The most essential piece to the perfect S'more is the fluffy sweetness that melts in your mouth with a crispy crunch of the toasted, flame kissed edges... (drum roll please) the toasted marshmallow.
To make the fluffy pillows of sweetness, start with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle 2 envelopes of gelatin over the water.
While that blooms, in a 2 quart heavy saucepan mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Over medium heat, cook sugar mixture until dissolved, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until sugar mixture reaches 234 to 240F about 15 minutes.
Turn mixer on low to blend water and gelatin mixture.
Remove saucepan from heat and slowly pour hot sugar mixture into bowl while beating on low speed.
Cover mixer with mixing guard or a kitchen towel to prevent splatters. Increase speed to High and beat the sugar into submission for 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy and doubles in size.
Meanwhile, lightly grease 11 x 7 in baking dish or pan with butter and dust with powdered sugar. If you want teeny tiny cute marshmallow cubes, go for a 13 x 9 baking dish.
This is just about right, doesn't it look gorgeous? You want it to be fluffy and full, sort of pillow top-ish.
This is a hard job for your mixer, look at how its sweating. Ok seriously, that's just the steam but it sure does look like its getting hot and sweaty. Don't try this at home with a hand mixer... I can't guarantee you or your mixer will survive it.
Perfect! Wet your fingers slightly with cold water and the marshmallow fluff is super easy to work with.
Dip a rubber spatula into cold water and spoon the marshmallow fluff our into prepared baking dish, spread top out evenly. The cold water is your friend here. It will make this much easier to manage otherwise you might find yourself stuck to the counter top in a blob of marshmallow fluff.
This is perfect to make while your graham cracker dough is in the fridge because this will need to sit overnight as well. So, just let it chill out uncovered on the counter top until you're ready for super S'mores.
Generously sprinkle a cutting board with powdered sugar. Turn out marshmallow slab onto cutting board and dust with powdered sugar on all sides. Again, wet your knife with cold water to help prevent sticking. Cut crosswise into strips, then cut each strip into small bite sized pieces. Dip each side of the bite sized marshmallow in a small pile of powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking to eachother. You can keep them covered on the counter top for a while but if you want to keep them for more than 2 weeks you can easily freeze them for a few months.
But that wouldn't be much fun now would it? I have bigger and better plans for these tasty morsels....
Basic Vanilla Marshmallows (1/2 recipe)
Butter for greasing
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
1. Generously grease bottom and sides of 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with butter; dust with 1 tablespoon of the powdered sugar. In bowl of stand mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water and vanilla to soften; set aside
2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium low, cook without stirring about 20 minutes to 240°F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water forms a ball that holds its shape but is pliable; remove from heat.
3. Slowly pour syrup into softened gelatin while beating on low speed. Increase speed to high; beat 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is white and has almost tripled in volume. Pour into baking dish, patting lightly with wet hands. Let stand uncovered at least 8 hours or overnight.
4. Dust cutting board with about 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Place remaining powdered sugar in small bowl. To remove marshmallow mixture, loosen sides from dish and gently lift in one piece onto cutting board. Using sharp knife greased with butter or wet with cold water, cut into 1-inch squares (11 rows by 7 rows). Dust bottom and sides of each marshmallow by dipping into bowl of powdered sugar. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.
