This whole holiday season situation is already stressing me out. It’s going way too fast. There are too many sales, too many DIY snow globes on Pinterest and seriously the photos of snow everywhere are making me jealous. I realize it’s not real life making me stressed, but internet life. It’s intense right now! I vote for us to put on some comfy socks and make/eat some marshmallows.
I’ve been dreaming about making coffee-flavored marshmallows for FOREVER! Forever. If you’ve never made marshmallows before, they’re muuuuch easier than you’d think.
If you’ve got a candy thermometer, you’re half way there!
The coffee flavor in these marshmallows isn’t overly strong, so all my coffee-haters out there (I don’t understand you but love you anyway) shouldn’t be too turned off.
Basically if you love coffee ice cream, these will be a-ok. .
The flavor of coffee is these marshmallows is brought to you by strong instant espresso powder. I like using it in baked goods because it dissolves easily and has a pretty strong coffee flavor. I would never drink it. Never.
Since I’m a brat about coffee, the coffee that I tend to drink usually is lighter in roast and has a “gentle flavor profile” which wouldn’t be strong enough for marshmallows. Blah. I hate myself a little right now.
The perfect option would be for us to all use coffee extract but seriously ain’t nobody got time fo’ that. We have enough on our plate; we don’t need to drive all over town looking for some obscure coffee extract, you know
And you’ll see below that there’s a bit of cocoa powder used too. In addition to it being used for coloring purposes, I also love the flavor it lends to coffee everything. They’re a good lil’ pair.
Ingredients
Prep:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- Vegetable oil
Marshmallows:
- 3/4 cup warm water divided
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso granules
- 3 envelopes of Knox gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1/4 of a vanilla bean scraped or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Vegetable oil for the pan
Instructions
Prep:
- Before you begin, let’s do some prep. Start by sifting together powdered sugar, corn starch and cocoa powder onto a large plate. Next, grease a 10″ x 8″ (this size can vary) casserole dish or pan with vegetable oil. Add a teaspoon or two of the cocoa powder/sugar mixture to the casserole dish and shake it around until the bottom and edges are dusted. Set aside.
Marshmallows:
- Combine 1/2 cup warm water and instant espresso granules. Whisk until granules are dissolved. Transfer the mixture to the refrigerator to cool. Pour the cooled coffee into the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or you can use a large bowl and a hand-mixer). Sprinkle the gelatin atop the cooled coffee mixture and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, with a candy thermometer attached to its side, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/4 cup of water. Heat the mixture over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up to moderately high heat and bring the mixture to a hard boil and cook for 1 minute, until the candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees F.
- Lower the whisk attachment and turn it on low. Carefully add the boiling liquid to the gelatin mixture. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 8-10 minutes, until the mixture has doubled in volume and holds stiff peaks. Sift in the cocoa powder and pour in the vanilla caviar or extract. Beat for an additional minute or so until the both of them are incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish or baking pan, smoothing out the top until it’s evenly disbursed (it’ll be sticky!). Dust the top with a few tablespoons of cocoa powder/sugar mixture. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and allow to set until firm, about 4 hours or overnight.
- Take a knife and run it around the edges of the casserole dish or pan and invert the marshmallow sheet onto a large cutting board, smacking the bottom of it, if needed. You also may need to use your fingers to loosen the marshmallow sheet from the casserole dish and gently glide it onto the cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the marshmallows into 1-inch cubes. Store the marshmallows in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Oh yes, these are a must-make!
Marshmallows are on my list of things to make for Christmas but I didn’t know which kind to attempt. That problem is now solved! Just one question though… do you know the tsp/tbsp or weight measurement of the gelatin? I have a whole container of the stuff not handy sachets. Thanks!
Yes! One envelope of gelatin is 1 tablespoon. So this recipe calls for 3 tablespoons powdered gelatin. 🙂
I’ve been stressed out too! Time is flying by way too fast. I will happily stress eat a thousand of these marshmallows though. Yum!
Would it be dangerous to do the whisking manually here? I don’t have an electric one and normally it’s fine, but I worry about what might happen with the boiling water in in this situation.
Ooof. You can but your arm might fall off, no joke. The boiling sugar liquid shouldn’t be too big of a problem, if you want to try it. My vote is to invest in one of a cheap electric hand-mixer (they usually run about $20 from Target). 🙂
Those look so good!! They would probably be amazin floating in some hot cocoa..
These sound amazing! Gorgeous photos, too. Also, don’t understand those coffee haters. Um, what?!
Aliens.
I love the idea of coffee marshmellows, a must on my list. You are so right with internet overload, sometimes we need to unplug and focus on what is really important!
Happy holidays to you and your family.
I think I am going to have to make these. I have been toying with the idea of making marshmallows and this just convinced me it needs to happen. Thanks for sharing!
Marshmallows have been on my bucket list for a long time… high time I did something about that – and coffee is definitely the way to go1 Thanks for a great idea.
Having wasted a significant amount of time cleaning coffee grains out of a fine sieve the other day (time I will NEVER EVER get back) I am now embracing instant coffee even more, so much easier, less hassle and flavour-wise usually no compromise. As for the marshmallows – love this. I made some coffee marshmallows while testing a vegan marshmallow recipe the other day (I was getting bored of plain vanilla by that stage) and was surprised how well it worked, such a great idea. And the added cocoa? Genius – the two flavours go so well together and I totally had not thought of that!
I really want to make this but am a vegetarian. What did you substitute for the gelatin? Thank you in advance. J
You can buy vegetarian gelatin
I used agar agar for mine, a vegetarian gelatine that has similar gelling effect to normal gelatine (although has a slightly more brittle setting effect). Agar agar is tricky to use and doesn’t always give the same results as gelatine made from animal products so you might not get the exact same results (it took me a while to succeed with a full vegan recipe).
As Sophia mentioned, agar is often used in place of gelatin for vegetarians. I don’t have any experience using it personally but some places online say it’s an even substitution.
Coffee marshmallows sound amazing!! Such a great idea! 🙂
I totally agree that instant espresso is not for drinking, but totes appropriate for eating. These look so good! I love all things coffee, so you’re speaking my language.
Geeez, I soooo want some! That is just the perfect match – Marshmallows and coffee!! 🙂
Yum I can only imagine these in hot chocolate or a caffeinated s’more sandwich. I need to try making my own now!
Why have I never seen coffee marshmallows before? It makes complete sense! A coffee marshmallow in a hot chocolate is like a match made in heaven. Love this.