Marshmallow mix

Blooming the gelatin

• Place the water in the mixer bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and stir to saturate the gelatin in the water. Set it aside for at least 10 minutes while you get the syrup and the pan ready.
  120 mL water , 18 g gelatin powder

Dusting powder

• Sieve the confectioner's sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa powder (if using) together until well combined. Set aside until needed. You can also use only cornstarch, if you don’t want to add sugar or cocoa powder. Use more as needed.
  120 g cornstarch, 60 g confectioner’s sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa powder

Prepping the pan

• Using butter or shortening, grease a 9 x 9 inch pan with a thin layer. Dust the pan with the dusting powder, or cocoa powder. Or line the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Do not use liquid oil (such as vegetable oil), as it wouldn’t spread on the surface evenly.

Making the sugar syrup

• Place the sugar and water in a pot. Add the corn syrup or honey (or other invert sugar substitute). Stir very gently until the sugar is moistened and mixed with the water.
  400 g white sugar, 120 mL water, 100 g corn syrup or honey
• Heat over medium / medium high heat until the sugar syrup starts to simmer. Gently swirl the pan to evenly distribute the heat, and to help dissolve the sugar.
• When the syrup comes to a boil, cover the saucepan with a lid and lower the heat to medium / medium low to simmer the syrup. Let the syrup simmer for about 2 minutes, without lifting the lid off the saucepan.
• After 2 minutes, remove the lid and check to make sure there are no sugar crystals on the sides of the saucepan. If there are crystals on the sides, then cover the saucepan for a further minute to allow the condensation to wash down the sugar crystals into the syrup.
• Clip the sugar thermometer to the side of the saucepan to monitor the temperature, or if you have an instant read thermometer, check the sugar syrup temperature every few minutes.
• Continue to cook the sugar syrup on medium / medium high heat until it reaches the correct temperature. Gently and frequently swirl the pan to ensure the syrup is cooking evenly.

Heating syrup to the correct temperature

• The sugar syrup must be heated to between 240 - 245°F.
• For most climates, around 242 - 243°F works great. If you live in a cold, dry climate, heat the syrup to 240°F. If you live in a hot, humid climate, heat the sugar syrup to 245°F. Check recipe notes for more information.
• If you don't have a sugar thermometer, please check the sugar stage every 5 minutes with the cold water test until it reaches the firm-ball stage. (Please read the notes in my basic marshmallows post to learn how to do this.)
• When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature, remove it from the heat and let the bubbles subside for a few seconds.

Making the marshmallow mix

• Place the bowl with the bloomed gelatin in the mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk the gelatin on medium speed for a few seconds to break it up. Add the salt to the gelatin as well.
  ¼ tsp kosher salt / sea salt
• While the mixer is running on medium / medium low speed, carefully stream in the sugar syrup. Do not dump it all at once.
• Do not pour the syrup directly on the whisk to avoid splash back, and instead pour it along the wall of the bowl. Pour in all of the sugar syrup and the heat should dissolve all of the gelatin.
• Increase the speed to high (9 or 10), and whisk the mixture for at least 5 - 6 minutes. The base should increase about 3 times in size and become white, fluffy, and smooth. It should look like a very fine, glossy, thick meringue.
• While the marshmallow mixture is whisking, dissolve the espresso powder in the vanilla extract. Add up to 1 tbsp of water, so that it's a thick pourable liquid and not a paste. Usually I only need to use about 2 tsp extra water.
  2 tsp pure vanilla extract, 7 tsp instant espresso powder, 1 tbsp water
• Add the espresso-vanilla mixture once the marshmallow has tripled in size after whisking for a minimum of 5 minutes. After adding the flavoring, whisk for a further 1 - 2 minutes until the coffee is mixed through and the color is more uniform.
• Stop whisking and taste the mixture and add a little extra espresso powder IF you want a stronger coffee flavor. If the marshmallow mixture is still warm, the espresso will dissolve when whisked. If you use instant coffee granules, add just a tiny bit of water to dissolve the coffee granules first before adding it to the marshmallow mix.
• The total whisking time can be between 5 - 8 minutes.
• Since it’s easier to spread the marshmallow mixture while it’s warm, stop whisking the marshmallow mix while the bowl is still warm to the touch.
• Using a clean spatula, fold the mixture while still warm to make sure the coffee flavor is mixed through and there are no white streaks.

Spread and set the marshmallow

• Scrape all of the mixture into the 9 x 9 inch pan, and spread it evenly inside the pan using an offset spatula. Scrape in any mixture that is stuck to the spatula and bowl before it sets.
• The marshmallow mixture will thicken and get sticky as it cools down. Cover the spatula with a thin layer of butter / shortening to make it easier to spread the sticky marshmallow if needed.
• Sift the dusting powder (confectioner’s sugar + cornstarch +cocoa powder mix) over the top of the marshmallow liberally to completely cover the surface.
• Set the marshmallow aside to let it set / cure for at least 6 hours at room temperature. Do not put the marshmallow mix in the fridge. When the marshmallow mixture has cooled to room temperature, you can loosely cover it with plastic wrap as well.

Cut the marshmallows

• Turn the set marshmallow block out onto a work and cutting surface that’s dusted with dusting powder. The marshmallow block should easily release from the pan when it’s gently pulled away from the pan with your fingers.
• Cut the block into evenly shaped squares. You can cut the block in a 7 x 7 configuration or 8 x 8 configuration for smaller marshmallows.
• To get clean, neat cuts, lightly grease the blade of your straight blade knife or even scissors. Scrape off any marshmallow residue that sticks to the blade frequently and re-apply the grease to keep it from sticking to the marshmallow.
• Toss the cut marshmallows in the dusting powder and store in an air-tight container with some extra dusting powder.