MARYJANE'S MARSHMELLOWS

Homemade Marshmellows- a Snow Day Tradition 

We have the tradition of making home made marshmellows for hot chocolate on No School Snow Days. Well, Today was a snow day and today I made marshmellows. The boys favorite part is licking the bowl and the beater. This time I used a recipe I found in the september 2005 issue of country home.

Powdered sugar
2 1/2T unflavored gelatin
1 cup water, divided
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 T water
2 tsp vanilla extract

Lightly coat an 8x8x2 inch pan with cooking spray. Heavily dust with powdered sugar; set aside. Stir unflavored gelating and 1/2 cup of the water together in a large bowl of a stand mixer; let stand 25 minutes while preparing syrup mixture( mixture will be set).
Meanwhile, mix remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, syrup, and salt in a heavy 2 quart saucepan. Cook and stir over med-high heat until mixture boils. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Reduce heat to medium; continue boiling at a moderate steady rate, stirring frequently until thermometer reaches 244 degrees( about 15 minutes) Slowly pour hot syrup into gelatin mixture with stand mixer on low to med speed. Increace to high speed; beat 15 minutes ( mixture should be thick and about triple in volume) Add 1 Tablespoon water and vanilla extract; beat until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared pan ( it will be sticky). Let stand, uncovered, overnight. Loosen mixture from pan by lifting around edges with a knife. Invert onto a cutting board dusted with powdered sugar. Cut into 1-inch squared with a knife dusted with powdered sugar. Dust marshmellows with additional powdered sugar.
maked about 64 marshmellows.

Note: We cut the marshmellows an hour after making them. Just sprinkle the top with powdered sugar before removing from the pan.