Funfetti marshmallows

I made those adorable little ice cream cone marshmallows yesterday, but I was left with a TON of leftover marshmallow batter.  I mean, I probably had used only a few tablespoons at best to fill the ice cream cones.  So what to do with leftover marshmallow batter?  And a 6-lb tub (ok, ok, I've used some....maybe I'm down to 5.75 lbs?) of rainbow sprinkles?  Funfetti marshmallows seemed like the perfect answer!

And how festive to bring to my friend's birthday celebration last night, a movie in the park?!

I made my regular go-to vanilla marshmallows, and then at the very end added in a few handfuls of rainbow sprinkles (I have small hands, people, it wasn't quite as much as it sounds like).  I poured the marshmallow batter into a prepared pan and then let them set.

When it came to coating the marshmallows, I debated using some regular marshmallow coating.  But then I thought "what if I just coat one marshmallow in rainbow sprinkles, just to see what it looks like?" -- and as you can imagine, once I did that there was no need for regular marshmallow coating!

(P.S. I packed them up in a mini cupcake tin for easy transport.  Such a good and clever idea, if I do say so myself!)  I also got better about cutting the marshmallows smaller, which I'm super happy about!  Check out how cute they are!

Funfetti Marshmallows
Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 cup water, divided

3 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin (3 envelopes – envelope is 1/4 oz. each, for 3/4 oz. total)

2 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. fine salt

2 Tbsp. pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste -- I cut this down to 1 Tbsp and still found them overly vanilla-y...I'd go down to 2 tsp next time

Rainbow sprinkles -- about 2 cups

Directions:

Spray a 9x9 or 7x11 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper (Recommendation: cut to fit flat on the bottom, with the edges of the paper over-hanging the sides. The ends are fine just sprayed.)

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over.

Let stand.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.

Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.

Stop stirring and once mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat. (Recommendation: the original recipe said that they like to carefully pour mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup, to make it easier to pour into mixer.  I did this and found it extremely helpful!).

The mixture is very, very, very hot.  Be extremely careful!

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen.
Very slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixer to high and whip the mixture for 10 to 12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.
If you have a smaller mixer bowl, you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to avoid the batter overflowing as it grows.
Stop the mixer, add the vanilla, and then whip briefly to combine.  When I added the vanilla, mine thinned out a bit.  Just an FYI.
Throw in a few handfuls of sprinkles

Place the mixture into the prepared baking pan (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this) and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with cooking spray and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using you fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the mixture.

Leave the marshmallow to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours or, even better, overnight.
The marshmallow will be too sticky and soft to cut if you try too soon.

Place the rainbow sprinkles in a bowl or shallow pan.

When marshmallows are ready, grab the edges of the parchment and lift the marshmallows from the pan.
Remove the plastic wrap from the top and fold down the parchment on the sides.
Using a pizza cutter or a large knife, cut the slab into 1x1 inch squares.
Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the sprinkles.
Put them on a baking sheet to dry slightly before packaging them up (about 30 – 45 minutes).