Tie Dye Marshmallows

I love marshmallows, and when I discovered how simple they are to make, they have become part of my sweet treats repertoire. They’re dead easy to make, the only tricky bits are heating the sugar, glucose and water to the right temperature, and then pouring the hot mixture onto the beaten egg whites.

I recently found an image on Pinterest of bright multi-coloured tie dye marshmallows. I liked the concept, but went for a softer coloured version. My go-to recipe for marshmallows is Jamie Oliver’s great recipe from his book Comfort Food.

I was keen to get a whole lot of colours going, so opted for a basic vanilla flavour using vanilla paste. In my previous post, see here, I made lovely rosewater flavoured pink marshmallows. My problem was, with so many colours, what flavour to choose? So vanilla seemed the best choice.

This is Jamie’s recipe adapted for tie dye colours.

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50g cornflour
5g icing sugar
50g liquid glucose syrup
450g caster sugar
10 sheet gelatin
2 large free-range egg whites
1 tsp vanilla paste
A few drops each of different food colourings

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This is a precise recipe, so make sure you read through the method carefully before you start, get all your ingredients weighed out and get your equipment ready to go. Sift the cornflour and icing sugar into a bowl. Finely sift half the mixture over a deep baking tray (20cm x 30 cm) and set the other half aside in the sieve until later.

Mix the liquid glucose syrup and caster sugar together in a pan over a low heat with 250ml of cold water. Heat gently, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved and you have a clear syrup.

Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in a small pan with 125ml of water.

Once the sugar syrup is clear, turn up the heat, pop in a sugar thermometer and allow the syrup to boil vigorously (please don’t stir it). When it reaches 110ºC, place the gelatine pan over a medium heat and stir until dissolved.

Whisk the egg whites in a free-standing electric mixer until you have stiff peaks.

Once your syrup has reached 122ºC, very carefully and slowly pour it down the sides of the bowl of the moving mixer, then pour in the dissolved gelatine.

Add the vanilla paste to the mixer bowl, then continue to whisk for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the mixture has significantly increased in volume, but is thick and still pourable.

Have several bowls (one for each colour) ready, with a few drops of your chosen colours in each bowl. Once the marshmallow is whisked, pour into each of the bowls. Mix the colours through the marshmallow. You’ll need to work quickly, as the marshmallow will start to set.

Then pour each marshmallow mixture into the prepared tray. You can use your creativity here, in the way you place the colours. I used a skewer to swirl the colours together. You can smooth the top if you like, with a palette knife, but I like the rough effect. Sift over the remaining mixed cornflour and icing sugar and leave to set for two to three hours. Cut into squares and store in grease proof  paper in a tin. Keeps well for a week or two or three!