In early 2009, I set out to create an "open source" vegan marshmallow recipe. Vegan marshmallows have eluded the public sphere for many moons. There are a few vegan marshmallow recipes floating around the internet but, at the time of writing this, most were total flops.
The marshmallows in this recipe are firm to the touch. They roast great. They melt under heat. They even puff when they catch fire.
I present the first free, open-source vegan marshmallow recipe that:
1. Works.
2. Will now and forever be open source. That means if you try it and have an improvement or a new recipe, post a comment or send an email and I will post new discoveries.
3. Has many thanks to those who helped contribute thoughts, ideas and other comments along the way, including: Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast Open Cooking Forum, the Post Punk Kitchen Forum, and countless internet sites dedicated to hydrocolloids, molecular gastronomy and plain old vegan goodness.
I am not a professional chef nor an expert. I'm just a vegan who loves to cook and research new ways of cooking. I also don't like driving multiple hours for a marshmallow. They can be expensive and hard-to-find locally. This recipe is excellent. My wife called it, "perfect."
I will, however, give credit where credit is due. The commercially available marshmallows are wonderful and are worth the effort to find them or order them. They are:
Also, Everyday Dish TV has launched their subscription service! They have been working for months on perfecting a marshmallow recipe and marshmallow meringue. I highly recommend getting a subscription. The pictures alone will make you want to eat your flatscreen. They take vegan marshmallows into the stratosphere of culinary delights.
That said, below is the recipe. I will deconstruct it in other posts for those who wish to experiment.
Marshmallows are basically a stiff fluff with cooked sugar whipped in.
Pan
Use a small 8x8 baking pan for amazingly thick marshmallows or 8x12 for a more manageable, bite-sized marshmallow. Mix 2T of vegan powdered sugar and 2T of cornstarch together. Spray your pan with oil and dust with the sugar/cornstarch mixture. Set aside.
Fluff
The fluff part of this recipe was inspired by Jeanette Sutton's web site recipe for agar marshmallows at meatandeggfree.com. She deserves a tremendous amount of credit for her work on fluff, a key to marshmallow success. If you are looking for an agar marshmallow, try Jeanette's recipe.
5T soy protein isolate 90% (available at many health food stores)
2t Baking Powder
3/4C cold water
Sugar Syrup
1.5C raw sugar
1C light corn syrup
1/2C water
1T Genutine Vegetarian Gelatin
2t vanilla extract
Genutine is a commercial product (click here to order) made primarily of carrageenan with locust bean gum and sucrose, according to their web site. It has no animal products in it. Not even close.
To make the fluff, mix the dry ingredients together first in a stand mixer. Add the water and whip with a whisk for 10 minutes until you get stiff peaks and an increase in volume. The volume will not increase dramatically and fill the bowl as you might see when using the Angel Food Marshmallow Mix. However, you will see some increase and you should get stiff peaks.
To make the sugar syrup, mix the Genutine with the raw sugar in a saucepan. Then add the water and whisk quickly. You should have a thick mixture. Add the corn syrup. Stir and heat on the stove. Use a candy thermometer and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 230 degrees. By this time, it should be thick and gloppy. The mixture will begin to gel as one large mass and you will be able to catch sight of the bottom of your pan as you stir. Hurry up and stop cooking! Stir in the vanilla.
WARNING! This is extremely messy, gooey and sticky. If you have a splatter shield for your mixer, go get it! Otherwise, you will likely need a hand-held steam cleaner to clean your mixer when you are done. I speak from experience. DOH!
Turn the stand mixer on high and whisk the fluff as you quickly add the sugar syrup. DO NOT ADD THE SYRUP SLOWLY! The sugar gel is so sticky, it can climb up your whisk attachment and begin to gum up its connection to the mixer. Just dump it in with the mixer running as fast as it will go. Let whip for 10 minutes. Use a rubber scraper and pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Cover with a sheet of wax paper and push down the mix so it gets into the sides of the pan. Remove the wax paper and let cool in the fridge for at least an hour.
When cool, turn out on a cutting board. Cut squares in the size you like and coat all sides with more of your corn starch/powdered sugar mix.
Yields 30-35 marshmallows.
Get your camera. Find a pretty plate. Put your marshmallows on it. Take a picture. Post it on a blog somewhere. Then apologize to your spouse for the colossal mess you made.
Shelf life? As a vegan who has not had marshmallows in a very, very long time, the shelf life is about 24 hours before you eat all of them from off the shelf. I do not know how long they will last if you do not eat them. Perhaps someone can post a comment.
Mini Marshmallows
If you want mini marshmallows, after mixing, immediately put the mixture in a piping bag and pipe out your mini marshmallows in the size and shape of your choice.
Happy cooking!
