Make your own gourmet marshmallows using organic gelatin, local honey and purchased or homegrown pumpkin. Gourmet marshmallows are an easy dessert to whip up, though they look as if you labored over them for hours. In ten simple steps you’ll have this pumpkin spiced treat for the holidays!
Gourmet Marshmallows for Fall
Its the time of year to have cooked pumpkin in your fridge or canned pumpkin on your shelves. Here is a delightful thing to do with America’s favorite squash, and different ways to dress it up.
Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows
These homemade gourmet marshmallows are Paleo compliant being made with organic beef gelatin and local honey.
Pumpkin Spice Gourmet Marshmallows
Equipment
- 1 Heavy Bottomed Stew Pot
- 1 Candy thermometer optional but helpful
- 1 Large Whisk
- 1 Heat Proof Silicone Bowl Scraper
- 1 Mixer, Stand or Hand-Held with Whisk Attachment
- 1 9" x 11" Casserole Dish
- Parchment paper to fit the dish
Ingredients
Gelatin Bloom
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/2 cup organic beef gelatin
- 1 cup pumpkin puree canned or fresh
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
Syrup
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 cups local honey
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Preparation
- Gather all your equipment before you begin: heavy-bottomed pot, candy thermometer, whisk, bowl scraper, mixer.
- Affix the whisk attachment to the mixer.
- Prepare a 9 x 11 casserole dish by inserting a large enough piece of parchment paper to go up all the sides.
Bloom the Gelatin
- Add 3 Tbsp. of gelatin and the first 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of your mixing bowl. Slightly stir it to make sure all the gelatin is submerged in the water. This will cause the gelatin to "bloom" (or poof up a bit).
- Once gelatin has completely soaked into the water and has bloomed, add the 1 cup of pumpkin puree. Mix in 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp cardamom. Mix thoroughly.
Make the Syrup
- Heat the 2 cups of honey, 2nd 1/2 cups water, and 1/4 tsp. sea salt in a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat sugar honey melts.
- Gently boil honey while constantly stirring, until the candy thermometer reaches thread stage (220F/104C to 225F/107C) degrees. The honey should bubble, froth, and turn a deeper caramel color. Do NOT overheat.
- Once temperature is reached, immediately remove from heat using hot mitts and place next to the mixing bowl.
Make Marshmallow Fluff
- Turn your mixer on low/medium (use the whisk attachment) and drizzle the honey down the inside of the bowl and at a slow, steady rate.
- Mix to incorporate, stopping to scrape down sides a few times, but work QUICKLY.
- Once honey and pumpkin are mixed, put the collar on your mixing bowl (if you have one) and/or place a towel over the top of the bowl to prevent splashes.
- Turn the mixer to high and watch for it to transform from slop into marshmallow cream. This can take anywhere from 8-20 minutes. It will lighten in color and eventually thicken.
Set Up & Cut
- Spoon the marshmallow cream into the repared dish with a the scraper. For softer marshmallows, let them set up for 4-6 hours. For dryer marshmallows, let them set up for 8-24 hours.
- When ready to serve, cut with a greased or powder sugared pizza cutter.
- Roll each marshmallow in a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- You can also use oil, but I really don't like in on the marshmallows.
- If you do get honey crystalizing on the sides of the pan, use a silicone pastry brush to brush the sides of the pot with a little water. The sugar will melt down into the pan. Don't use a lot of water, just a bit.
- Do not neglect to cover your mixing bowl when whipping the marshmallow mixture.
A Few More Gourmet Marshmallows Tips
Read this article to llearn how to make healthier marshmallows. This will be especially helpful if you’ve never tried homemade marshmallows.
If you’d rather make up your own pumpkin spice so that you have it on hand, you can substitute that for the spices in this recipe. Baking with Butter has a great DIY pumpkin spice blend here.
Here’s a great recipe from Purposeful Pantry for Pumpkin Spice Mix with Dried Pumpkin.
Grow Your Own Pumpkins
If you truly want to be hip with your gourmet marshmallows, learn how to grow you own pumpkins! Here are a few gems of advice on growing pumpkins from Schneider Peeps. Here, too, is her great garden resource The Garden Notebook; check it out below:
If you’re learning how to harvest, store and use pumpkins, I can recommend this article from Homespun Seasonal Living.
One of my favorite pumpkin articles is this one by Finding Our Green Life with 13 ways to use up pumpkins after Halloween is done. There are lots of recipes link below after the marshmallow one, but this upcycled pumpkin post will jump start your brain. Bottom line, you don’t need to waste even one part of your precious pumpkins after you’ve made these pumpkin marshmallows!
Other Pumpkin Recipes
Read this article on how to make a pumpkin pie with dehydrated pumpkin to learn how to:
- Dehydrate pumpkin slices
- Make pumpkin powder
- Use pumpkin powder to make a pumpkin pie
- For other pumpkin treats, try this Perfect Spiced Pumpkin Bread from Nitty Gritty Mama.
- If you have leftover pumpkin, try these Grain-Free Pumpkin Muffins from Small Footprint Family.
- Reclaiming vitality has a great Buckwheat Sourdough Pumpkin Bread recipe, if you need something gluten free.
- If you STILL have leftover pumpkin, try this Pumpkin Soap Recipe from Nerdy Farm Wife.
Pumpkin Resources
Pumpkin Smoothie
Make this pumpkin smoothie with healthy coconut milk and home-canned or store bought pumpkin puree. It’s like drinking a pumpkin pie!
Dehydrated Pumpkin - A Pie Recipe
Learn to dehydrate pumpkin to save space in your pantry. Re-hydrate and powder the dehydrated pumpkin to make any pumpkin recipe, including this delicious pumpkin pie. This is a real food recipe with no evaporated milk or refined sugars.
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This recipe for gourmet marshmallows is such a favorite of ours that we put it into our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead
You are the marshmallow queen! Can I come visit? I’m hoping to try these with my children before Thanksgiving.
What a great title, Angi – I’ll take it! With beef gelatin and pumpkin, these are practically health food so make them with those kiddos!
Wow! Who knew you could make pumpkin marshmallows? Obviously, you did and I am so glad you shared. I am always looking for ways to use up the harvest before it goes bad. These sound yummy, can’t wait to try them.
I didn’t know until I tried it, Rhonda! Let me know how they turn out…
These sound wonderful! Can they be made with stevia instead of honey? I would love to make a sugar-free version.
I don’t think so, Dawn, because the honey couple with the gelatin is what forms the marshmallow goo. As far as I know, only sugars behave that way. You could nose around the internet and see what you find, though! Let me know if you find something delectable…:)
hi! I’ve never made marshmallows before… Are te spices included somewhere in te steps or are they just for dusting somehow? Thanks!
The spices are in the recipe but they’re down at the bottom. Here they are: 1/2 Tsp Nutmeg, 1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, 1/4 Tsp Cardamom
Have fun!
These look delicious! What a great recipe for fall!
Thanks so much, Lisa! We’ve blasted through several batches and it’s not even October yet…
Why waste the goodness of honey by boiling? You might as well just use sugar, but of course an organic one, not made from beets, which are GMO. Heating honey even to 100* will kill all of the beneficial enzymes that make it healthy.
A very good point, Carol! Which is why I make sure to point that out in all my articles including honey. I use honey in marshmallows because I much prefer the flavor to corn syrup. I also feel that it’s a healthier sugar choice regardless. Typically, liquid sugar is used for marshmallows because of it’s ease of use. I suppose you could use a granulated sugar and make a syrup – I’ve never tried that with marshmallows. If you do, be sure to let us know how it goes!
I’ve read through this recipe a million times to see if I’m missing something (there was another reader that commented the same thing) – you lost spice in the ingredients but then never reference when to include. I’m guessing it is to be included with the pumpkin, gelatin, and water stage and then when the hot honey mixture is poured it will all be incorporated?? Thanks!
Thank you for pointing that out! The instructions have been updated and you were correct – that’s exactly where the spices go!
I was looking for more pumpkin recipes today and this one looks the best of all! YUM!
We’re making them this weekend for S’mores. My daughter is on a fall/pumpkin kick, and these fit the bill!
Never been a huge fan of pumpkin flavored things, but I bet this would be good on a pumpkin (sweet potato) souffle!
Great idea!