I have an unusual food problem right now. Actually, I’m using both the words “food” and “problem” very loosely: I have way too many marshmallows! But not the boring little white kind of marshmallows…
…the colorful magical marshmallows that come in the shapes of hearts and moons and stars! (Also known as assorted dehydrated marshmallow bits.) I suddenly have thousands of these little pieces of sugar and artificial coloring (2.2 lbs of them, to be more precise). They arrived in the mail recently, sent to me from my mother-in-law Bonney. (She’s kind of known for amassing lots of her favorite things.) No explanation, just marshmallows.
When I called Bonney to ask about her unusual gift, she reminded me of a story that I told her several years ago about how once when I was a kid I spent a couple of hours alone with a box of Lucky Charms and managed to consume every single marshmallow, leaving the “healthy” part of cereal largely uneaten. (Everyone likes hunting for treasure!) So it seems that Bonney found the marshmallows for sale in bulk at Cornerstone Country Market in Waterboro, Maine, and she thought it would make my day to have three bags of pure sugary joy all to myself. It was an exciting package to open for sure, but after munching on a handful, I remembered that I’m no longer 11 years old, and neither is my stomach.
So. Instead of giving them to a neighborhood kid (and making her or his Park Slope parents very unhappy), I’ve decided to have a Marshmallow Marathon Baking Challenge, hopefully with your help! Surely there are many possibilities for crazy fun baked goods and other desserts that these things can be used in, and I want YOUR ideas and recipes. So far the only idea I’ve come up with is rice crispy treats with marshmallows baked in, but that doesn’t seem especially innovative to me, because rice crispy treats already have marshmallow in them (albeit a pretty different kind of marshmallow), and also because I’d be making another marshmallow-and-cereal combo that is rather obvious.
I have a feeling that many of you are big into baking and cooking, so I would love to hear your ideas (or even full recipes) in the comments to this post! The sky is pretty much the limit, although I have a few things you should probably keep in mind:
– These marshmallows are softer than the crunchy, extra-dehydrated kind that come in Lucky Charms. But the size and flavor of them are the same.
– I’m a vegetarian, but not a vegan, so no meat (ew gross anyway), but eggs/milk/cheese are OK.
– I’m an average baker/cook, so I probably won’t attempt anything overly fancy or complicated, or that requires fancy/complicated equipment.
– I have edible projects in mind, but if you have a cool idea for a different kind of use for the marshmallows, please share that too!
I’d love to test out some suggestions and show you the results here on the blog!
I’m thinking they would be good in cooked pudding after it comes out of the pot. Or cupcake decorations. How about dipping pretzels in chocolate and rolling them in the marshmallows. In hot chocolate? In coffee? As salad croutons? I guess I’m out of ideas….
Rice Krispy treats with some melted together with the rice and some left whole.
I hate to be awful, but… as you said you’re a vegetarian… marshmallows (even dehydrated) aren’t usually vegetarian. Gelatin is the evil secret ingredient in too many yummy foods — breaks my heart. The UK has figured out how to substitute it out but we’re woefully behind in the US!
I hope hope hope that these somehow were made without because they’re adorable and I remember loving these as a kid too!
Yep, I’ve heard this, Marri. You won’t find me gnawing on bones, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief about the vegetarian-ness of marshmallows.
Build a fort for the wee gnomes! Then surround it with wee zombies!
My husband bought a bag like those and he just added them to cereal.
Eton mess with marshmallows – cream, meringue & strawberries. How much you mix or layer ingredients always a matter of taste, but a spattering of marshmallow will add to the fun!
Rocky Road – broken rich tea biscuits, dark chocolate & golden syrup mixed with marshmallow & allowed to set. Has a half life of minutes when my family realise it exists…
Just off the top of my head, I’d try grinding them into powder in a food processor and using the powder as a sugar “substitute” in a vanilla cupcake base, mixing in a good couple of handful of solid marshmallows into the batter before cooking.
You could probably use the marshmallow powder for a basic buttercream frosting and some more solid ones as a decoration.
You could also cook them into cookies! I’d stick with an oatmeal cookie base to cut the sweet.
Now I want a bag to experiment with!
Do you have any friends who are elementary school teachers? I found this idea on Pinterest (unfortunately there’s no way for me to post the cute pic in a comment.)
“After my students write a piece I have them leave it on their desks when they go to lunch or special area classes. I place a Skittle on each correct punctuation mark (and I usually put one or two one if they indent a paragraph). Skittles are the great motivator!”
Dehydrated Lucky Charms marshmallows could be too!
you should glue them to a glass candle holder and than modge podge over them.
Ooh, you could make rocky road cookies–chunks of chocolate, nuts, and these marshmallows instead of the traditional white ones for a summer treat! You could also sprinkle them on top of brownies…use them to decorate the top of a cake (clearly I have dessert on my mind!)…my brother once made a s’mores pie with a graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding filling, and marshmallows on top, so you could do that too.
Okay, I need to stop before I give myself diabetes :)
I would try baking them into vanilla cupcakes. Then sprinkle a few on top of the frosting for decoration. I’m imagining the cake part of the cup cake would turn out kind of like rainbow chip cake mix from Betty Crocker…
Hi Anna! Sorry to see you’re having such a tough time getting suggestions during the first two hours of posting. I suggest you make a Medieval Mochi village and use them for cobbles and roofing. That should keep you out of trouble. Maybe you could just put down some glue and shake the board until they randomly find their places in the narrow lanes. Leave it to Bonnie to liven up the days when you’re locked down for the heat wave. Good luck! Love, Papa
Hi Anna,
I wasn’t allowed to have sweet cereals when I was little, but my mom would something cut up regular marshmallows into my Cheerios, so I wasn’t completely denied breakfast treats.
These s’mores “candy bars” would look cute with rainbow marshmallows, and also require no actual baking:
http://joythebaker.com/2009/10/smores-icebox-candy-bars/
And they are so cute I think they’d look good as a topping for an ice cream sundae or rolling an ice cream sandwich in them so they stick to the sides.
Mix them into brownie batter? I doubt they’d melt like “real” marshmallows.
I sometimes use mini marshmallows to make something called “Five Cup Salad.” (It’s not really salad, it’s a little too sweet:)
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
1 cup drained mandarin orange segments
1 cup coconut
1 cup marshmallows (you could use the dehydrated ones here)
1 cup sour cream (some people used sweetened whipped cream but that really is too sweet).
Mix, let stand a few minutes, serve.
I was thinking an addition to sugar cookies. Or putting them on the top as soon as the cookies come out of the oven so they stick. And while rice crispies don’t sound super exciting, that was my first suggestion. Easy, fast, and everyone loves them, right? lol Then you could share them with your friends/neighbors and quickly rid your home of the extra sugar!
definitely should try the Hot Cocoa Cookies with Marshmallow Bits which are my favorite cookies
Hot Cocoa Cookies With Marshmallow Bits
adapted from Baked Bree’s Hot Chocolate Cookie Recipe
2 and 1/2 sticks room temperature butter (you only see two sticks in the photo, but I added another 1/2 stick)
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cups flour
4 packages Hot Chocolate Mix (not sugar free)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup Marshmallow Bits (you could substitute mini marshmallows)
Cream together your butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. And in eggs and vanilla and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients, including your hot chocolate packets.
Add the dry ingredients a little at a time to your wet ingredients. I found that my dough was very dry – as in I had to almost knead it by hand to work in the chocolate chips and marshmallow bits.
Drop on to your cookie sheets. I sometimes had to “form” mine a bit, even when using my cookie scoop. Again, the dough was dry, but the end result was fabulous.
Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes. Allow to cool for approximately five minutes then remove from cookie sheet. Enjoy
I bet they would be good in the momofuku garbage cookies. Or a chocolate chip cookie with a mixture of these, chocolate and peanut butter chips.
There are some great ideas here—thanks, everyone! And keep them coming! I hope to start trying a few things out soon, and I’ll report back!
I’d be wary of using them in craft projects. They are sugar and there is always the possibility of the local ant population.
Cocoa
Rice Krispie Squares
Ambrosia Salad
Rocky Road candy
That’s all I’ve got (at present)
Maybe add these delicious marshmallows to a brownie or cookie recipe. Or…you can also get those marshmallows, and put them as eyes on some bread, with icing at the top to make it look like yarn hair.