This past week, we’ve had so much snow! Our family loves the snow and we welcome a day of sitting by the fire, while the snow comes down, then heading outside to play and take in all the beauty. Even with the ability to work and do school remotely, it still feels special to be stuck at home during a snowstorm. Most of the time, whether we are inside or outside, we finish off with a mug of hot chocolate! While I have no qualms with store bought marshmallows, I started making homemade ones years ago and still love to do so. I love that you can make different flavors, shapes and colors and they make our hot chocolate just that much better.
A few months ago, I came across a lavender extract paste in my local grocery store and couldn’t pass it up even though I didn’t know what I would use if for. I’ve always thought that chocolate and lavender compliment each other well so when I was preparing to make marshmallows in anticipation of the snow, it made sense to try lavender ones. We all really loved them!
Lavender Marshmallows
1 cup water
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon lavender extract
Confectioners sugar to coat
dried lavender buds, optional
- Lightly oil, or butter, a 9 x13 dish.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle with the gelatin. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, add the sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and continue at a hard boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- Mix the gelatin mixture a few times to make sure it’s combined with the water (it will be very gelatinous!). Slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture and mix on low. Be careful, it’s very hot!
- Slowly turn up the speed on your mixer and and whip for 10 minutes. The batter will get very thick and triple in size! At the end of the 10 minutes it should be almost to room temperature.
- With the mixer turned off, add the lavender extract and then mix a few more times to combine. Here, you can taste to see if the lavender flavor is enough for you. I found a teaspoon and a half to be nice and strong without being overwhelming but this is easy to add a bit more to your taste!
- Transfer the mixture to your oiled, or buttered, pan and use a spatula to smooth and spread it out. Work at a decent pace or else the marshmallow will start to set on you making it difficult to work with.
- It was at this stage that I sprinkled some lavender buds on top of the marshmallows but this is entirely optional.
- Leave for at least 6 hours, overnight is best.
- Sprinkle a large cookie sheet with confectioners sugar (I use at least a cup). Use a knife or spatula to loosen the edges and lift out onto the cookie sheet. Use a knife dipped in confectioners sugar to cut your marshmallow squares. Role each side of the marshmallows in confectioners sugar to coat. This is what stops them from being so sticky.
- Store you marshmallows in an airtight container. They will last at least three weeks.
Notes:
I wouldn’t have children help with the initial making of the recipe, it’s very hot and could easily scald.
If you want rather thick marshmallows, you could use a 9×9 pan.
I only added lavender, and it was perfect for me, but you could also add a teaspoon of vanilla to the marshmallows if you are worried about the lavender taste being too strong.
Don’t skip the 6 hour wait for it to set up as it gets easier, and less sticky, the longer you can wait.
We took a little hot chocolate picnic with us when we went across our creek to sled. The marshmallows make fun little gifts to give to friends as well, I packaged them up in parchment paper and twine with a sweet sprig of lavender.
