Beer marshmallows

I'll admit it. I don't care for beer. If you know me at all, this shouldn't come as a shock, but I thought I'd share it with the rest of you. I've tried a number of types, and have yet to find one that does not produce squinched up yuck face. However, setting that fact aside, when I heard about marshmallows made with beer, then covering them with chocolate and crushed pretzels, I had an instant case of "I gotta try this."

makes one 9 x 13 pan of marshmallows, cut however you desire

3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (I used the generic store brand, each packet containing ¼ oz.)
1 cup cold, flat beer, divided in two
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate morsels
2 cups milk chocolate morsels
hard sourdough pretzels

To flatten the beer, take the cap off the bottle and leave open overnight. If you don’t have the time to do that, pour beer into a bowl and whisk vigorously to remove some carbonation. Either one works, just make sure it is cold.

Oil a 9 x 13 baking pan (I used a good bit of cooking spray with flour in it) and sprinkle on powdered sugar to cover and coat and then set aside. 

{As much powdered sugar as you think you need, use more. I used quite a bit (seen the image below) and it wasn't enough to allow the marshmallows to easily remove from the dish. They came out, they just needed to be forcefully removed, after cutting them in the dish.}

In the bowl of your electric mixer (a whisk attachment is best), pour 1/2 cup cold beer and 3 1/2 packs of gelatin. I gently mixed with a spoon once, then let sit while you make the sugar mixture.

In a medium pot combine sugar, remaining beer, syrup and salt. Heat over low heat and whisk until sugar is dissolved, about 3-5 minutes. Turn heat up to medium and let sugar come to a boil. It will bubbly up so keep yours eye on it so it does not overflow. {I used a 2 quart pot and it boiled over, so keep in mind you will want a large-ish pot} Let it boil for 8-12 minutes, until it reaches 240 degrees F (measure with a candy thermometer). The mixture will appear to be a lightish brown color depending on the beer you use – don’t worry, the marshmallows will still be white.

Once mixture is at 240 degrees F, turn off heat and gently pour it in the mixer over the gelatin with the mixer on low speed. Once all of the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to high and beat for for 6-8 minutes. It should grow in size and be white and fluffy. About 3-4 minutes in, add the egg whites to a separate bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. I used a hand mixer to do this. If you don’t have a hand mixer, you  will have to remove the whisk attachment, clean it (it will be a sticky mess), add a new bowl to the mixer, beat egg whites {if you don’t have a second mixer, I would suggest making friends with someone who will let you borrow theirs}. Once stiff peaks are formed, add egg whites and vanilla extract to the sugar/gelatin mixture and beat until just combined.

Pour the marshmallow mix into the 9 x 13 pan. It will be incredibly sticky so be careful . You might not be able to get it all out of the bowl, but get as much as you can, {spraying a spatula with non-stick spray helps a lot at this stage} and smooth. Dust powdered sugar on top and let sit to firm up for 3-5 hours {if it is humid on the day you make these, don't be alarmed if it takes longer}.

Once firm, turn the pan upside down on a cutting board to release marshmallow rectangle. {Note: mine did not easily turn out onto the cutting board. I cut them, then pulled them out individually (quite sticky) so use a lot of powdered sugar.} Cut them into pieces of whatever size you like. 

Melt milk and dark chocolate chips separately (I melted the chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave and stirring between each increment) in two bowls. Crush hard sourdough pretzels. Using a fork, toothpick or fondue pick, coat marshmallows in chocolate then sprinkle with or roll in pretzel crumbs. Once coated, before sprinkling, place the marshmallows on either wax or parchment paper. Trust me, you will want to do this.

Another option (that I did not try) is to drizzle them with salted caramel. Let sit them at room temperature until chocolate hardens {I did not let mine sit out to harden, as today was an especially humid day and that would take longer than I was willing to wait (yes, I was impatient to try these), so I transfered the wax paper onto baking sheets and placed them in the refrigerator for an hour or so to fully harden}. The marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks! {Putting these in the refrigerator turned the chocolate into a hard shell, which I really enjoy.}

If you are feeling generous, you can share these with other people, but that is entirely up to you.

It may have been the chocolate that I used, but I found the dark chocolate (Ghiradelli 60% Cacao bittersweet chips) worked much better than the Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips and the Tollhouse semi-sweet chips. The dark chocolate was smoother and coated the marshmallows evenly. I started off with just the two Chiradelli chips, but later added some of the semi-sweet chips to the milk chocolate to try to even it out. When trying the marshmallow on it's own, before coating it, I could detect a faint beer flavoring. After coating them, the prevailing flavor is the chocolate. Even still, I'm glad I made these with the beer.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.