When I was in elementary school, my best friend Erica and I would sometimes bake things. Usually it was cookies, but one time we decided to make lemon meringue pie. We separated eggs, we whipped the whites with sugar… and then we realized that we hadn’t even looked at the filling part. So, we put some lemon juice in the meringue we had just made and baked some lemon-flavored meringues.
These marshmallows taste something like that — a bit sweeter than lemon bars, but still lemony and delicious. And, of course, the texture is very fluffy and marshmallow-y.
You obviously are going to need a lot of lemons. You also need a candy thermometer and a stand mixer. But if you have those things, squeezing the lemons and grating the zest is actually the hardest part.
PSA: Check and make sure you actually have all the ingredients, and enough of the ingredients, before you start. I got halfway in and realized I didn’t have enough light corn syrup, so I had to improvise. Improvisation is cool when making, say, pasta sauce, but a little scarier when making marshmallows. Especially because you have to wait until the next morning to know how it all turned out.
It did work out, though. Obviously. And it will work even better if you follow the recipe.
If you’ve never made marshmallows before and are even kinda inclined to try, I would recommend these. Just be warned, though: They’re totally addictive.
Lemon marshmallows (Adapted from Epicurious, makes a 9×9-inch or 9×12-inch pan full of marshmallows)
A bit of vegetable oil or cooking spray
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
4 medium lemons
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
4 envelopes powdered unflavored gelatin (each envelope should be 1/4 ounce)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
yellow food coloring (optional)
Brush the bottom and sides of a 9×9-inch or 9×12-inch baking pan with vegetable oil (I pour a bit into the pan and then use a paper towel to spread it around). Stir the powdered sugar and corn starch together and use some of it to dust the bottom and sides of the pan. Set the rest aside.
Use a zester or vegetable peeler to zest all four lemons (keep the lemons). Put the zest into a food processor with the granulated sugar. Put the lid on, then turn the food processor for a minute or two, until the zest is ground finely and well incorporated.
Roll one of the lemons on the counter, then cut it in half and squeeze the juice. Continue until you have 1/2 cup lemon juice (strain the seeds and pulp out if you’re not using a citrus juicer that does that for you) and pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer. Put the whisk attachment on the mixer.
Add 2 tablespoons water to the lemon juice, then sprinkle the gelatin into the bowl. Stir for a second to make sure all the gelatin is touching the liquid. Let the mixture sit while you do the next step.
Add the sugar-lemon zest mixture to a heavy 2 1/2- to 4-quart saucepan and stir in the corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water. Put the pan on medium heat to medium-high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved, then continue heating until mixture comes to a boil.
Carefully place a candy thermometer in the boiling syrup (if you have the kind that attaches to the side of the pan, try not to have the tip of the thermometer touching the bottom of the pan). Keep boiling (you can turn the heat down a little if the mixture foams up) WITHOUT stirring until the mixture reaches 240F (the “soft-ball stage.” Hehe).
Take the pan off the heat and let it stand for a minute or two.
Turn the stand mixer on low speed, then carefully and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once all the sugar syrup is in the bowl, increase the mixer to medium and then high, beating for 5-15 minutes — until the marshmallow fluff mixture is thick and fluffy. It should create a thick ribbon when you lift the whisk.
Add food coloring, if you’d like, and beat to combine.
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the hot, sticky marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan. If necessary, get your fingers wet and use them to smooth out the top (or just use the spatula).
Let the marshmallow mixture sit, uncovered, at room temperature, until the top is not sticky anymore. This should take at least 4 hours, but overnight is good. (Keep the leftover powdered sugar/corn starch mixture in a bag or something).
Once the marshmallows are ready, dust a cutting board or other large, clean surface with the leftover powdered sugar/corn starch mixture. Use your fingers or a rubber spatula to carefully pull the marshmallow away from the sides of the pan. Then turn the pan upside down so the top side of the marshmallows lands face down on the powdered cutting board.
Use a pizza cutter or long thin knife to cut the mixture into small squares, dusting the sides of all of them with a little of the powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture. Brush off any excess.
Store the marshmallows in an airtight container (they’ll last a few weeks that way) and enjoy!
