Make your own Marshmallows.

Now to make your own marshmallows you do nee a sugar thermometer so you can get the right temperature when bring the liquids to the boil. I do not know if you can do this by eye and I am sure that you can but I do not know, as I have never tried to do this.  My guess is that you can as it is rather like making Italian meringue but as I have one, I will say use a sugar thermometer or borrow one.

You will need

450g/1lb caster sugar

1 tbsp liquid glucose

200ml/7fl oz water

2 large free-range egg whites

9 gelatine sheets, soaked in water until soft

Bash of vanilla essence

1 tsp oil

Corn flour and Icing sugar for dusting

Take your sugar, glucose and water and get this in to a  heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring it to the boil and then place in your sugar thermometer. Keep boiling till the temperature reaches 127c/260f.  Now this is roughly what you call thread or feather stage when boiling sugar.  To know when it is right take a little of the syrup and let it cool then get some between you thumb and finger.  Open and close the  your fingers rapidly  and you should have a short thread from between them. Now stir in you gelatine sheets and add the vanilla.

While your sugar is boiling, you can be whisking the egg whites.  To make life easy use a electric whisk it is just to difficult other wise.  Whisk the eggs whites until you get stiff peaks when you remove the whisk.

Now slowly add the hot sugar mix a little at a time, as you do so you will see the egg whites thicken. What you want is a sort of glossy finish, keep adding until all the liquid has bee added to the egg whites.  Continue whisking for about five minutes, or until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.  And that is that you have made your marshmallows now all you have to do is let it set.

Take a shallow tray and lightly oil it.  Then dust it with corn flour and icing sugar then spared the mix over the tray with a spatula and just let it set for about one hour or more.

Take some of the corn flour and icing sugar and dust the counter side then turn out the marshmallows sheet from the tray . Boil a kettle and fill a jug with hot water and dip you knife in it.  Then take your knife out and dry it and with your hot knife cut the marshmallows to size.  Then bust with some more icing sugar and cornflower and put in a tub to keep dry.

I have not tried but I suppose you could use silicon mould to set them and pop them out when they have set, I could not see why that would not work as long as you dust the moulds. And if you want to add a little colour add it to the sugar stock when you add the gelatine.