I must have thought of one and a half million different ideas to do for this marshmallow creation, but didn't love any of them. Any ideas I came up with just didn't seem right. I didn't want to make a recipe with marshmallows in it, I wanted to make the marshmallows the STAR.
Finally, I decided on Raspberry Cheesecake Marshmallows. I began with their Classic Vanilla marshmallow recipe and added fresh raspberry sauce and chunks of cheesecake.
Classic Vanilla Marshmallows
Ingredients:
For the Cheesecake:
- 2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Lightly grease an 8 x 8 pan. Preheat to 350.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cheese and eggs and beat until combined. Add the vanilla. With the mixer on, slowly pour in the sugar. Pour into prepared pan and bake approximately 20-30 minutes. Let cool then place in the refrigerator.
For the Raspberry Sauce:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
For the Marshmallows:
The Bloom:
- 4 1/2 teaspoons : unflavored powdered gelatin
- ½ cup cold water
The Syrup
- ¾ Cup Sugar
- ½ cup cup light corn syrup, divided
- ¼ cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
The Mallowing
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup classic coating (page 8), plus more for dusting
Lightly coat an 8-by-8 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
-Whisk together the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl and let soften for 5 minutes.
-Stir together the sugar, ¼ cup of the corn syrup, water, and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the temperature reaches 240°F. Meanwhile, pour remaining ¼ cup corn syrup into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Microwave gelatin on high until completely melted, about 30 seconds. Pour it into the mixer bowl. Set the mixer speed to low and keep it running.
-When the syrup reaches 240°F, slowly pour it into the mixer bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes. Increase to medium-high and beat for 5 more minutes. Beat on the highest setting for 1 to 2 minutes more and beat in the vanilla; the finished marshmallow will be opaque white, fluffy, and tripled in volume. Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of raspberry sauce to the marshmallows and beat until combined.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drizzle raspberry sauce on top and swirl gently with a knife. Using two spoons, break off small chunks of cheesecake and drop into the marshmallows. Pour the remaining batter on top, and repeat with sauce and cheesecake.
Sift coating evenly and generously over the top. Let set for at least 6 hours in a cool, dry place.
Use a knife to loosen the marshmallow from the edges of the pan. Invert the slab onto a coating-dusted work surface and dust it with more coating. Cut into whatever size pieces you wish (a pizza cutter works great for squares). Dip the sticky edges of the marshmallows in more coating, patting off the excess.
One good thing? There is raspberry sauce and cheesecake left over from this recipe... I didn't really have a problem coming up with an idea of what to do with it. It was taken care of pretty quickly. :)
Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever is published by Quirk Books... if you've never tried a homemade marshmallow, I suggest you quickly pick up a copy of this book, throw away your store-bought mallows, and make up a batch. Besides a little patience, they are relatively easy to do and they taste SO much better (nothing like it's store-bought counterpart!)
Make sure you visit the other bloggers' sites participating in Marsh Madness. 16 bloggers all over the country are whipping up their own versions of their Classic Vanilla Marshmallows. Follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #MarshMadness. At the end of this Mallow-a-thon, Shauna herself will select her favorite recipe!