Have you ever tasted homemade marshmallow? The flavor doesn’t even compare to store bought marshmallow! And then you enrobe the homemade marshmallow in quality chocolate… ohhh! Marshmallow Heaven! Plus, you can create any shape for your homemade marshmallow with a plastic or silicone mold.

In my last post, Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs, I told you about my childhood memory of making peanut butter eggs in my grandma’s kitchen. My grandma also made marshmallow eggs! About 25 years ago, I took a cooked candy class at a cake decorating shop in Albuquerque, NM. One of things I learned was how to make cooked candy marshmallow. A huge take-away from the cooked candy class, that really blew my mind, was how to mold homemade marshmallow in any imaginable shape with plastic chocolate molds. I could now make marshmallow eggs for my kids, just like Grandma’s tradition! I bought a dozen plastic egg-shaped chocolate molds and have been making homemade chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs in my kitchen for Easter ever since!

Tools for Making Homemade Marshmallow:

Candy Thermometer: Cooked candy is temperature sensitive. Over or undercooking the sugar syrup creates a huge difference in the texture of the cooked candy. A candy thermometer is a kitchen thermometer designed specifically for cooked candy (or jams/jellies/deep frying). It is not the same as a thermometer used for testing meat temperatures. My favorite candy thermometer is flat, stainless steel, and has a metal piece on the bottom that keeps the glass bulb from touching the bottom of the saucepan, plus a clip on the back to attach to the saucepan.
Saucepan: Use one that allows the sugar mixture to not be too shallow, yet large enough that the bubbling, boiling syrup will not overflow the saucepan. I recommend a medium-sized saucepan with a single handle. A single handle will be helpful when pouring the hot sugar mixture into the “bloom.”
Pastry Brush: Any type of pastry brush will work for washing sugar crystals off the sides of the saucepan. You will not be dipping the brush in the sugar syrup, just washing crystals from above and then letting the water do all the work.
Metal bowl of a stand mixer or metal bowl and hand mixer: You must use a metal bowl, even if you are using a hand-held mixer instead of a stand mixer. The hot (240° F) sugar syrup will be poured into this bowl and it will become very hot. DO NOT use plastic.

Tools for Making Marshmallow Eggs:

Plastic or silicon egg shaped molds: To shape the marshmallow, a mold is necessary. These will be sprayed with non-stick spray so the marshmallow can be removed. Once the plastic molds are sprayed with oil, they are no longer good for molding chocolate because the oil can never be fully removed. As an alternative to a mold, a container with at least 3” sides can be filled with flour. Then take a real egg, and press it into the flour to form an “egg shaped mold” that you will fill with marshmallow. It works perfectly, but it is more challenging to make uniform shaped marshmallow eggs using this method.
Plastic disposable cake decorating bags: These are easy to find and cheap. I highly recommend them. And since the marshmallow is so sticky, it’s worth just throwing them away when you are finished. The technique of closing the large end of a filled bag with an elastic band saves everyone a lot of sticky sadness. If little ones are helping squeeze marshmallow into the molds, elastic bands are essential. However, a large zip-topped bag can also work very effectively.
Non-stick cooking spray: Essential for keeping marshmallow from sticking to any surface, especially the molds. It can also be used on spatulas and scrapers too.

Ingredients to Make Homemade Marshmallow Eggs

Unflavored gelatin: Knox brand is my favorite and easiest to find. It is the essential ingredient that holds the air in the mixture and helps it get a chewy, firm texture.
Granulated Sugar: Interestingly enough, not all granulated sugar is created equal. C&H brand is “pure cane sugar,” which when making cooked candy makes a difference. Other sugars are made from sugar beets or coconut and will boil at a different temperature. If you want a consistent result from your cooked candy, in this case, the real thing does matter. Pure cane sugar is highly recommended.
Light Corn Syrup: An essential ingredient that keeps the sugar from crystallizing as it cooks. It also adds to the fluffy bounce and tenderness of the finished marshmallow. Check the brand, Karo has reformulated their recipe so that it does not include high-fructose corn syrup. You can use alternatives, but it will not come out exactly like it would with corn syrup. But I am sure it will still taste delicious.
Flavoring: In simple, white marshmallow eggs, I use vanilla. But you can experiment with other flavor emulsions or extracts.
Confectioner’s Sugar: In other words, powdered sugar. The perfect coating for a marshmallow to keep it from being sticky. If not dipping the marshmallow in chocolate, an even better coating has a mixture of confectioners coating and cornstarch or potato starch. For dipping purposes, confectioner’s sugar works perfectly since the fine sugar will be brushed off before putting it in the chocolate.

Instructions for Making Homemade Marshmallow Eggs

Calibrate the Candy Thermometer Before Beginning:

Refer to this blog post: Calibrate Your Candy Thermometer for details.

Don’t skip this step or your marshmallow may set up too fast or not at all. Altitude and barometric pressure can affect your boiling point at any given moment.
I perform this step each time I make cooked candy. It only takes 10-15 minutes—which is the same amount of time it takes me to gather my ingredients, gather my tools, measure out ingredients, and prepare my containers and chocolate molds. Easy Peasy!! And it’s a no-fail method of making cooked candy!!

Prepare Containers and Chocolate Molds:

Spray containers or molds with non-stick spray. I am using plastic chocolate egg molds for these marshmallow chocolate eggs. If using flour for molding, put flour in a flat container or glass dish and press the shape of an egg into the flour.
Open 4 plastic disposable decorating bags and place in tall drinking glasses. Fold decorating bag top down over the lip of the drinking glass (so sticky marshmallow won’t be able to get on the top inch of the plastic disposable decorating bag.) Keep 4 elastic bands nearby. You will prepare 4 disposable decorating bags, but will probably only use 3 of them. However, it’s better to use more bags and not overfill them. And depending on how fluffy or how stiff your marshmallow is, you may need 4 bags.
Have powdered sugar nearby to sprinkle on top of molded marshmallow.

Calibrate the candy thermometer — Calibrate the Candy Thermometer and adjust your recipe’s target cooking temperature

Prepare containers for marshmallow — Calibrate the Candy Thermometer and adjust your recipe’s target cooking temperature

The Bloom:

In the metal mixing bowl of your stand mixer, first add water, then sprinkle gelatin on top. The order of this is important to keep the gelatin from sticking to the bottom of the bowl and never getting mixed into the marshmallow mixture. Believe me, order counts!
Whisk the gelatin gently into the water to be sure all the gelatin gets wet. It doesn’t take much mixing. You just want to cut down on the chunks of gelatin not getting hydrated.

wash sugar down sides of saucepan — Stir until sugar dissolves

The Syrup:

Combine sugar, hot water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Add the candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil on high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until sugar is dissolved. Stirring is important at this point so that the sugar gets dissolved before it sticks to the bottom of the pan. It doesn’t have to be a constant stir, scraping each part of the bottom of the saucepan with a spatula is the technique. Just before boiling, about the time bubbles are starting to rise to the top of the mixture, the sugar will be dissolved.
Once the sugar mixture reaches boiling, use a pastry brush and the water to wash down the sugar on the sides of the saucepan, and behind the candy thermometer. This is a very simple task that keeps sugar crystals on the side of the saucepan from creating crystals in your cooked candy. Water will not hurt your candy; it just boils off. I like to use the water I just used for calibrating my thermometer. It’s still sitting on the stove, so it’s location is perfect!
Cook the sugar mixture to 240° F (115.5° C). While making cooked candy, stay in the kitchen area. Watch closely in last 15° as sugar syrup changes temperature quickly. Also, this isn’t a good task for young children. Hot sugar sticks to skin and burns in a flash. Young children can help once the marshmallow is in the disposable caking decorating bags!
When the sugar syrup has reached temperature, take the saucepan off the heat immediately.

A Little Note on Candy Making Timing:

If by chance you need to leave the kitchen while you are cooking candy on the stove, turn off the heat and leave the candy uncovered on the stove, step away and do what needs to be done. Then return, turn on the stove again, resume cooking the candy to the correct temperature. The candy will handle the pause perfectly at this point.
However, once the sugar syrup reaches temperature, you have to move with purpose and have everything prepared for the next steps. If there is a delay, the sugar syrup could set up, or the whipped marshmallow could set up before you are ready for it. At this point in the candy making process, everything around you needs to be put on hold until you have the marshmallow mixture in decorating bags with elastic bands on the end. Then you can pause.

add syrup to bloom — Pour Syrup into The Bloom

whip into marshmallow — Pour Syrup into The Bloom

Making Marshmallow:

Begin mixing the bloom mixture with your stand mixer on low speed. Slowly pour cooked syrup mixture into the side of the metal bowl so it reaches the gelatin bloom mixture, beating constantly on low speed. I like to keep the hot streaming liquid to the side so the whisk isn’t flipping hot liquid out of the bowl.
DO NOT scrape the edges of the saucepan to get all the syrup out. It will cause crystallization. This is super important! Even though you washed sugar crystals down the sides of the saucepan, there are still crystals. You are hardly wasting any candy, so resist the urge to get all of it!
Once the cooked syrup has been added, turn the stand mixer speed to medium. Mix until mixture turns white and fluffy and begins to thicken, about 5-6 minutes.
Add the flavoring.
Continue beating on medium-high speed another minute or two until you can see paths being created in the marshmallow, but not quite soft peaks. Since you are needing to pour the marshmallow into cake decorating bags, the marshmallow will not be set-up completely. It will set-up as it sits in the molds.

Disposable Decorating Bags:

Pour marshmallow mixture into the prepared disposable cake decorating bags. Fill each one to about an inch from the top of the folded top of the bag, giving you about 2” of un-used bag. Do not overfill or it will be a sticky mess. It’s so much better to just use an extra bag instead of being frugal with your bags.
When all the marshmallow mixture has been scraped out into the bags,—Yes! You can scrape the sides of the metal mixing bowl at this point. There are no sugar crystals lurking here!—Close each bag with an elastic band so no marshmallow can escape out the back of the bag. This is the BEST KEPT SECRET! Your marshmallow bag becomes mess proof and young children and adults can fill molds without holding the decorating bags just right.
Pause, if needed: At this point, before you cut a hole in the tip of the bag, you can pause for a minute to catch your breath. The marshmallow will squeeze out of the bag with ease. Probably don’t pause for half an hour, but you could take care of some urgent needs at this point.

cut off tip of disposable decorating bag — Cut off tip of disposable decorating bag

fill mold from center — Cut off tip of disposable decorating bag

Filling the Molds:

Cut the tip of the disposable decorating bag, one bag at a time, so you are not on a clock to get the marshmallow squeezed into a mold except with the one bag you have in your hand.
Squeeze the marshmallow into each mold by holding the tip of the bag in the center of the mold and squeeze so the marshmallow grows from the center. Stop squeezing to end the flow and circle the tip around a little to allow the thin streamer of marshmallow to stay on top.
Don’t worry about the “mound” of marshmallow that remains, it will still settle and smooth out as it sits.
Move to the next mold.
Continue to fill all the molds using each of the disposable decorating bags until they are empty.
Generously sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of all the molded marshmallow.
Allow to sit for at least 8 hours or overnight.

melting chocolate — Melting Chocolate: Stir after first minute in microwave

Melting the Chocolate:

Remove the marshmallow from the molds and rub off the excess powdered sugar before dipping in chocolate.
Prepare the dipping chocolate by putting 2 to 2 ½ pounds of milk chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. I really like the white pyrex circle bowl because it holds heat for a little bit.
Microwave the chocolate drops for 1 minute (no more). And then stir. This step seems useless because the chocolate has hardly melted, BUT chocolate can burn and never change shape. Starting to stir at this point helps the chocolate change shape.
Microwave for 30 seconds and stir.
Microwave again for 30 seconds, if needed, until the chocolate is smooth. Try not to overheat the chocolate! If it is too hot to touch the container or the chocolate, IT IS TOO HOT. Chocolate is just supposed to be warm, about 88-89° F.

Dipping Marshmallow Eggs in Chocolate:

Use waxed paper on your countertop or on a baking sheet for your dipped eggs.
One at a time, drop a marshmallow egg into the chocolate, top up.
Use your dipping tool or a fork to cover the egg with chocolate.
Pick up the center of the bottom of the egg with your tool and tap the edge of the bowl a couple of times with your fork, to let the chocolate drip.
Move to the wax paper and release the tip of the egg onto the wax paper first, lifting the other side up and away while you remove the tool from the egg.
Note: Often you have to slide the tip of the egg back into the chocolate pool you made BEFORE you release the egg, so you don’t have a large foot of chocolate under the tip of the egg.
Swirl your tool a little on the top of the egg, as the drizzle of chocolate breaks away from the tool and stays with the chocolate covered egg. It’s a good “finished” look.

After the Chocolate has Set:

When the chocolate has hardened, you can decorate the chocolate egg by drizzling each egg with dark or white chocolate. You can also sprinkle flake salt or sprinkles on the unset chocolate drizzles. You can even use white or colored royal icing to decorate these chocolate marshmallow eggs. Have fun making each egg look unique.

Decorate the tops of the marshmallow eggs

Happy Easter!

–Kim

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