Who says marshmallows have to be square? These little DIY Marshmallow Dollops fit perfectly on a cup of cocoa, and look prettier, too!
This experiment marks the kick off of a little marshmallow spree I’ll be on all weekend. I figure once I get out the stand mixer and the gelatin packets I might as well go for it. I think homemade marshmallow are so worth the little extra effort, the flavor and texture is much better than store bought. One bite reminds you that marshmallows are actually candy, not the tasteless puffs we’re used to from the bag. These remind me of vanilla taffy.
I’m going to be honest, though, these aren’t easy to shape into perfect dollops. You’re going to have to prepare yourself for some slumped, misshapen heaps among the occasional perfectly swirled dollop. But if you can muster a little dexterity and a lot of tolerance for a sticky mess, you’ll wind up with some pretty cute little treats. The issue is that the marshmallow goo has to go inside a large zip lock baggie and then get extruded out through a hole you cut in one corner. Sounds simple enough, but it’s a little bit of a challenge. I used my basic vanilla bean marshmallow recipe that you can fine here. If you want to you can just make them the old fashioned way, in neat little cubes. I think these have a whimsical charm, though, and are worth the sticky fingers.
Keep them for the kids’ cocoa, give them away by the bagful. These will come in handy in the next few months, I promise. I suppose you could sprinkle them with crushed candy canes, or dust them with cocoa powder for a variation. Sprinkles, too. There are lots of reasons to make these, but the main one is that making marshmallows is just plain fun. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you end up with the silkiest glossiest marshmallow cream.
Once the marshmallows have dried a bit they can be bagged without sticking together.
Have fun!
Looking for ways to use your dollops? Here are a few of my favorite cozy beverages ~
*This recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
DIY Marshmallow Dollops
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil, for brushing
- 4 envelopes unflavored gelatin, 3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract or paste
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Lay out a large sheet of parchment paper on a flat surface and spray it with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, put 3/4 cup of water. Sprinkle the gelatin over it and let it sit.
- In a medium saucepan, put the sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Begin heating it, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then stop stirring and let the sugar syrup come up to 238 degrees. It will boil for a while before it gets there.
- Then, with the mixer on low, slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer until it is on high. Beat on high for about 12 minutes until the mixture is stiff. Beat in the vanilla.
- Pour the marshmallow into a gallon sized zip lock baggie. The easiest way to do this is the set it over a small bowl and fold back the top to form as big an opening as you can. Snip a 1/2 inch hole off one corner.
- Working quickly, pipe little spirals, working from the outside in, until you have a nice dollop. Go on until you have used up all the marshmallow cream.
- Let the dollops sit until they are firm, several hours at least, depending on how dry your weather is. Dust them with confectioner's sugar and carefully peel them off the paper. Dust the bottoms with confectioner's sugar as well.
Notes:
- These won’t spoil, but they will dry out, so keep them in an airtight container.
- Love chocolate? Try my CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS.
Don’t forget to pin these DIY Marshmallow Dollops!
The dollops are little swirls of heaven!
Love that ~ thanks Pam!
I just tried these tonight – they are going to be part of a Christmas present. It went pretty well, but wish I would have made it in two half batches. It is a LOT of marshmallow and even my gallon ziploc struggled to hold it all. I zipped it closed, started to pipe, and felt it oozing out the top. I could not keep the bag zipped. But the marshmallows are beautiful and delicious. I topped with peppermint sugar crystal sprinkles and powdered sugar. Yum!
Complete candy novice here…. This was a disaster for me 🙁 How on earth do you get the sugar to 238 degrees without it turning brown? And how long does it usually take to reach that temperature?
Check your thermometer, D, it could be off. You can check its accuracy by putting it in a pan of boiling water, and it should read 212F. If not, you can adjust accordingly. Hope this helps!
Try lowering the flame. It will take longer, but won’t burn and watch the thermometer like a hawk.
Hi! Making these for my daughter’s Frozen themed Birthday Party…perfect for the hot cocoa bar!! But they didn’t set well right away and my cute Puffs turned into blobs!! What could have gone wrong?? Thank you! Taste great though! Lol
If they don’t keep their shape, you probably need to beat the mixture longer, they should hold stiff peaks. If they don’t set properly, it could be due to humidity in the air.
Can you use a regular hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer?
Hi Dana — you can use a hand mixer, but just be aware it’s a very long time to be mixing. It certainly can be done, though.
I’ve made these twice now, with a hand mixer…BUT, I’m making 1/2 recipe and I think that helps a lot. My hand mixer is over 10 years old, 170 watt, Kitchen Aid Ultra Power and towards the end, it is struggling a bit. It is taking 8-9 minutes for the 1/2 recipe and it gets very thick as well as volume-wise, it is more than 1/2 of a good sized mixing bowl.
I made peppermint marshmallows from this recipe yesterday (I halved the recipe and used 1 tsp vanilla and 1/8 tsp peppermint extract. I tried for dollops but was getting blobs so gave up and put the remaining mix in a bread pan and cut into squares.
I don’t have a stand mixer but I did get what I thought was the correct consistency in about 9 minutes. The squares are wonderful – actually the blobs are fine taste wise, just not very attractive!
Will try again – thanks for the inspiration. I might try the egg white recipe also.
Hot chocolate is one of my favorite winter treats, so I love the idea of ready to go marshmallow dollops! I’m going to try subbing agar powder for the gelatin and see how they turn out.
Fun! We just did the same kind of piped marshmallows for our blog – Stay Puft Marshmallow tops (recipe will be posted sometime before Halloween) – as a part of a Ghostbusters themed photo shoot. Not many people seem brave enough to pipe marshmallow but it’s nowhere near as bad as I thought it’d be. Glad to see other people playing with marshmallow!
I wondered if spraying the inside of the bag with cooking spray would help, I’m going to try that next time. Looking forward to your post!
I used a Wilton brand “Featherweight Decorating Bag”. I picked it up when I was in cooking school because I needed something that would dry quickly before packing it back up in my kit. It’s a fairly slick material – may be why I didn’t find it too difficult to work with. The marshmallow definitely settled a little, so when I piped the rounds I made them slightly smaller than what I needed them to be. The post should be live on the 25th!
these are so cute..definitely next on my ‘to make’ list!
xxCarrie
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