Fall is our favorite time of the year, especially since we discovered the secret ingredient to make the best s’mores on this planet! While the summer weather is holding on as long as it can this year, Fall did make a brief appearance a couple of weeks ago, and allowed us to have this season’s first OPEX Franklin community fire at la casa de Cheatham. If you missed that one, no worries, we will have plenty more, as we love to have our tribe over to hang out and share stories of life around the fire.
As always, I was pleased to see some new faces because I knew they had not yet experienced a s’mores made with a paleo marshmallow, and I LOVE to see the smile of complete satisfaction when the perfectly melted, spreadable paleo marshmallow mixed with some dang good chocolate and graham crackers hits their taste buds for the first time. For those of you that still haven’t had this mouth-watering experience, I highly recommend it. You can come to our next fire coming up real soon, or, you can always make them yourself. Here is the recipe I use, along with some helpful tips I have learned along the way. Please remember, even those these are paleo, they are still high in sugar, just in the form of honey, so must be consumed in moderation. (Remember, to the body, sugar is sugar is sugar, and acts like sugar no matter the source.) I find that if I use a good dark chocolate (free of soy lecithin) along with a gluten free graham cracker, I can usually only handle one or two because they are very rich in flavor. So…moderation achieved!
The recipe is very simple and only requires 4 ingredients, but I do have to admit, I am not sure if I would want to tackle this one without a stand-up mixer. Some other things I have learned along the way to make your life easier:
-Buy a candy thermometer…it takes the guess work out of the very important “when I need to remove it from the heat” standpoint.
-Use a very deep pot/pan to heat your honey mixture in – it boils over way too easy in a regular saucepan.
-Let the marshmallows sit uncovered in the fridge in the baking dishes on the parchment paper for a few days if you plan on roasting. (This also make them easier to cut.)
-These warm VERY QUICKLY over a fire, so don’t be surprised if you lose your first few in the fire.
-These make the BEST S’mores ever:)
- 1 cup Water (divided into ½ cups)
- 3 Tbsp Grass Fed Beef Gelatin
- 1 cup Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
- Coconut Oil
- Arrowroot starch, to coat the outsides of the marshmallow (you can also use other coatings such as cocoa, toasted coconut, cinnamon, etc)
- Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper in both directions, leaving overlay on all sides to use as handles to remove the marshmallows when they’re done.
- Lightly grease the parchment paper with coconut oil and sprinkle with a layer of arrowroot starch or other coating of choice.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the gelatin with ½ cup of water. If using a hand mixer use a large bowl for this.
- While the gelatin is softening, pour the other ½ cup of water in a sauce pan along with the honey and the salt. Turn the burner on medium heat. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Place a candy thermometer in the sauce pan and continue to boil the mixture until it reaches 242 degrees (or the soft ball stage). Don’t go over 245 degrees. *NOTE* If you’re making these at elevation, decrease the cooking temperature by 2 degrees per 1,000 ft.
- This could take about 10 min up to 25 minutes depending on how hot the burner is and the size of your pot.
- Note: If your pot is too big the sugar syrup will be more likely to burn as the temp will rise too quickly and the thermometer will have trouble reading correctly. If the honey mixture foams up, watch it closely so that it doesn’t over flow. You can use a spoon to break up the foam but try not to stir the actual syrup.
- When it reaches 240-242 degrees, immediately remove the sauce pan from the heat.
- If using a stand mixer, turn it on to low/med. Pour the honey mixture into the bowl in a slow steady stream down the side of the bowl, combining it with the softened gelatin. Pouring “slow” here is very important, otherwise the sugar syrup will be too hot when it hits the gelatin causing the marshmallow mixture to break later when you try to spread it.
- Be sure that the syrup and the gelatin are well combined before moving to the next step. If you need to you can even stop and stir the gelatin when half of the sugar syrup is poured, making sure it is getting mixed in and resume pouring.
- If using a hand mixer you may want to let the sugar syrup cool down to 225-230 degrees before adding to the gelatin. This is because it is much harder to pour at a slow steady stream while holding a hand mixer.
- Turn the mixer to high and continue beating until it becomes thick like marshmallow creme (about 7-10 min). These times will vary depending on the mixer and event the size of bowl used. Either way the marshmallow creme should be cooled down.
- Add the vanilla a few minutes before it’s done mixing giving it enough time to mix in completely.
- Turn off the mixer and transfer the marshmallow creme to the prepared pan. Smooth the top (add more coating if using one). Pat to smooth again if needed.
- If you are not using a coating then lightly grease your hands with oil and pat smooth.This will help keep the marshmallow cream from sticking to your fingers. Alternatively you can press it down with parchment paper, leaving it there till the marshmallows are completely set.
- Leave the marshmallows to set anywhere from 1 hour to 4-6 hours depending on your gelatin, temp of the syrup and how set you want them. If you want them to look nice and clean after cutting, wait at least 4 hours, even if they seem set.
- When set, remove the marshmallows by lifting from the parchment paper flaps.
- Cut to desired size and add more coating while cutting if needed and toss them again in some starch once cut for a super nice finish.
- For best results allow marshmallows intended for roasting to dry extra long. Once cut, leave them out, covered with a cheese cloth overnight.
- Store in an airtight container (jar, bag, container, etc) for 5-7 days, not that they will last that long…
- Other coating options: Try all kinds of crushed nuts, coconut, almond flour mixed with spices, cocoa or other starches.
- Note: Using a starch works best for coating marshmallows that will be used for roasting or topping sweet potatoes. It helps them to dry out faster and the extra starch helps with the browning process.
