors or colors. Just plenty of fresh raspberries.


So it came as no surprise when I popped a few of these marshmallows into my mouth and they tasted just like these.

All homemade candy has a somewhat deserved reputation for being difficult to make. I know a lot of folks who refuse to even try their hand at cooked syrup confections. Those of us who have, no doubt have experienced the flustered cook-rage at the sight of crystalized fudge and burning caramel. Candy isn't always forgiving but I'm going to go out on a limb and argue marshmallows are probably one of the easiest candies you can make.

Requiring simple ingredients and few steps, they come together with ease in my kitchen. Provided you have the basic tools and you don't walk away and allow the syrup to catch fire, you could be a marshmallow virtuoso.

They're worth it, too. Those Jet-Puffed confections at your local grocer have nothing on the luscious texture of the homemade variety. Even marshmallow haters like Mr. Humble will gobble them down.



I'm cutting my marshmallow into simple cubes for snacking, but they will be perfect for Valentine's day too. Just grab a small heart shaped cookie cutter and use it to cut out adorable pink heart marshmallows.

Naturally, they're delicious in a steaming cup of hot chocolate. I'm considering making some chocolate ice cream and mixing these in for a raspberry twist on ordinary rocky road.

Let's get down to how to make them...



Raspberry Marshmallows
from Butter Sugar Flour with slight modifications
300g fresh or frozen raspberries
500g granulated sugar
20g powdered gelatin
60g egg whites

Using a flavorless oil like canola, lightly grease a 13" x 9" pan.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the raspberries until soft and juicy. Mash them with a fork to help release the juices. Once soft, press the raspberries through a sieve to remove the seeds and reserve the liquid (approximately 1 cup) in a large bowl. If the raspberry liquid seems very thin and watery, reduce it over medium low heat until it thickens. Set the mixture aside to cool and start the sugar syrup.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, cook the sugar with one cup of water. Stir frequently until it comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Then clip on your candy thermometer and maintain a gentle boil without stirring until it reaches 255°F.

While waiting on the syrup, sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the cooled raspberry mixture and whisk. When the syrup is getting close, drop the egg whites into your mixer and beat them on medium speed until foamy.

Once the syrup comes to temp, pour the syrup into the large bowl with the raspberry and gelatin. It will bubble up, which is why I emphasized a large bowl earlier. Whisk the mixture to dissolve the gelatin then pour into your mixer with the eggs. Beat on medium-high speed for several minutes, until the mixture has cooled a bit and tripled in volume. Pour the gooey marshmallow mass into your prepared pan, smooth with an offset spatula and allow to stand and cure for several hours.


Once the marshmallows have cured, cut around the edges with a knife to release the sheet. Dust the surface liberally with a mixture of rice flour and powdered sugar (1/2 c. of each will do the trick). Lack rice flour? Substitute potato starch or--in a pinch--corn starch. As you remove the marshmallow from the pan, toss some of the dusting mixture under the sheet to aid in releasing it. Use as much as you need to keep it from sticking to everything.

Place the marshmallow sheet onto a well dusted cutting board.

Now you can cut it into cubes or pull out the cookie cutters and cut out shapes from the sheet. Toss the cut marshmallows into a bowl with the dusting mixture and toss to thoroughly coat. Transfer to an air tight container.

Raspberry marshmallows have a much shorter shelf life than the vanilla recipe I use frequently use on this blog. They are best fresh, but I would keep them for around three days at room temperature stored in an air tight container.

Enjoy!



42 comments:

  1. Ooooh these would indeed be perfect in hot chocolate!

    If you have a craving for raspberries I hope you have a tolerance for chocolate, too!

    That's gotta be a match made in heaven!

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  2. Mr. Humble is already soaking these in a steaming cup of hot chocolate. His reward for sweeping up all the marshmallow dust when he returned home from work.

    I experimented with several of raspberry baked goodies today. (It's so great having my energy back)

    No chocolate unfortunately, though I did consider dipping these marshmallows. I tried something a little daring today too. Playing with pomegranate, orange and spice (in addition to raspberry) in my latest baking experiment.

    Tomorrow I will get to taste it.

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  3. I made these a while back, they are soooo delicious! Yours are so pretty and pink! I'm excited to see what you made with orange & spice.

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  4. Ooo I have been wanting to make marshmallows for a long time, but I am one of those people who gets nervous at the thought of boiling sugar...However, I have some leftover gelatin from a different baking project:
    http://singlegirlskitchen.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/semi-sweet-chocolate-cake-with-vanilla-cream-filling-and-chocolate-ganache-frosting/
    so maybe it's time to put on my big girl apron and make me some marshmallows.

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  5. Mmm massive chocolate cream cake.

    Stabilized whip cream is awesome stuff.

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  6. Love them! I'm planning on making pink marshmallows to decorate a chocolate cake, I think I'll make these!

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  7. Oh! These look amazing! I've made some other flavors, but these look great!

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  8. I have always stored my homemade marshmallows in containers which allow a little bit of air to circulate. I have found that when I use air tight containers the marshmallows sweat. Have you not had this problem?

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  9. Aaahhh! Ik would love to make these. Problem is in Holland I can't find powdered gelatine. Do you think I can you regular gelatine sheets? And do you have any idea how I should use the sheets in this recipe?

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  10. @Nina there is a Dr Oetker powdered gelatin...I couldn't navigate the Dutch site but here is the UK link http://www.oetker.co.uk/oetker_uk/html/default/debi-7naclm.en.html

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  11. Mmmm, I like it, great idea. They must be perfect!

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  12. @ Kelly: Thank you! I'll check the supermarkets again :)

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  13. @Nina: Check out the Jello Shot Test Kitchen (http://jelly-shot-test-kitchen.blogspot.com/p/gelatin-conversions-sheetleaf-and-agar.html)
    They have a ressource page and tell you how much sheet gelatin or agar-agar to use in place of powder packets. plus lots of tempting jello creations. :)
    @ Ms. Humble: These look lovely. I sadly didn't get the chance to try out marshmallows (and all my other baking plans) for Christmas as I'd hoped. I will have to try these. LOVE Raspberry. I have visions of these cut into little hearts and coated in chocolate for Valentine's Day. If only I had the time for all the baking I want to do. *sigh*

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  14. Meredith,

    No sweaty marshmallows here. Could be a climate difference? I've always kept them in zip-top bags with little trouble. Also, the rice flour I always use for dusting likely prevents much sweating.

    Nicole & cupcakekelly,

    Thanks for the gelatin info!

    I will note that agar agar doesn't give the same spring that gelatin does for marshmallows, so be mindful when substituting other gelling agents.

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  15. I love homemade marshmallows! I will have to give these a try...they sound wonderful!

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  16. oh no! why did i see this? Now I'll spend my day thinking about raspberry marshmallows!

    These look so good and I'm definitely going to try them, and likely end up dunking them in chocolate at some point!

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  17. Oooh, these look so good, even though I typically don't eat marshmallows I would love to try the recipe out. Thanks!
    One question: the raspberry syrup will be quite hot right? Should we pour slowly in a steady stream into the egg whites, or just throw it in and then start the mixer? It would cook the egg whites if we aren't careful I could imagine?
    Thanks ahead Ms Humble!

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  18. Slowly is probably wise (both from an egg and safety perspective), but I admit to turning on the mixer and pouring it in pretty quickly.

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  19. I am currently making these and everything tastes and smells right, however the mixer isn't increasing the volume and the mix is still pretty thin- not spreadable with a spatula! What do you think might have gone wrong? Currently leaving it to cool a bit in the mixer then going to give it another whizz.

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  20. It will be a worryingly thin syrup going into the mixer. Then it takes upwards of 10 minutes of beating in a stand mixer to whip it up into a marshmallow cream consistency. It starts incorporating air into the mixture as it cools and the candy syrup hardens.

    If it doesn't solidify, this is likely due to the sugar syrup being short of the target temperature (the candy is too soft). It can happen when your candy thermometer is a little off. Even ten degrees can make a big difference.

    To ensure you candy thermometer is reading correctly, boil some water and take the temperature. Given your altitude, water should boil at a fixed temperature (http://whatscookingamerica.net/boilpoint.htm).

    I live at sea level, so my thermometers should read about 212 degrees in boiling water. If they do not, I remember how off they are (+ or - a certain number of degrees) and take that into account when making candy. (If they are really off, I toss them and buy a new one)

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  21. My batch is currently curing. The amount left on the beater for me to taste was really good, though! I'm pretty excited to eat actual marshmallows!

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  22. @ms humble thank you- I used two different thermometers because I am notoriously bad at boiling sugar. V weird! Anyways I let it set and they are delicious if a weeny bit thinner than I was expecting! Thanks for sharing!

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  23. Ms humble, you are a freaking *genius*! These blew away my previous favorite chocolate/oreo marshmallows. The raspberry came through marvelously and the texture was lovely! I'm pretty sure they will get rave reviews at the party I'm going to today. I will so be making these again!

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  24. I forgot to say that I tried cutting the marshmallows with floss this time. I took a really long piece, wrapped it all the way around the marshmallow block, and pulled it tight. It's the easiest method I've tried yet! (I'm really not good at cutting my marshmallows with knives or even pizza cutters... :-) Thanks again!

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  25. They look beautiful! I keep hearing about how much better home made marshmallows are than store-bought.. Definitely want to try this one soon! I wonder if you could do strawberry marshmallows...

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  26. These sound amazing. I love your photos.

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  27. Strawberry should work too. The recipe's author mentioned it worked with several fruits. Just follow the same method of cooking the fruit to break it down and reduce the liquid.

    However I have this tickle in the back of my brain about some fruits that prevent the gelatin from gelling. I'm thinking kiwi...maybe pineapple?

    I could be completely wrong about this, my brain feels like it is running on empty lately this far into the pregnancy.

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  28. As a resident of a non-corn-syrup country, I thank you most sincerely for this and any other syrup-free treats you might come up with in the future :)

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  29. These are exquisite. I love their pale pinkness and four-ingredient simplicity :)

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  30. made these and then promptly made raspberry marshmallow smores....absolutely divine!

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  31. My syrup won't get hotter than 235 and it's been 35 minutes! Your recipe says to "simmer" it, which implies turning down the heat from a boil, while the recipe this is based off of says to turn UP the heat to a medium for 5-10 minutes or until the syrup hits 255. What should I do?

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  32. Lise,

    Yes you can turn the heat up. However, it shouldn't be necessary to to go beyond medium heat if the syrup is simmering (gentle boil is probably a more appropriate term to use here, I'll edit that in) . The sugars temperature is a reflection of the amount of water left in the syrup (the boiling point of the syrup), not the temperature of the stove itself. As the water evaporates, the sugar will eventually come to temperature.

    35 minutes is way to long though, easily double the time necessary. Certainly turn the heat up, however be mindful that it isn't an issue with the thermometer, sometimes when the probe isn't submerged enough in the syrup it will read at a lower temperature.

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  33. Thanks for your response! I turned up the heat to just above medium and the syrup boiled hard but the temp finally got up to 255 within about 5 minutes! The thermometer was submerged all the way, although I didn't test it beforehand to see if it was accurate, let's hope that it was.

    I mixed the syrup with everything (it took me about 4 minutes of using a hand mixer to get the "oh, this is definitely marshmellow goo!") and now it's sitting on the counter and looking delicious!

    I used blackberries in place of raspberries, btw, and from tasting the warm marshmellow from the bowl, it's going to be delicious, but perhaps next time I might use a little bit over 1 cup to get a sufficient amount of blackberry flavor.

    Also, for newbies like me who attempt this recipe and are unfamiliar with grams: 500 grams of sugar is like 5 cups, and 60 grams of egg whites was 2 eggs worth. I bought a kitchen scale and did everything in grams, but it might be helpful to know such things before you attempt to measure out on the scale.

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  34. 500 grams of sugar is more like 2-2 1/2 cups! I used 2 cups and they were delicious.

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  35. I store my marshmallows in a plastic box and they last at least a week unless devoured first.

    When I bagged some up for a friend as a little gift, they deteriorated so quickly they were inedible. The outsides became really crunchy and the insides non-existent. It's obviously something to do with the bags not being airtight.

    If you package yours up, how do you do it without them off ?!

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  36. Susie,

    Since we are using fresh berries in this candy, the marshmallows are more perishable than other types and have a relatively short shelf life. This makes gifting them tricky. The container needs to be closer to that plastic box you were storing them in. Something like an italian canning jar without the gasket. A little celophane bag can work, with ultra-fresh marshmallows that are consumed fairly soon after being gifted. Usually though, I just invite folks over to pig out on the freshly made fruit marshmallows. It's easier.

    Now if you really want to give away pretty pink marshmallows in cute little baggies, I would suggest going the more traditional candy route: Raspberry oil, food coloring and a standard vanilla marshmallow base. Those will dry out slower and hold up much better in little bags.

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  37. Wow! This is amazing! I stumbled upon this sight while searching for marshmallows and this is just fabulous! Nice job lover your web site!

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  38. I made this a few days ago but used gorgeous fresh cherries instead of raspberries - the first cherries of the season! It was definitely delicious, however had an... odour. I am always very careful to measure because of differences in quantities between Australian and US measurements, but 20 grams of powdered gelatine is the same in both countries... Does anyone have any ideas for this problem? The marshmallows tasted lovely but the overwhelming smell of gelatine made them smell meaty and... dare I say it, a bit doggy, and I threw the whole lot out. Why did this happen? Have I done something wrong? Generally the texture was lovely and smooth, with a tiny chalkiness - is that the right or expected texture? Did anyone else have the smelly-issue?

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  39. Ah yes, the joys of wet dog gelatine. One of the reasons I don't make gummy candy for the blog is because in large amounts, the taste of gelatine is hard to mask. Marshmallows though, don't require much so usually the taste is hard to pick up on, even in plain vanilla.

    When you can taste it in a marshmallow, that is usually due to either the brand or strength or gelatine. Sheet gelatine comes in several different strengths so powdered may vary as well, brand to brand and country to country. A stronger gelatine might provide more geling power and more damp-pooch flavor than one would need or desire. Another reason could be brand, some gelatines are just more refined and taste better. Gelatin is after all made from some horrible stuff so the more processed and refined, the better.

    So you may have done absolutely nothing wrong.

    As for texture, they should be very, very light and delicate. Chalky only perhaps from the hint of rice flour on the outside.

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  40. This had a strong raspberry flavor which my husband liked. Only problem I had was the sheet stuck after curing despite oiling the pan before curing and using the combo potato starch flour and powdered sugar. Therefore it was only the bottom that didn't have a smooth surface. Next time I'll use parchment paper and oil the top of it before pouring the marshmallow cream. Try the recipe out, it's delightful and people are amazed on homemade marshmallows.

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