Red White & Blue Marshmallows

June 18, 2020 by Madeline Horszt 4,124 Comments

The South Shore Kitchens recipe for red white and blue marshmallows makes easy work of 3 layered marshmallows. You can use any flavor or coloring combination you would like! There is absolutely nothing better than homemade marshmallows! They are pillow soft with a creamy flavor that is beyond delicious. Nothing like the rubbery marshmallows from the store. Marshmallows are one of those things you either love or hate. Admittedly, we were not fans of marshmallows until we had made our own from scratch. Now we are a little out of control, at this point there is not a flavor we have not made!

Preparation Is Key

Not to freak anyone out but you really do have to give marshmallow making your full attention. It’s not a hard or complicated process but once your sugar reaches the proper temp these next few steps go very quickly, and you need to be able to keep up.

First and foremost, you will need to dig out your candy thermometer. The temp on this recipe is EXACT. We like to pull the sugar solution off the heat at 238⁰ F because the temp keeps rising fairly quickly and you NEVER want the temp to go above 240⁰ F. This will cause your marshmallows to have a gritty texture. The pan that will be putting your finished marshmallows in and any tools you will use for spreading need to be greased with shortening and set aside before you begin. Making marshmallows is sticky business and you won’t have time to be messing around.

Sugar Syrup

Use a heavy bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid to boil your sugar solution. Place the pan on the burner where you will be cooking and add the sugar, corn syrup and water to the pan pouring low and in the center of the pan taking care not to splash on the sides. Any rogue sugar granules are your enemy at this point. You want to keep them contained so they do not crystalize. This is another cause of gritty marshmallows. Do not stir your ingredients once things get boiling it will basically stir itself. At the point you are thinking ummm…..it’s not working, give it a few more minutes and it will be fine.

Begin cooking sugar syrup ingredients over a medium heat with the lid on the pan. Allow the condensation to build up in the pan. This will sweat down the sides of the pan and clean any stray sugar granules that may have accumulated. After about 5 minutes you can remove the lid and attach your candy thermometer to monitor the temperature. If you see any sugar crystals remaining on the sides of the pan dip a pastry brush into water and brush the sides of the pan to remove any crystals. Once again, do NOT heat sugar syrup beyond 240⁰ F!

Gelatin

In order to easily make the 3 layers of marshmallows you will need to dissolve 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin in 3 tablespoons of hot water. Repeating this process for each layer of marshmallows for a total of 3 times. When dissolving the gelatin in hot water it may become lumpy. If you are unable to remove the lumps when stirring by hand just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds and then stir until smooth. Do not boil the mixture.

Making Marshmallows

This part is where things get a little tricky but it is easier than making 3 separate batches of marshmallows to get 3 colored layers. You are going to put your bloomed gelatin in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment running on low. When your sugar syrup reaches 240⁰ F you are going to carefully pour 1/3 of your blazing hot sugar syrup into the mixer between the edge of the bowl and the whisk while the mixer is running on low. We feel obligated to give you the hot lava warning, the hot sugar syrup is wildly dangerous and should only be poured by an adult who feels confident they will not burn their skin off. Once 1/3 of the sugar syrup is successfully poured into the bowl, add a pinch of salt and then you can kick the mixer speed up to high. Let it mix like crazy for about 5ish minutes. Once you see soft peaks add the coloring and flavor extracts. The texture may look like it has fallen some this is very normal and will stiffen back up. Continue whipping until your mallow resembles a stiff peaks. At this point you don’t have time to mess around. It goes from soft to stiff very quickly. Our favorite way to test if it has been whipped enough is to turn off the mixer, drop the bowl and your mallow should stick to the bottom of the whisk and the mallow in the bowl. If not kick your mixer back on high for a few more minutes.

Things Are Getting Sticky

If your marshmallow mixture is fully whipped you want to get it off the mixer, give the whisk a quick bang, and get your mallow out of the bowl and into your pan as quickly as possible. It will be very sticky and start setting up so you won’t have time to be scraping the mixture off the whisk or off the sides of the bowl. Grab your best scraper, pour and spread your mallow fast. Otherwise it’s a struggle to get it level in your pan.

Rinse and Repeat

Since we are making layers take your saucepan with the remaining 2/3 sugar syrup and begin heating uncovered over medium heat to 238⁰again. Keep in mind it will not take nearly as long to come to temperature. Rinse your mixing bowl and set the gelatin up for your next batch. Once the sugar syrup has reached temperature you are going to pour off ½ of the mixture and whip up the same as you did in the previous step spreading mallow mixture on top of the previous layer in the pan. Repeating the same process entirely for the final batch of sugar syrup.

The Finish Line

After all of your layers have been added to the pan cover with plastic wrap or a tight-fitting lid. Let sit for 8 hours or overnight to fully set. When your marshmallows are fully set sprinkle dusting powder on cutting surface. Lift mallows out of the pan and sprinkle more dusting powder on the top. Take a greased pizza cutter and begin cutting to desired size. As you cut continue dusting all the side of each mallow, so they won’t stick together. Store marshmallows in a mason jar or container with a tight-fitting lid at room temp out of direct sunlight.

There you have it! A perfect batch of red, white and blue marshmallows. Comment down below and tell us if you have ever had scratch made marshmallows. If you give our recipe a try @thesouthshorekitchen on Instagram. We love seeing what you are cooking up!