My last post was about snow days and Hot Chocolate. One very important component to Hot Chocolate, that I didn’t mention, is the marshmallows. Sure some people like to top their cocoa with whipped cream, but for pure comfort factor you can beat marshmallows!

Homemade marshmallows are a thing of beauty. They taste so much better than the store bought ones, can easily be customizable, and aren’t overly difficult to to make. While vanilla is the standard flavoring for marshmallows I also like to make them flavored with almond extract or peppermint extract. If you try this start with half the amount of vanilla and keep adding until you get the flavor you like. Also, once set, you can simply cut them into squares or use mini cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. Personally, I like snowflake shaped marshmallows.

Homemade Marshmallows

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or flavor of your choice)

Coat a 12×17 rimmed baking sheet with pan spray, line with parchment and spray again. Pour 1/3 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to soften for 5 minutes. Meanwhile place sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove lid and cook until syrup reaches 238 (soft ball) on a thermometer. With mixer on low, whisk gelatin and slowly pour in the sugar mixture. Raise the speed and whip until mixture is thick, white and has almost tripled in volume (about 12 minutes).

Add vanilla and beat 30 more seconds Pour into prepared pan. To smooth out the top coat the back of a spatula with pan spray before smoothing it out or the marshmallow mixture will stick to it. This stuff wants to stick to everything! Allow to cool, uncovered, at room temp. at least 3 hours or overnight. Coat cookie cutters with pan spray and cut into desired shapes. Dust lightly with a mixture of cornstarch and powdered sugar (1:1 ratio) and allow to air dry for 12 more hours. Store in an airtight container.

With summer coming slowly coming to an end (many would argue that it wasn’t much of a summer here in Wisconsin) and fall just around the corner, I am starting to look forward to the resumption of late evening fires in our neighbor’s fire pit. The thought of that inevitably leads to s’mores as my wife loves the things and almost always suggests them at our late night gatherings. Unfortunately, beer and s’mores don’t really mix so I usually decline. I have never been a big s’more fan anyway. Sure I love chocolate and toasted marshmallows and I even like graham crackers but I am one of those people that would rather eat them all separately then mash them all together. It was with these thoughts in mind that I was trying to come up with a dessert to surprise my wife with when I remembered that I had saved a recipe for a S’more pie from Gourmet, November 2006. Looking over the recipe I felt that ,while the chocolate filling would work well, the marshmallow topping seemed a little dense so I modified it somewhat to more closely resemble the recipe we use for making homemade marshmallows.

Chocolate S’more Pie
makes 1 8inch pie

1 each Graham Cracker Crust
FOR CHOCOLATE FILLING
7 ounces Bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup Heavy cream
1 each Egg, room temp.

FOR MARSHMALLOW TOPPING
1 package Unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup Water, cold
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350. Put chocolate in a large bowl. Bring cream to a boil then pour over chocolate, stirring until smooth. Lightly beat egg and add to chocolate mixture along with salt then pour everything into pie shell. Cover edge of crusts then bake until filling is just set, about 25 minutes. Cool completely. Meanwhile make the topping. Bloom gelatin in 1/4 of the water in a large heatproof bowl. In a saucepan stir together remaining water, sugar, corn syrup and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Boil until mixture registers 238. Start beating gelatin mixture and slowly add hot syrup, in a slow stream. When all syrup has been added turn mixer to high and beat until triple in volume. Add vanilla extract then immediately pour over cooled pie. Chill, uncovered for 1 hour, then cover with oiled plastic wrap and chill 3 hours more. Before service brown top with either a blow torch or under broiler. If doing under a broiler protect the pie crusts.

If at all possible brown the top with the blow torch. Not only is a much more fun way to do it, I think it provides better flavor and gives it a more rustic look as some parts remain lighter while other parts get darker.