Halloween treat #1: Candy corn marshmallows

I wanted to give you one fun Halloween-y treat each full week in the month of October.  I was super excited when I came up with this adorable little treat...a riff on a Halloween candy.

I can barely hold it in....I made....wait for it....Candy Corn Marshmallows!!  Now, before I go any further, I need to tell you that while they look like candy corns, they don't taste like candy corns.  Partially because I think candy corns are sickeningly sweet, partially because I don't love the taste of candy corns, and partially because I wouldn't even know where to start in terms of flavoring the marshmallows.

I took a short cut....I made one batch of regular marshmallows, and then took out some plain white marshmallow batter, added some yellow food coloring and then removed some yellow marshmallow batter, and then added some red food coloring to make orange batter, and lastly removed that and placed it in the pan.  Unfortunately, I didn't make enough yellow batter and some of the marshmallows had thinner sections of yellow (I chose not to photograph those marshmallows).  Next time, I might make 1.5 times the marshmallow batter and then use a slightly larger pan to make them.

I have to say, even though I am biased, that they're pretty darn cute!

Candy Corn 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 tsp. pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste

Yellow and red food coloring

For the coating:

1.5 cups of confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch

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.

Remove 1/3 of the marshmallow batter and place the mixture into the prepared baking pan (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this).
Turn the mixer on again and add yellow food coloring until desired color.
While the mixer is going, use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the white 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.

Remove 1/2 of the remaining yellow marshmallow batter and place the mixture into the prepared baking pan on top of the white marshmallow (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this).
Turn the mixer on again and add red food coloring until desired orange color.
While the mixer is going, use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the white 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.

Remove remaining orange marshmallow batter and place the mixture into the prepared baking pan on top of the yellow marshmallow (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this)..
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.
(I did this between the white and yellow layers but found that it took too long and made is slightly harder for the marshmallow layer to stick to the one beneath it, so I skipped it when I added the yellow marshmallow.)

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.

Mix together the coating ingredients in a bowl.

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.
I also made a few triangles to make them look even more like candy corns.
Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the coating mixture.
Put them on a baking sheet to dry slightly before packaging them up (about 30 – 45 minutes).