It’s…. be…….ginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!
As soon as bonfire night is done and dusted, it is officially time to start cracking out the mulled wine and what better way to have mulled wine than in soft marshmallow form.
If you’ve never made marshmallows, it really isn’t as complicated as it sounds, but you will need a sugar thermometer to get it right. They are so different from shop bought marshmallows, they are light, fluffy and can still be used to toast or pop in a hot chocolate. These have a light pink hue naturally from the mulled wine but you could always pop in food colouring if you wanted a more vibrant pink.
Mulled Wine Marshmallows
- 100ml mulled wine
- 1 x 12g sachet of powdered gelatin
- 40g icing sugar
- 30g cornflour
- 300g caster sugar
- 100ml glucose syrup
- 100ml water
Sieve the icing sugar and cornflour in to a bowl and mix together.
Prepare an 8 inch square tin by brushing with a small amount of vegetable oil. Line the tin with baking paper. Dust some of the icing sugar and cornflour mix over the baking paper to create a thin layer in the base of the tin. Leave to one side.
In a mixer, pour in the mulled wine and the powdered gelatin and leave to “bloom”. This will allow the gelatin to absorb the liquid, meaning it will dissolve more easily and evenly when you add the hot sugar syrup later on. Attach a balloon whisk to the mixer.
In a pan, pour in the water, glucose and caster sugar and start to heat gently. Allow the sugar to dissolve fully then increase the heat. (The sugar should be fully dissolved before the mixture starts to boil. If it boils before the sugar is dissolved, just take off the heat and let the residual heat in the pan dissolve the sugar). Pop in your sugar thermometer. Keep the mixture boiling (without stirring) until the sugar syrup reaches 112 – 116 degrees (soft ball stage).
Once it reaches this temperature, turn the mixer on to the lowest speed. Very carefully pour in the sugar syrup in to the mulled wine and gelatin mixture. Once all the sugar syrup has been poured in, gradually increase the speed of the mixer until it is on top speed. Whisk on top speed for approximately 10 – 15 minutes.
While you are waiting, get a silicone spatula and grease very lightly with oil. This will help you when you turn out the marshmallow in to the tin.
Once the marshmallow has been whisked for 10-15 minutes, the bowl will feel much cooler and the mixture will have increased in size and turned much paler in colour. Stop whisking and pour the marshmallow in to the prepared tin. Use the greased spatula to scrape out all the mix in to the tin. Encourage the marshmallow in to the corners of the tin with the spatula and flatten the top slightly. Leave to set for 3 or 4 hours.
Once set, dust some more of the icing sugar and cornflour mixture on to a board and turn out the marshmallow. Peel off the baking paper. Run a large sharp knife under hot water (this helps to cut smoothly through the mallow) and cut the marshmallow in to cubes. Use the remaining icing sugar and cornflour mix to dust all the sides of the marshmallow cubes so they stop sticking to each other.
These can be eaten straight away, toasted over a fire, melted in a hot chocolate or stored in an air tight container for up to two weeks.
