Marshmallowy goo = bad burns

After a really long, rough weekend I was lucky enough to be able to see my favorite team clinch their division.  The next day, I was able to watch their B squad beat the Indians.  I clutched my hot chocolate, in the cold, and decided I would finally tackle making marshmallows.

Martha Stewart, the people at RealSimple, and the authors of my numerous baking books told me how easy it is to make homemade marshmallows.  And I believed them.  None of these experts mentioned how physically painful it could be...
The first time I tried to make this, I fell asleep while the gelatin was absorbing the water.  It turned into a congealed, nasty mess.

Fortified with a nap, I decided to try again.  I added the gelatin slowly, giving it enough time to absorb the water.

After the gelating had some time to absorb, I started heating the water, sugar, and light corn syrup.  Once the sugar dissolved, I turned up the heat until it became 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.  That heating took longer than I thought it would. 

Once the right temperature was achieved, I added the hot syrup to the gelatin I placed in the mixer and blended.  This is where the pain started.  The directions said to mix on high after it was blended-- which I did.  And then got showered with droplets of hot syrup.  I made the executive decision to turn the speed down to medium.

While my mixer was doing all the work for me, I dusted my cookie sheet with cornstarch.  With 5 minutes left, I successfully increased the rate to high without getting showered.  After the goo thickened enough, I added the vanilla, mixed, and started pouring it onto the prepared sheet.

This was like spreading thick, rapidly hardening frosting.  I got the top as smooth as possible, but I wasn't that successful.

To finish it off, I dusted the top with powdered sugar and let it sit overnight. 

The next morning, I tried to turn the slab out onto some parchment dusted with more powdered sugar, but apparently I wasn't liberal enough with my cornstarch.  I dusted my knife with powdered sugar and just cut them out of the pan and that worked just fine.  I tossed the squares in powdered sugar and was set  They didn't taste too bad even though I forgot to add the salt at the beginning of this process.

Final product in some cocoa:

 

Marshmallow Recipe

Next time, I think I will halve the amount of vanilla used and make up the volume with peppermint extract for a more festive marshmallow.  You know, to be different.