# Marshmallow question- second try



## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

The board isn't being kind tonight- it booted my first attempt, so I'll try again.

My nephew, who's visiting, would like to make homemade marshmallows, cover them with chocolate and sell them in a charity bake sale he's having in late January.

Will marshmallows freeze? Will they freeze if they're chocolate-covered? Do they even need to be frozen? We're also planning to make Rice Crispie Treats (marshmallow, butter, crispy rice cereal); will they freeze?

Thanks!
Mezzaluna


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## izbnso (May 12, 2007)

I've found that both homemade marshmallow and rice crispy treats both have a pretty good shelf life. And I doubt that I would recommend freezing chocolate covered marshmallows any way, sweating might hurt the product on its way back to room temp, but then again I've never done it.

Keeping the them in the fridge, not frozen, might be a way to do it. If they are covered in chocolate they aren't going to dry out and get stale. Plain homemade rice crispy treats are so easy and quick, making them ahead seems senseless.

 I used to make both of these items all the time when I supplied a retail coffee shop. I even did chocolate covered rice crispy treats on a stick and then decorated them with royal icing. Those sold like hot cakes and they stayed edible for several weeks. There is a trick to getting them to stay on the stick and in the neat shape (hearts for Valentine's, pumpkins for Halloween, etc) you cut them in. Let me know if you want to know.

The best way to assembly line chocolate covered marshmallows (IMHO) is to oil (Sprays like Pam leave a slight color, vegetable oil doesn't) silicon mini muffin pans (the kind that Wal-Mart has for around $10)and pipe the marshmallow into them with a disposable pastry bag. I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that marshmallow is the glue that holds the universe together and it can be a giant mess, hence the oil and the disposable pastry bag. 
With the mini muffin pan there is no need to try to cut uniform pieces of marshmallow, which is virtually impossible unless you have one of those fancy-dancy uber expensive confectionary cutter doo-dads. Once the marshmallows are set, they pop out fairly easily from the molds and if there is a tiny bit of "stickage" you can bend the mold away from the marshmallow instead of digging it out. After dipping them in chocolate, I dropped them "big" end down and occasionally topped with sprinkles before the chocolate set. Usually I only did sprinkles when I had several varieties of chocolate covered marshmallow: red jimmies for maraschino cherries (gross but it sold), white jimmies for coconut, crushed peppermint for peppermint.

More info than you probably wanted, but I hope that helps.


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

THANK YOU, izbnso!! My very intelligent nephew asked me why I hadn't just Googled for the answer to my question. I had already done that (once I thought of it :blush but I figured I'd get more and better information from Chef Talk members.

Looks like I was right. I hadn't thought about cutting the marshmallows perfectly (they are for kids, after all) but I don't have the silicone molds and am not inclined at this point in the holiday season to fight the crowds over them. We'll do our best somehow! Your insights are very valuable.

Mezzaluna


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