I watched the gorgeous Annabel Langbein making marshmallows on her new show, The Free Range Cook, and couldn’t resist trying them out! We adapted her recipe and this one by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall to come up with our own version.
These moreish morsels only have four ingredients – sugar, gelatine, vanilla extract and egg white. The texture is reminiscent of a firm meringue pie topping – quite different from the commercial versions which are bouncy and rubbery (and made in a very different way). These have a lovely old world charm to them.
Make sure you allow plenty of time for the mix to set before cutting – the marshmallows will continue to firm up over the next day or so. Instead of greasing and dusting the pan, we lined it with a sheet of parchment, which was then lightly sprayed with oil. The finished sweets then only needed a light dusting of cornflour (cornstarch) and icing sugar to keep them from sticking together.
- 2 large free range egg whites (as fresh as possible)
- 500g (2¼ cups) white sugar
- 250ml (1 cup) water
- 25g (0.88 oz) leaf gelatine (see Hugh’s recipe if you’re using powdered gelatine)
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract (we used homemade)
- mixture of cornflour (cornstarch) and icing sugar, for dusting
1.Line a rectangular baking tray with parchment paper, and lightly spray the top of the paper. I used a 33cm x 22cm (13″ x 9″) roasting tray.
2. In a medium saucepan with a long handle, stir the sugar and water over a low heat until the sugar dissolves, then raise the heat and bring to a rapid boil. Clip on a candy thermometer and boil the syrup until it reaches hard ball stage (122C/252F). This will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes.
3. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes.
4. Before the syrup reaches temperature, place the egg whites in the bowl of a sturdy stand mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. Timing is quite important, and the sugar syrup, egg whites and gelatine need to be ready at the same time. It helps, but isn’t essential, to have two people on the job – one to watch the syrup thermometer and the other to prepare the other ingredients.
5. Once the syrup is at the right temperature, remove the saucepan from the heat. Turn the mixer on to low, and gently trickle the hot syrup into the stiff egg whites, beating constantly as the mixture turns creamy. Please be very careful – the sugar syrup is blindingly hot!
6. As soon as all the syrup is added, quickly remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze out the excess water from the softened leaves, then add the gelatine to the mixing bowl while the mixture is still hot, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract and continue beating.
7. Turn the speed up and beat the mixture until it thickens – Annabel suggests beating until the mixing bowl feels just warm – this can take up to 10 minutes. The finished mix will be very thick but still pourable (even thicker than photo below).
8. Scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Leave to set for at least four hours or overnight. When firm, lift the slab out using the parchment paper, cut with a warm, dry, sharp knife into squares, and dust each with a fine coating of cornflour (cornstarch) and icing sugar mixture.
Of course, once we had homemade marshmallows, we had to make dark chocolate rocky road! We used 500g of tempered dark Belgian chocolate, 125g slivered almonds and 200g of homemade marshmallows, chopped into cubes. It’s wickedly good!
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Do you know how obsessed I am with homemade marshsmallows? I always say it’s another thing Bruce makes that has unfit me for anything from the store. I simply can’t eat those things in the bags. Blech. One of these babies in hot chocolate is incredible–although your rocky road wouldn’t be bad!
Mark, they’ve yet to make it into a hot chocolate! We’ve made two batches to date, and each time made a kilo of rocky road as well, and whoosh…it’s all gone in a day. Literally. We’ve been feeding the street… :)
These look wonderful–and a much more satisfying endeavor than my last DIY project! :)
Nancy, thanks! Homemade peanut butter is HARD, you’re braver than I am to try it! :)
Have been promising to make some for myself and will follow your instructions as you are trustworthy!!
Roz, thank you very much, that means a lot to me! :) I gave the gelatine by weight, but for what it’s worth, I used titanium strength sheets.
Oh you are a star for posting this. I’ve been meaning to try Hugh’s recipe and Rachel Allen’s one but … and it’s a big but … I’ve not got a Kenwood/Kitchen Aid/big mixing machine. It sounds like it is necessary to make the marshmallows. Is it?
They look so beautiful … did they make it into a hot chocolate??
Gill, no, they haven’t yet made it to hot chocolate! Rocky road and just scoffing them by the handful seems to be the order of the day!
I’m not sure if you need the strength of a big stand mixer (although there’s a lot of beating to do), but it’s more of a concern that you’d be manoeuvring boiling hot sugar syrup with one hand while operating the mixer with the other. Maybe you could try it if your hubby could help with the pouring? Also, just be sure to drop the speed to low while you’re incorporating the hot liquid. Please do be careful. :)
Your instructions look crystal clear as always, I was just telling Brian how good you are to all your readers :) I might be tempted, but I’m trying to stay away from too much sweet making. Though I did buy a bar of Valrhona today; the chocolate stockpile is ridiculous in my cupboard, as I haven’t made anything with chocolate for a while now. We’re in fruit pies and custard tarts mode over here….
Jo, thank you! I can completely understand fruit pies and tarts when all your seasonal produce is so gorgeous!
Both the marshmallows and the rocky road have my mouth watering.
Bee, thank you! :)
I think I love you.
You take my fantasy of homemade marshmallows and dark chocolate and make it a reality + you added almonds!
I don’t know if I could do the chocolate part, but I CAN make the marshmallows and put them into homemade hot chocolate and dream about almonds.
Heidi, I’ve decided I don’t like all the other bits in commercial rocky road – no pink marshmallows, no dried fruit. I just want dark chocolate, marshmallows and a white nut – almond, brazil or macadamia.
Try this – after you’ve made the marshmallows, heat up some finely chopped dark chocolate (say maybe 8oz worth) in a pyrex bowl in the microwave. Use short bursts on high (30 secs or so), stirring in between, until the chocolate melts and get to about 114F. Then add a big piece of chocolate – like half a bar – and give the melted chocolate a stir.
Have a cup of tea, make a wreath :) , then come back and stir the chocolate occasionally. Once the temperature has dropped to 90F, fish out whatever is left of the piece of chocolate, and quickly stir in some chopped up marshmallow and slivered almonds. Keep stirring gently to coat everything in chocolate, then turn it out onto a sheet of parchment paper on a tray or plate.
Put the plate in the fridge to set up. Even if the chocolate blooms a little, it will still taste wonderful! :)
PS. I love you too! :)
My mum makes marshmallow usually at Christmas time- it tastes sooooo much better than bought stuff.
Rocky Road looks good!
Thanks Brydie! :)
Okay. You totally won me over with the last two fotos…sure, I’ll eat homemade marshmallows. But i will devour the same marshamallows covered in good chocolate…
Next up: Flavors. (right? I MUST make these …soon)
Fantastic! What happens when you put it into a hot chocolate? Does it melt or just sink? I love the idea of rocky road too~!!
Barb, Pete’s been saying “flavours” too.. :) I wish you lived closer, I’d run a batch over to your house right now. :)
Chef, thank you! Truly, the marshmallows haven’t made it to hot chocolate! I’ll try with the next batch. Nice thing about this recipe is that it’s gluten and lactose free, if you choose dark chocolate carefully and use cornflour that’s actually made from corn.. :)
this is something i’ve been trying to avoid because i thought it would be too difficult. but, now you’ve given me no other choice… i have to do this sometime. je! excellent step by step fotos. love the chickens too! thank you for sharing this recipe with the rest of the world!
Great job Celia! I love the texture of home made marshmallows-they’re so different from the supermarket ones aren’t they! :D Mmm that dark chocolate rocky road looks gorgeous!
ooooo, your homemade marshmallows look soooo good, I better try to convince honey to use the egg whites this way rather than making macarons 8). I normally like my marshmallows toasted, but I think I’ll happily eat these on it’s own.
You are certainly stepping where Angels fear to tread getting into confectionary stuff Celia, I love your fearless attitude to cooking & apart from a great little workshop with some buddies of mine when in London who really got into this sort of thing, I’ve never had much a of play with it, because its a bit precise & all that with temperatures. Homemade marshmallows (or propa sweets) as my friends say…, are so good aren’t they…., nothing like the bought stuff.
Eventhough we love eating tons of marshmallows a week but I have never thought of making it athome before. This sounds like a fun process… I definitely gonna try it :)
Aleida, you’re most welcome, hope you enjoy these as much as we did!
Lorraine, thank you – the rocky road has been really moreish. I wonder why on earth shops always insist on making it with milk chocolate? Dark is sooo much better (in my opinion!). :)
Soy, I’ve never tried making macarons, but I’m sure they’re harder than marshmallows.. :)
Anna, thank you! It’s all good fun, and really, what have we got to lose? In this case a couple of egg whites and 50c worth of sugar. I do need a new thermometer though – the red liquid in my old candy one has now split into three bars…doesn’t make for very precise work! :)
Tes, they’re really very different from shop bought ones – I think you’ll like these! :)
Wow, that all looks so yummy!…Can’t find rocky road on the shelves here, so just might have to try this one!Adventurous cooking I say…all stars!!Yvette x
That rocky road looks just divine.
I can remember making marshmallow when in my early teens for school cake stalls. Of course my mother wasn’t ever going to cook anything so if we were to take something – we had to make it ourselves!
I used to make marshmallow with a hand operated rotary egg beater!
Yvette, the Italians are geniuses with all things meringue – hope you have fun with this recipe! :)
Amanda, thank you! That’s pretty impressive – don’t know that I could make this recipe with a hand operated mixer!!
Psst…. Can I have a bowl of that soup please? Let not the continents divide us in this way, forget about lines of latitude, or is it longtitude…. Just let me sit down and share some soup and a slice of challah, why is it when you want a decent transporting device there is none to hand….?
Of course! It ended up being cooked for hours, and the cavolo nero held up magnificently. Spinach would have disintegrated! Pretty sturdy veg, that one..
Oh Celia, you are a witch. Such lovely looking marshmallow, I want to make some immediately. I wonder what they would be like with a bit of rose water added – mmmm.
Rosewater would be a nice addition! I wonder if turkish delight is made in a similar way?
This looks fabulous and so tasty. I guess I’ll have to dig out my candy thermometer and learn how to temper chocolate. This would make great Christmas treats to give away. :)
Cat, I think they’d be fabulous for Christmas! Sigh…are we thinking about Chrissie already? :)
As always, you are a true inspiration!
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy! :)
I was vaguely contemplating making these marshmallows for my little one’s birthday this weekend as I was reading through the post – but alas I don’t own a stand mixer (a bit shameful really but I don’t make that much in the way of sweets so I’ve always felt I wouldn’t get enough use out of it). However the last two photos of the rocky road really wowed me! So now I’m considering it again – maybe I’ll have to pull Elvin in to watch the sugar and pour for me….
Yum! That dark rocky road looks superb. We always used to buy a big slab at jones the grocer when in Sydney – but don’t think they exist anymore.
We used to make marshmallow when I was about 10 (not allowed to do any of the other fete staples – fudge or coconut ice or toffee apples!) and roll it in toasted coconut – and then eat it all in one go.
I love love making and eating homemade marshmallows. I actually love them in coffee in the winter. Last year I made vanilla but also made almond and a strawberry flavored batches. So good!
Preppy, I’m still trying to figure out what flavours to make, so thank you very much for the suggestions! We were thinking of using beetroot to make pink ones.. :)
THANKS for the recipe – and I even saw sheet gelatine at the Chef’s Warehouse the other day but didn’t buy it. too busy stocking up on chocolate! will have to give it a go.
my seven year old is very interested in colouring marshmallow to his own designs – do you think i could just use the wilton colour pastes or would it alter the composition?
I HAVE made macarons and found them astonishingly easy.
FYI – this is the chocolate recipe that seems to work every time: http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/04/06/french-chocolate-macarons-recipe/
Hi Anne! Thanks for the macaron link, I’ll check it out. Re colouring the marshmallows, I’d be inclined to use a few drops of food colouring – I’m not sure what the pastes might do to the consistency of the marshmallows?
Finally got around to making marshmallows today. Waited until two girls laid this morning so have stunningly fresh egg whites to use. I was surprised how easy it was to make – the only thing I was worried about was that it seemed like a lot of gelatine. 25g was quite a few sheets. I had bought gold gelatine – but not sure of the difference between different types – do you know?
Followed your lead (some may call it stalking, I choose to say it’s a homage!) and made rocky road as well. DELISH!!! All we had was callebaut callets, marshmallows and some almonds from a recent trip to Harkola (thank you school holidays for permitting these excursions) and it was a massive success. thanks for the perfectly clear instructions – very straightforward.
Hi Anne! So glad it worked for you. I use the titanium sheets, and I think the difference is that they just weigh a lot more than the gold ones (which is why I put down the weight rather than the number of sheets). You might get away with less, but the original River Cottage recipe I based mine on specified 25g gelatine granules. So glad the recipes worked, and that you enjoyed the rocky road! Hmmm. I must make rocky road again, thanks for the prompt! :)