Raise your hand if you have ever been in a marshmallow eating contest?  Check out this marshmallow link for some authentic marshmallow fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0NC_fsV6cg

Do you have a marshmallow story, picture, or video to rival this?  Let us hear about it!

It’s no secret, marshmallows are fabulous.  When you think of Easter what store bought treat do you think of?  Peeps of course!  Now they have peeps for other holidays too, but they don’t count.   The marshmallow goodies in the shapes of chicks and bunnies are the only Peeps that I subscribe to.   They are a tradition in my family.  We have had Peeps in our Easter Baskets for as long as I can remember.  I will let you in on a little secret- they are better stale.  It’s true.  Stale marshmallows are the best.  When I was young, I would leave the marshmallow bag open so they could dry out.  I’m sure my Mom loved that when she needed marshmallows for something.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine did a cooking demo and she made marshmallows.  I wanted to try them but haven’t until now.  I tried my friend’s regular white marshmallow recipe and they were good, but I couldn’t leave it at just regular white vanilla marshmallows.  I had to take it a step further with flavored jello marshmallows.  There is a recipe for marshmallows in the older Joys of Jello cookbooks using flavored jello.  I thought the recipes were the same; they are not!  The first “trial” batch I made with a peach jello.  They turned out much better than I expected.  They were a pretty color and they tasted yummy.   The next day I was a bit too confidant and I made 3 more batches.  Since I thought the recipes were the same I just grabbed the first recipe book that I saw and made that recipe.  The result was 3 pans of goop.  I then realized that the recipes were not the same.  So the next time I used the first recipe I had tried and they were a success.

Ingredients:

1 package (3 oz.) jello, any flavor

2/3 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp. light corn syrup

Dissolve jello in boiling water.  Turn down the heat, add sugar and corn syrup and stir until sugar is dissolved.

After the mixture has cooled and slightly thickened, beat with a hand mixture on highest speed for about 5 min.

See how the mixture has turned to a lighter color?  It is getting fluffier and thicker.

Mix until it gets to the stage where it can hold soft peaks.

Now pour into a pan lined with wax paper and greased and coated with powder sugar.  Let chill in fridge overnight.

Then look what happens, they magically turn pink!  No not really, my pictures are taken from two different batches.

I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention!

Dump set marshmallow mixture out onto cutting board which has been heavily coated with powdered sugar.

Cut with scissors or a pizza cutter.

(I found it easier to cut them into strips with a pizza cutter and then cut them into squares with scissors)

Roll cut pieces in powdered sugar.

TaDa!  Yummy flavored marshmallows.

Pastel Marshmallows

1  3oz. package jello (any flavor)

2/3  cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp. light corn syrup

Powdered sugar

Dissolve jello in boiling water in a saucepan.  Turn down heat and stir in sugar, until dissolved- do not boil.  Blend in corn syrup.  Chill until slightly thickened. (I chill it by putting it in a sink filled with cold water, stirring often.)  Line an 8 inch square pan with wax paper, grease with butter.  (I prefer to spray with a non-stick spray and then coat with powdered sugar.)  When mixture has cooled and thickened, beat with an electric mixer on highest speed until mixture can hold soft peaks, about 5 min.  Pour into pan and let set in refrigerator overnight.

Then carefully dump mixture out onto a board that has been heavily coated with powdered sugar.  Peel off wax paper then cut with scissors or pizza cutter.  Roll all sides of cut pieces in powdered sugar.

Now go have some marshmallow JELLO JOY