I am admittedly a little late to the homemade marshmallow craze, but wow I am here now. These are made with beef gelatin and maple syrup and no high fructose or white sugar, so they are way better for us, at least in moderation.
And with the addition of peppermint extract and cocoa extract they turn hot chocolate and coffee into a dreamy minty cocoa frothy experience. Keep in mind peppermint extract is very strong, you can play with your ratios, but I found any more than 1/2tsp of peppermint was too much and overpowered the cocoa.
Ingredients
1 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Water
3 tbs Gelatin
1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
1/2 tsp Chocolate Extract
Stand Mixer or Hand held mixer
(not sure a stick blender would work for this)
Candy thermometer
Directions to Make
Step 1
Combine 1 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup water in a pot and heat until it reaches 240°
While the maple syrup is heating up, bloom the gelatin (step 2). This is also a good time to line a baking sheet with a greased piece of waxed paper and grease your spatula (the one you’ll use to pour the whipped marshmallows).
Coconut oil or vegetable oil works well for the greasing.
Step 2
In the bowl of a stand mixer,
Bloom 3tbs gelatin and 1/2 cup water.
Step 3
When the boiling syrup reaches 240 pour into the bowl of your mixer. Start on low and slowly increase speed to high. Whip for about 10min, once it starts to form peaks, it's ready to be poured into the pan.
About 30 seconds before it’s done whipping, add the 1/2tsp peppermint and 1/2 teaspoon cocoa extract and whip to combine.
Marshmallows set up really quickly, so once it’s whipped, move quickly to pour into your prepared pan.
Leave uncovered for at least four hours to set up. I leave it overnight and cut them in the morning.
A few tips;
It’s really easy to over whip marshmallows. If you notice the marshmallows starting to move up the whisker, then you are close to over whipping. You want to stop whipping when a soft peak forms, one that slowly melts back down onto itself. Ten minutes is a rule of thumb, I’ve had some batches whip up in 5min.
So it’s really best to watch the clock, watch the marshmallows in the bowl, and use your heart.
When you are heating the syrup, it might feel like it's taking forever, but those last few degrees at the end rise quickly, so don’t get distracted. Also, if your heat is too high, the syrup may boil over the top of the pan, so pay attention for that as well. I found a low heat works best, because the risk of it boiling over is lower.
Use a greased knife to cut, it’s really helpful. Once they are cut, dust them with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together.
So good on hot cocoa, healthy hot golden cocoa, and it turns coffee into a peppermint mocha latte.
Enjoy!