DIY: Mashmallows! (cinnamon)

Yum!!




I have been meaning to make these little yummies for a while now,  but have never been brave enough!

I've always been scared because you seem to need a huge list of things, including candy thermometers and giant whisk blender thingies.  Well, I tried it without anything fancy, and these are YUMMY.

Found a few recipes and mashed them together because I wanted a different flavour, because I was missing some ingredients, because I ran out of sugar, and last but not least because it was reeeeeeally cold and wet outside and I didn't want to go to the shop.    That's not lazy by the way, that is smart *nods*.

And also because 'sachet' means nothing to me so I guessed some amounts of gelatine, and turned all the 'cups' into approximate grams.

GIANT TIP: if you don't have a machine/handheld electric whisky type device, I'd draft in a friend or 4 to help, 'cause whisking for 15 minutes is crazy difficult...

To make your own, you will need:

• 18g unflavoured gelatine
• 125mls water
• 400g sugar
• ~125mls golden syrup ( I used 6 big tablespoons...?) - Or 'Corn Syrup' for those in the USA!
• 75 mls water
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 2tsp cinnamon
• food colouring
• icing sugar (to cover little squares once cut because they're stiiiicky)

(Before you begin, cover a baking tray in cling film, then rub a little bit of oil over it top stop it sticking.  Apparently greaseproof paper works too)

1. pour the 125mls water into a large pot (or mixing bowl), and empty out the gelatine into this.  Leave to sit for ~ 10 mins whilst you sort out the next step.

2. into a smaller pot, mix the sugar, 75mls of water, and around 6 tablespoons of golden syrup.  On a medium heat, bring this to the boil, and allow to boil (properly boil, not simmer) for a minute.  Once done, pour in on top of your gelatine/water mix in your bigger pot (or mixing bowl).

3. WHISK UNTIL YOU CAN WHISK NO MORE.  If you have an electric whisker, great.  If not, I would recommend taking your jumper off before you begin.  Beat the mixture for 15 minutes.

4.  Add in your tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp cinnamon, along with a couple of drops of your food colouring.  mix well.

5. Pour into your cling-filmed baking tray, and pop into the fridge to set overnight (or over a few hours, whenever you made it).  

6. Once set, whilst still in the baking tray, cover the surface with icing sugar (yummy and de-stickifying).  turn out onto a board/plate and chop into pieces!  whatever size you like!  

At this point I discovered that if you simply chop a piece and leave it, it'll stick back onto the piece you just cut it from, so roll all your pieces in icing sugar to stop them being sticky!

You're done!

Wrap nicely and give to special people :) 

I lined plastic card bags in coloured crepe paper and emptied a few mallows in, then labelled with a string tag.  aww.  

According to my googling, mashmallows last around a week or two (?).  Mine will all have disappeared by then, so I doubt it much matters.


Have you ever made mashmallows before and what kid were they?  Any sweet cooking disasters?