How to make gourmet marshmallows in 13 steps

Believe it or not, your Grandmother probably made these. Today you can buy gourmet Gourmet Marshmallows at Whole Foods, (which my friend appropriately calls Whole Paycheck) in chocolate or vanilla flavors. Once you’ve tasted one, you’ll never buy those jet-puffed ones again. These are more like clouds. But good marshmallows don’t have to be expensive. And wouldn’t this make a great housewarming gift at a holiday party?

I found this recipe in a very old recipe book in my Mom’s kitchen on that fateful night when I was cleaning out her house. I really don’t know who created this recipe book that my own Mother coveted. But the book looks well-worn, so the recipes must be good.

So here is the recipe, with minor adaptations for today’s technology, from page 28 of the mysterious book.
Ingredients:

• Butter to coat the pan
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• cornstarch for dusting

1. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square baking pan with butter.
2. Sprinkle pan with powdered sugar, making sure to get the sides and bottom.
3. Sprinkle the gelatin into the 1/2 cup water in the bowl of your mixer and let “bloom” for five minutes.
4. Combine the corn syrup, sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan.
5. Stir over low heat until the gelatin and sugar dissolve.
6. Boil until the sugar’s temperature passes 250°F, which is known as the hard-ball stage — when dropping the sugar into some water will form a hard ball.
7. Turn the mixer on at low speed (with the bowl of gelatin) while drizzling in the boiling sugar syrup. (My adaptation here.)
8. CAREFULLY turn the speed up and add the salt.
9. Once the peaks form, add the vanilla, and turn the speed of the mixer to high. Beat for 15 minutes. (Can you imagine doing this by hand? And then, you probably had to go out and milk the cows yet.)
10. Pour the mixture into your greased and powdered pan. Use a buttered spatula to make it smooth.
11. Let this set for at least two hours.
12. Use a wet knife or a wet pizza cutter to cut the marshmallows into cute little squares. Dust cut squares with powdered sugar, mixed with cornstarch, and set them on baking racks to dry over night.
13. Store in an air-tight container, and they should last until your kids find them the next morning. Other people tell me that the marshmallows can last as long as a month stored this way. But mine are gone; long gone before then.