Some days, regardless of how bright it is outside, are just… gray. A dear friend I made through blogging lost her father recently. We’re all just so heartbroken for her and her family’s loss.
Grief and comfort is so very individual and we all cope differently. Often you just can’t find the right words. Or when you do have plenty to say, sometimes the words themselves just seem so insignificant. Or they tumble out in a heaping mess. We pray for peace and comfort and then we often turn to acts of service to better say the things we feel. A lot of people, including me, cook.
When it’s a gray day, I often reach for my favorite mug. It’s easy to spot, it’s the cracked one with the Colts logo on the side and the crooked handle held in place with super glue. A steamy mug of hot tea has a way of temporarily replacing that cold, empty feeling to warm you from the inside out. Or when it’s cold out, a mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream or marshmallows.
Many of us wanted to do something to show our support for our friend, to let her know that we were still thinking of her. And because we all cook, you’ll see comfort foods popping up all around our friends’ blogs. I’d love to give Annie a hug and then pass her a mug (the un-cracked one!) of hot chocolate with a melty layer of homemade Baileys marshmallow on top.
Baileys Marshmallows
Fluffy homemade marshmallows spiked with Baileys Irish Cream. Add them to a mug of hot chocolate or use them in grown-up S'mores.
Ingredients
- 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 cup Baileys
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Powdered sugar, for coating and dusting
- Baking spray
Instructions
- Place Baileys in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and sprinkle gelatin over top. All of the powder should absorb within a few minutes - you might need to swirl the liquid in the bowl if powder remains on top.
- In a medium sauce pan, heat sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water over medium heat and stir constantly until the temperature reaches soft ball stage (240F).
- Add the heated sugar mixture in a slow, thin stream to the stand mixer while on low. Add vanilla and increase speed to high and whip for ~15 minutes, until thickened and mostly cooled.
- Spray an 8x8 pan with baking spray and coat with powdered sugar.
- Pour marshmallow into the prepared pan and let sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours (I always do overnight).
- Dust your work surface with powdered sugar and turn the marshmallow out of the pan (pull up one of the corners of the marshmallow, flip, and let gravity do the rest).
- Using a greased pizza cutter or knife, cut the marshmallows into 1-inch squares, dusting the cut edges with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.
- Store the marshmallows in a gallon zip-top bag with a few additional spoonfuls of powdered sugar (shake the closed bag to evenly distribute the powdered sugar).
Notes
Yields: ~64 marshmallows
Estimated time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Wow! These look SOO incredibly delicious! Great recipe 🙂
These sound lovely. I love that these are for Annie too. She needs all the comfort she can get right now and it’s so nice people are coming together to support her 🙂
What a lovely post for Annie! The picture is gorgeous too, I think you are taking off on a new level.
Thank you for this Shawnda. I truly appreciate the thought and the gesture. These marshmallows sound awesome and I’ll definitely be trying them.
Such a sweet post… I’m so glad the blogging community is surrounding Annie with love and comforting gestures. I’ve been reading her blog for more than a year now, and she is truly an amazing woman. You did a great job with these marshmallows 🙂
I felt so awful when I read Annie’s post also. Just terrible.
It was so sweet of you to offer up this mug full of warmth, with just a little bit of delicious alcohol infused marshmallows to take the edge off.
This is brilliant. I was doing some searches in Adwords for my site and came across this brilliant recipe. Nice one, very festive, very warming, very creamy, very very…..
These look and sound wonderful. I haven’t been tempted to make my own marshmallows till now!
hmm.. How about Rum Marshmallows?!
Oh my. I read Annie’s post as well. So very sad. My heart goes out to her and her family. Yes, hot cocoa seems to do the trick when we’re sad, huh? What a delicious idea to add the Bailey’s Marshmallows.
Your photo is gorgeous – great work! I was on FG and had to click! Diane & Todd would be proud 🙂
Chris
I was going to whip up homemade marshmallows as holiday gifts for some of my girlfriends, and now Baileys is going to be a perfect addition. Thanks for the fab idea!
Oh WOW!! These sound ridiculous! Love!! I’ll be making these at for a jewelry party i’m hosting! 🙂
xo
Katie
I made these for a party I gave and they were a HUGE HIT!!! Thanks for the recipe. I love the site. I have already bookmarked you!!! cooking with emotions
I have been dreaming of making these for a very long time and now you have just kicked my butt into gear. So just put these on my list of projects for this week.
I love to make marshmallows! I usually gift them but they make for a great treat on a chocolate fondue table as well! Yum!
I was introduced to your blog through Annie’s – so glad to see how supported she is right now when she needs it most. I was just talking about making marshmallows today at work, so your recipe came at the most opportune time. I can’t wait to try it! I might have to send my husband out for Bailey’s tonight…
I assume you add the vanilla at the stage of all the other ingredients-you don’t say!
The mixture went REALLY gluey, I whisked for 10 mins (maybe my whisk has a faster Fast SETTING). It turned into the pan okay but washing up was really difficult. Cross fingers for a good turnout as these are for a friends birthday. Many Thanks for a great idea:-)
Yes, sorry about that. And homemade marshmallow goo is the stickiest stuff ever.
Hi all,
I tried to make these at xmas but didn’t have a lot of luck, they tasted lovely but they were not light and fluffy they were quite heavy & chewy, i followed recipe to the letter, can anyone tell me why?
Tracey
I found that, too. I have made them a few times. I activate the gelatin with ½ cup water. Cut the Bailey’s down to ? cult and add the it at the end right before pouring with the vanilla. They will be much lighter.
? cup. not sure why my text was changed.
take three. one third cup Bailey’s.
I was planning on making these marshmallows with an old family recipe for Baileys (involving heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk). Do you know if it will still work, or does it rely on the preservatives from the store-bought Baileys to hold consistency? Also, since I will be mailing these as gifts, I was brainstorming on how to keep them: best idea so far being to vacuum seal and freeze. Will this ruin them?
Thanks!!
These are absolutely FABULOUS !!!!!!!
I make this exact recipe with water replacing the baileys and tonight I tried this recipe. They never fluffed up or increased much in volume, certainly not half as much as they normally do. What am I doing wrong?