DIY

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

Want to make an easy holiday treat? These homemade peppermint marshmallows are a fun twist on a classic and taste great in hot chocolate! 

I’ll be honest, I’m not normally a big fan of marshmallows. My girls, on the other hand, can’t get enough of them, and when I saw they were charging $16.95 at Williams Sonoma for a box of 15 hand crafted peppermint marshmallows, I knew I had to figure out how to make these lil’ puppies.

And friends, let me tell you, homemade marshmallows are so, so, so, soooooooo much better than the store-bought kind. They can hardly even be called marshmallows. They should instead be re-named Sweet Nuggets of Heavenly Peppermint Fluff. Or something like that.

Even better, they are SO easy to make! Yes, you need a candy thermometer, but don’t let that scare you. I promise it’s not complicated or tricky. Like, at all. Plus a single batch makes approximately 88 marshmallows, which would sell for $99.44 at Williams Sonoma. Why not make them for all your friends and be a hero this Christmas?

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

Here is what you need:

butter or Crisco
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice water
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon peppermint extract or  1/4 tsp Peppermint Vitality™ essential oil
red food coloring (optional)
candy thermometer (NOT optional!)

Step 1: Grease 9 1/2 x 11″ glass casserole dish with butter or Crisco. Mix together corn starch & powdered sugar; sprinkle a few spoonfuls of cornstarch mixture over butter or Crisco and tilt dish around until well coated. Set baking dish aside and save remaining corn starch mixture for later.

Step 2: Place gelatin and 1/2 cup ice water in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside.

Step 3: Mix remaining water, sugar, salt, and corn syrup in saucepan; heat, covered, over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes.

Step 4: Clip candy thermometer to side of saucepan; continue heating mixture until it reaches 240 degrees, approximately 6-8 minutes.

Step 5:  Once mixture reaches 240 degrees, remove from heat. Turn on mixer on low (use whisk attachment) and slowly add syrup mixture to mixing bowl.

Step 6: Turn mixer to high speed and whip for 12-14 minutes, until mixture is quite thick. Add peppermint extract and whip 1 minute more.

Step 7: Grease a spatula with butter or Crisco and transfer marshmallow mixture to prepared dish. Use a buttered knife to spread it smooth.

Step 8: (Optional) Drop red food coloring onto mixture and use buttered knife to pull color through marshmallow mixture to create swirls.

Step 9: Generously sprinkle the top of marshmallow with remaining cornstarch mixture. Let set overnight.

Step 10:  Invert marshmallows onto a cutting board. Use butter & excess cornstarch mixture to coat sharp knife or pizza cutter blade, then cut marshmallows into 1×1″ squares.

Step 11:  Coat cut edges with cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture & wipe off excess. Serve in hot chocolate or package in cellophane bags to give as gifts.

Peppermint Marshmallows

These homemade peppermint marshmallows are a fun twist on the ordinary marshmallow. The perfect addition to a cup of hot chocolate.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Peppermint Marshmallows
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

  • butter or Crisco
  • 1/4 cup corn starch
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
  • 1 cup ice water
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup corn syrup
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp peppermint extract or 1/4 tsp Peppermint Vitality™ essential oil
  • red food coloring (optional)

Instructions

  1.  Grease 9 1/2 x 11" glass casserole dish with butter or Crisco. Mix together corn starch & powdered sugar; sprinkle a few spoonfuls of cornstarch mixture over butter or Crisco and tilt dish around until well coated. Set baking dish aside and save remaining corn starch mixture for later.

  2. Place gelatin and 1/2 cup ice water in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside.

  3. Mix remaining water, sugar, salt, and corn syrup in saucepan; heat, covered, over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes.

  4. Clip candy thermometer to side of saucepan; continue heating mixture until it reaches 240 degrees, approximately 6-8 minutes.

  5. Once mixture reaches 240 degrees, remove from heat. Turn on mixer on low (use whisk attachment) and slowly add syrup mixture to mixing bowl.

  6. Turn mixer to high speed and whip for 12-14 minutes, until mixture is quite thick. Add peppermint extract and whip 1 minute more.

  7. Grease a spatula with butter or Crisco and transfer marshmallow mixture to prepared dish. Use a buttered knife to spread it smooth.

  8.  (Optional) Drop red food coloring onto mixture and use buttered knife to pull color through marshmallow mixture to create swirls.

  9. Generously sprinkle the top of marshmallow with remaining cornstarch mixture. Let set overnight.

  10. Invert marshmallows onto a cutting board. Use butter & excess cornstarch mixture to coat sharp knife or pizza cutter blade, then cut marshmallows into 1x1" squares.

  11. Coat cut edges with cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture & wipe off excess. Serve in hot chocolate or package in cellophane bags to give as gifts.

Recipe Notes

Drying time: overnight

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PIN FOR LATER

Ruth Soukup

Ruth Soukup is dedicated to helping people everywhere create a life they love by follwing their dreams and achieving their biggest goals. She is the host of the wildly popular Do It Scared podcast, as well as the founder of Living Well Spending Less® and Elite Blog Academy®. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of six books, including Do It Scared®: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Obstacles, and Create a Life You Love, which was the inspiration for this book. She lives in Florida with her husband Chuck, and 2 daughters Maggie & Annie.

View Comments

  • Recipe is great. BUT!!! DO NOT MAKE THESE IN AN EXPENSIVE BOSCH BOWL MIXER, unless you have the metal bowl and all attachments are metal. The top of my wire whips where they attach to the mixer are a very hard plastic. The center of the bowl where the beaters attach is also hard plastic. The sugar mixture is too hot and it ruined my $550 mixer bowl and beaters and I have tiny grains of plastic in my marshmallows. I wish my mixer had come with a warning about mixing hot sugar.

  • I just finished making these WONDERFUL marshmallows and so far they were very easy to make and the beaters tasted amazing. My family can't wait to try them tomorrow with our morning chocolate. Thanks for such an easy and fun recipe. BTW I used my vintage 1970 American-made Sunbeam Mixmaster and it held up just fine to the thickness of the mixture.. I think a handheld mixer could also be used, just having to hold it for 12 minutes could be taxing.

  • Is there any others stuff that i can use to replace gelatin?? Because am a vegetarian & cannot eat gelatin.
    what kind of butter is it? Salty butter?
    Is it white sugar? Can i use brown sugar or diet sugar? Will it give much impact to the result if i change the sugar type?
    Thanks for your response

  • how long do the marshmallows keep? Just wondering if I make them for gifts, how early I can make them ahead of time! never made homemade marshmallows but I can't wait!!

  • Would you leave these uncovered or covered through the night? Looks great and will be perfect with some homemade vanilla bean caramel sauce for a hot cocoa gift!

    • Uncovered through the night, then store in an airtight container or bag once cut. :-)

  • These look amazing! How long do you think they would keep? If I make them now will they still be good at Christmas?

    • Oh nevermind, I just saw the answer above!

  • I wonder how well this would work using just a handheld mixer? I dont have a stand mixer, but dont know if I could stand there and use the hand mixer for that long! lol has anyone tried??

    • I think this would not work well with a handheld mixer. My large stand mixer was going slower and slower as the mixture thickened toward the end of the beating time. I'm not sure a handheld mixer has the motor power to beat this properly.

  • Now this looks like fun. The kids next door are getting these (if I can keep from eating them all myself :). I've always wanted to try "real" marshmallows. Thanks!

  • I just made my batch they seem so short or small in height they don't rise? Can't figure out what I did wrong ?
    I used the right pan!

    • Did you make sure to mix them for the right amount of time? I know the more air you can incorporate into the batter, the better.

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Ruth Soukup

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