It’s Thanksgiving break and I have been very busy preparing for the upcoming holidays. Within the past few months, I have started selling my baked goods at a local farmers market. My baked goods were well received by those with and without food allergies. I was even featured in our local news paper! Double score.

But as much as I love baking, I also have a full time job as a teacher, and most importantly, I am raising two very young boys. Keeping this in mind, I have decided to do sporadic “bake sales” from home when I can, on my terms. I know it sounds selfish, but the most important thing right now are my boys. I also need to have that special time to create, so this gives me the outlet I need to do so.

During our Thanksgiving break, I took the boys out to play, planned for our small Thanksgiving lunch at home before shipping off to my grandmother’s house to feast on a typical Puerto Rican Thanksgiving meal, and I got to do some crafting and baking.

My Bake Sale project (hot cocoa mixes (handmade) and cookies. Go to my Shop tab on my site for further details.

Thanksgiving dessert and cookies

And last, but not least, homemade marshmallows with ABC. Eli couldn’t make an appearance, as he was busy napping.

I had seen this easy marshmallow recipe a few months ago and had been wanting to try it for quite some time. I must admit, I was a bit intimidated by this because of the candy thermometer. I have tried candy making a few times, and have scorched the sugar or myself. But the directions did not seem too complicated and so I thought I would give it a shot. It was a success. Plus, ABC got to help. He licked the beaters clean (pictured above).

I did make some slight changes to the original recipe and those changes will be noted in my notes, under the link to the recipe. The recipe originates from The Urban Poser. She also has a video below her recipe. Depending on your dietary restrictions or taste preferences, adapt it to your liking.

Homemade Marshmallows without corn syrup Recipe

My Notes:
1. You can use honey or maple syrup. I used honey, however, next time I will use maple syrup just because I prefer a milder flavor.
2. A candy thermometer is a must for candy making. If you don’t have one, there are ways to test for the stages of candy making.
3. You can flavor these marshmallows with vanilla extract or you could change it up and use peppermint extract, almond extract, or any other pure extract of your choice.
4. You can use arrowroot starch to coat the pan and the marshmallow itself, if you are sensitive to sugar or corn (i.e. Standard confectioners sugar). I used tapioca starch which left a bit of an after taste, so I dusted it off (after they had set for 4 hours) and re-coated with organic confectioners sugar which does not contain corn starch. This was much better in taste. I also coated some in cinnamon and sugar (a combo of organic confectioners sugar and cinnamon), and hot cocoa mix (unsweetened cocoa powder and confectioners sugar). I also left some plain for the marshmallow purists. Next, I dipped some in chocolate! See pictures below.

Enjoy!