Ingredients:

4 gelatin envelopes

Just enough water to wet the gelatin, a tablespoon or two

Fit a commercial mixer with the whisk attachment. In the mixer bowl combine the water with the gelatin and allow to bloom (soften). Be sure all of the gelatin is exposed to the water; it is easy for dry pockets of gelatin to remain if just dumped in a lump and dry gelatin may not work well in the marshmallow making. A commercial quality mixer is recommended as the marshmallow becomes stiff and can be too much for a home quality mixer. 

Ingredients:

3 cups maple syrup

1 ½ cups inverted maple syrup or corn syrup

Mix the maple syrup and inverted maple syrup or corn syrup, in a pan and bring to a boil. When this mixture is at a boil, continue to cook without stirring until it reaches between 24 and 34ºF above the boiling point of water. The high temperature will make a denser, stable marshmallow while the lower temperature will make a less dense marshmallow, you will need to experiment to get the result you like best. The less dense marshmallow will work better to make maple marshmallow rice crispy treats while the denser product will work better in an ice cream cone, on wafer cookies, on smores or ice cream sandwich cookies. 

With the mixer at medium speed, gradually pour all of the hot syrup down the side of the bowl into the awaiting moist gelatin mixture. Be careful as the hot syrup is very liquid and hot at this point. When all of the syrup is added, bring the mixer up to full speed. Whip until the mixture is very fluffy and somewhat firm, about 8-10 minutes. Dark and extra-dark syrups are better at covering the flavor of the gelatin. 

The fresh made maple marshmallow will be fairly easy to handle, still fairly liquid but it will become dense and difficult to manipulate in a matter of 15 to 30 minutes. A convenient way to disperse the fresh marshmallow into ice cream cone or onto wafer cookies or onto ice cream sandwich cookies is using a frosting dispenser bag. You may want to use the bag without one of the metal tips as it may be very hard to force the marshmallow through the restriction of the metal tip. 

Maple marshmallow can be served in a variety of formats. One favorite is to make rice crispy treats using the freshly made maple marshmallow in place of melted regular marshmallow. To make the rice crispy treat do not hesitate to stir the marshmallow into the rice crispy cereal, if the marshmallow is allowed to become more firm this mixing will become impossible. Maple marshmallow makes a great filling between cookies of all kinds and in particular sugar wafer cookie and ice cream sandwich cookies. Maple smores can be made by placing the marshmallow on graham crackers with a little chocolate. On the cookies it works best to put the marshmallow on the bottom cookie and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes and then add the top cookie. This allows the marshmallow to firm up so it does not squeeze out the sides when the top cookie is added. It also works great to fill ice cream cones with the marshmallow. 

You can make maple marshmallow squares. Pour the marshmallow into a pan that has been greased and coated with powdered maple sugar. Powered maple sugar is made by beating granulated maple sugar to powder in a blender. Smooth and spread the fresh marshmallow with a spatula. As an alternative you can spoon the slightly cooled mixture into individual servings onto a well sugared surface. Allowing the mix to cool too long will make it impossible to spoon individual servings. Transferring the mix too soon may allow it to spread too thin and off of the intended target. When in the pan or placed into individual servings, allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours or chilled for 3 to 4 hours. Sugar all surfaces with powdered maple sugar. A sifter can make this job fairly easy. Marshmallows will keep several weeks in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

In New York, to make maple marshmallows for sale the producer will need either a processing permit from New York State Department of Ag and Markets or a food service permit from the Health Department. All marshmallows are sales tax exempt in New York. 

April 2013