Homemade Marshmallows

Aahhhh s’mores… They remind me of camping and fall and leaves changing colors and brisk weather and sitting around campfires. There’s really nothing better than a smore. It’s such a great little treat. Day or night, for kids or adults, I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t love this gooey chocolately treat.

I personally love my marshmallows charred. I toast them gently at first, then light them on fire. Once I blow out the flames, I smash them onto the graham crackers and dig in!

As you know, making marshmallows is one of the things on my 30-by-30 list. And since I recently purchased a candy thermometer while up at King Arthur Flour, I decided to give it a shot to kick off a week of S’mores recipes.

After making these little fluffy white pillows of sugar, I will never go back to store-bought again. I swear to you, they are so easy and SO delicious. In fact, I just went to grab one out of the pantry to snack on just now.

I have to admit that to prep for making the marshmallows, I did do some research. I knew Alton Brown had done an episode on marshmallows, so I checked my DVR. No luck there, so I headed over to YouTube. Sure enough, the entire episode was on there (Part 1 here, Part 2 here). Now I’d trust AB with my first born child, so clearly I trust his recipes. After printing it, reading it, watching the episode about marshmallows and measuring out all of my ingredients I was ready to go!

In the end, all that prep work and research wasn’t really necessary. You do need a good stand mixer. My KitchenAid worked up quite a sweat while beating the marshmallow, but that was the hardest part. Well that or watching the thermometer while the sugar was boiling. Either way, this recipe is easy peasy. The marshmallows do require a 4 hour wait time (mine set overnight) so factor that in if you plan to make these. You definitely won’t regret it!

Two Years Ago: Grilled Beef Ribs

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Homemade Marshmallows

Yield: ~9 dozen

Ingredients:

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray
Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

Directions:

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

If you want to make mini-marshmallows, click through to the original recipe for directions.

Recipe from Alton Brown


Don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge – make something PINK by the end of the month to raise Breast Cancer Awareness!

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36 Responses to “Homemade Ding Dongs or Ring Dings or whatever you call them”

  1. #
    1
    SimplySweeter — May 24, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Jen, I think I just died and went to heaven! Long live the Ring Ding!! LOL

    http://www.simplysweeter.blogspot.com

  2. #
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    Cara — May 24, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Love this theme, so fun! The whole menu sounds delicious 🙂

  3. #
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    Jane — May 24, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Hi Jen,
    Wow! These babies look really authentic. I’ve seen a lot of faux Ding Dongs in my day, and yours rank right up there. Very nice job!
    🙂 Jane

  4. #
    4
    bridget {bake at 350} — May 24, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    Oh, I LOVE Ding Dongs!!! And yours look fabulous!

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    roxan — May 24, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Even at 8a on a monday morning, I feel like I could eat a whole stack of those. Great job, they look delicious!

  6. #
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    Kasey — May 24, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    There is a local baking partnership here in the Los Angeles area that makes individual sized cakes and treats. They also recreate classic favorites such as the Ho-Ho. Thought you might enjoy the link. http://www.cakemonkey.com/

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    Memória — May 24, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Oh your Ding Dongs look perfect. Absolutely perfect!! They make me want to jump up and make them now. Goodness!! Thanks for sharing the photos and recipe with us. I’ve yet to make the 7-minute frosting, so I’m looking forward to that.

  8. #
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    Katherine — May 24, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    Oh my, what a great recipe!

  9. #
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    Kara — May 24, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    You’re killing me! Now I have to think about when I can fit Ring Dings into my schedule this week! They’d be so much better from scratch than they would out of the box…

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    ellysaysopa.com — May 25, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    These & oatmeal creme pies were my absolute favorite as a kid. I think they were called King Dons when I ate them. I definitely need to try this!

  11. #
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    oneordinaryday — May 25, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    Oh, how fun. WIsh I had a couple right now.

  12. #
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    Ingrid — May 29, 2010 at 1:44 am

    Ring Dings! :)But that’s what they were called when Drake’s made them and we lived in NYC. Once we moved to FL they were Ding Dongs. Or do I have that backwards, hmm now I’m not exactly sure. Either way it wasn’t I that ate them but my Mom. I’ll have to give them a whirl for her and score some brownie points, hee-hee!

    Hope you have a safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend!
    ~ingrid

  13. #
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    hannah! — May 29, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    omigosh YUM!! they sure do remind me of hostess cupcakes

  14. #
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    Katherine — July 4, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Your ding dongs look perfect! Great job!

    I’ve been thinking of making these for my mother for her birthday next week…but since she LOVE chocolate peanut butter, I thought I would fill the cakes with a peanut butter version of the white cream. Any suggestions on what peanut butter cream I should fill them with??

    I would love your input, I trust you more than myself in this matter, haha.

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    GadgetGirl — January 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    FYI for anyone interested, I made mine into cupcakes since I don’t have round cake pans. The cupcakes take about 25 minutes to bake at the same temp. Really good but tons of work! Oh yeah I got 32 cupcakes using 1/4 cup batter in each cup. I had plenty of filling but I had to made a little more ganache, BUT I was a little heavy with it in the beginning so if you keep that in mind you could have enough.

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    Souffle Bombay (Colleen) — January 6, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    Love these…I am an East Coat gal and I knew what you meant lol! I will NOT buy these for my kids with what is used for ingredients, but you have inspired me to make them! Thanks!

  17. #
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    Carol — February 12, 2012 at 2:35 am

    Sorry to say but mine fell apart and it was entirely to much work. Much better to just go to the store and buy them.

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    Kari@Loaves n Dishes — January 5, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    These look just like the original, but I bet they’re so much more tasty. Great job!

    • beantownbaker — January 5th, 2013 @ 11:44 pm

      They sure are better than the original – a lot more work though, but definitely worth it!

  19. #
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    Anna — January 17, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Can the coffee be substitutes with anything else?

    • beantownbaker — January 17th, 2013 @ 4:51 pm

      The coffee just enhances the chocolate flavor. You can just use water instead if you don’t have any coffee or don’t like coffee.

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    jennifer — February 2, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    I just made these for my mothers birthday(ring dings are the only dessert she enjoys) they came out great! Awesome recipe

    • beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2013 @ 9:46 pm

      So glad you enjoyed them. Happy birthday to your mother!

  21. #
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    Kathy — February 21, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    hey.. made these.. testing recipes for a summer camp job I start this June.. so good, but might stick with cupcakes for kids..
    took cake chunks and extra frosting.. made cake balls! Rolled in melted peanut butter then dripped chocolate over… YUM… love your site.. looking for more camp ideas.. kid friendly!

    • beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:28 am

      Cupcakes definitely would be less messy for kids. I really like the portability of bars and brownies. I have tons of those on my blog too.

      Making cake balls with PB and chocolate on top sounds amazing!

  22. #
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    Carmen — July 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    Never had these before but look good! I might just use the whole cake and cut out rings with the cutter and fill them up in the whole cake then cover in choc. What if you put marshmallow filling? Do you think it would be to soft to cut into pieces of cake?

  23. #
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    Virginia — August 3, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    OMG Jen, just saw this recipe linked from HuffPo article! Sorry, can’t get the link on my phone. 🙁 Slide show on manufactured foods that taste better homemade.

    • beantownbaker — August 4th, 2013 @ 6:43 pm

      Thanks for letting me know! I found the post.

  24. #
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    Trisha — August 26, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    Amazing results. Rarely do I find the recipes that claim to be “just like” the original actually live up to those claims. This one did. LOVE.

    • beantownbaker — August 27th, 2013 @ 7:58 am

      So glad you enjoyed them!

  25. #
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    Jody — March 13, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    The recipe says to use filling same day. I need to make the cakes a day or 2 ahead of party. If I fill them right away, will they hold for a day or so in the refrigerator ? I don’ t want them to get soggy.

  26. #
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    Chaya — October 22, 2014 at 9:44 am

    Can these be frozen?

  27. #
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    Lynmarie — January 26, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    Made these for a friend’s birthday party. Definitely time intensive…assembly took me forever. I made 16 cupcakes and 24 mini-cupcakes and had lots of extra cake batter. The cake is amazing, super moist and flavorful…but fally-aparty so hard to work with when dipping in ganache or spreading ganache over it. After I spent hours making these, they ended up smashed together in one side of the pan that I packed them in to the party. i would highly recommend transporting them in a cupcake tin or something where they will not move. The ganache never “dried” for me so mine were gooey on the outside too, and pretty much a mess to eat. Don’t get me wrong, they taste amazing and everyone enjoyed eating them…but if I was to do it over again, I would just use the ingredients to make a cake.

  28. #
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    Kimberly Westervelt — March 31, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Do you have to use hot coffee? Can you just use plain hot water.

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    Colleen — May 7, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    I don’t know what happened. I made Red Velvet “Fwinkies” (fake Twinkies), but covered them with chocolate so basically a hybrid or a Fwinkho. I have a delectovals pan. After piping in the 7-minute frosting, I dipped the bottoms in melted chocolate to seal and then covered the top in chocolate. The next day, I took them to a sorority luncheon as a treat. Well, the cream filling disappeared and I have to wonder did sealing the bottoms with the warm melted chocolate basically disintegrate the cream filling? I want to make something like this for a gender reveal next week, but I may have to change up the cream filling because I can’t leave the bottoms bare. Any advice?

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    Stan — September 1, 2021 at 8:58 am

    Thank you!

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