Super easy, ultra fluffy and perfect for charring (i.e. s’mores!), these homemade maple marshmallows are completely refined-sugar free.
Homemade Maple Marshmallows 🍁
With just 2 ingredients!
One of my most popular recipes on the site has long been my keto marshmallows: virtually carb free and with a legit texture its easy to see why. But (and this is a big but!)… they simply melt rather than char, and have left a few of you a tad disappointed when it comes to s’mores.
The thing is though, that I’m no wizard and ‘candy making’ properties are solely restricted to actual sugar. Still, there’s no reason why we can’t whip up a completely refined-sugar-free version (i.e. avoiding corn syrup), and still yield spectacular results.
In fact, these are easily my favorite marshmallows *ever* as other than the texture being absolutely fab, they also have wonderful maple hues throughout. These guys simply have that ‘fancy artisanal’ feel to them.
Bonus: they’re delightfully fragrant when charring! 👃
The Sweetener
This recipe was specifically developed around maple syrup, and any and all kinds will work as long as they’re 100% natural maple (i.e. you don’t want anything with corn syrup and so on).
The one thing of note is that while marshmallows are generally made with your ‘sugar mixture’ reaching the soft ball stage (230-240°F), I’ve never been able to get maple syrup to heat past around 210°F. Still, I’ve made them several times already since last summer with various syrups and there doesn’t seem to be an issue whatsoever with their ability to charr properly… they’re perfect for s’mores and rice krispies treats!
And p.s., while a thermometer is generally recommended for fool proof candy making, given that once maple syrup comes to a rolling boil and begins to bubble up it the temperature stays the same… if you don’t have a thermometer on hand simply keep the maple on a rolling boil for about 2 minutes to ensure it’s reached its peak temp.
My top tip: go for a deep amber if rich maple tones are your thing… or a light maple for more neutral marshmallows (I go for the former!).
The Gelatin
Going grass-fed and organic (like Vital Proteins) is a good idea in my book health-wise. As you’ll actually be getting quite a bit of great quality collagen, making the marshmallow treats actually nutritious.
But in all honesty, any type that gels should work (think staple Knox packets).
(2 Ingredient!) Homemade Maple Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin preferably grass-fed
- 1 cup maple syrup
- pinch kosher salt
Serving suggestions
- dark chocolate (salted for the win imho!)
- keto graham crackers
Instructions
- (Pretty please!) watch the video and read post for thorough details and tips. You also want to have *all* your ingredients handy, measured out, and make sure you won’t be disturbed for 15 minutes. Seriously! They’re easy and quick, but you need to work through the steps continuously and quickly.
- Line a 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper and set aside. If using a stand mixer, fit it with the whisk attachment; otherwise have your hand mixer handy and ready to go.
- Add gelatin and water to your mixer bowl, mix thoroughly with a fork, and allow to bloom for 10 minutes while you heat up the maple syrup.
- Add maple syrup to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat until it reaches soft ball stage. If you've got a thermometer, temperature reaches about 210ºF/100ºC. But don't worry if you don't have one; just be sure to keep it on a rolling boil for about 2 minutes to ensure maximum temperature is reached (in my experience maple syrup doesn't heat up past a certain point).
- Turn your mixer on low to break up the gelatin, and quickly pour in your hot syrup to avoid losing heat. Increase your speed to high, and whisk non-stop for about 10-13 minutes (I do 12). Sprinkle in the pinch of salt at about minute 8. When ready, the mixture will be stiff and hold it's shape well, and if you're using a glass bowl it will feel only lightly warm to touch.
- Turn mixer off and quickly pour the marshmallow batter onto your prepared dish. Don't worry too much about what's left behind in the whisk etc, or your marshmallows will likely set in the bowl itself!
- Allow marshmallows to dry, uncovered and at room temperature, for 6 hours though preferably overnight. Gently remove from pan and cut with a greased knife. In my experience maple marshmallows don't need dusting as they're not overly sticky, and a touch of coconut oil does wonders if need be.
- Store in a cool, dry place for a couple weeks and in the freezer after.
looking at your nutritional facts it looks like each Marshmellow is 10 gras of sugar – NOT 0 as the caption under your picture shows. these are NOT 0 net carbs…
These aren’t the keto ones Rosanna, these are paleo 😉
Thanks for the recipe! Making it now! How long do they hold in the freezer? Just thaw them the night before or….? Thanks for any help!
Hi Paola, do you think these can be made with fish gelatin? I cannot use beef gelatin for kosher reasons. Thanks!
Great question and I don’t know Sarah because today is the first time I’m hearing about fish gelatin (makes sense though!). Any chance you could link to the product you use, I would love to try it! While I can’t tell you if its a direct sub, I just did a quick google and I see that its used in marshmallows marketed to the kosher community… so if you’re willing to experiment with half a batch, please report back 😉
I found your video didnt relate to the instructions. video seemed to revved around the mixer no cooking. Video not comprehensive enough.
Also what did you mean read up gelatin. Beatrice
No being rude just stating a fact… u can boil pure maple syrup well passed 210 degrees 🤦 how else would you be able to make other pure maple products like sugar at 260 degrees…sugar cakes at 240 degrees…maple cream at 230 degrees… Maple taffy at 244 etc… Maple you should ask someone who knows about maple so you dont sound silly saying in your experience it doesn’t reach temperatures above 210 degrees…you have to be able to boil tree sap to get it to turn to maple syrup(it has to carmelize) Here we cook sap water 7 degrees above the boiling point of water(which where I live is 209 degrees) in order to make syrup…just wanted you to know. Have a great day!
Hi Andrea, I know what you mean… which is why I stated that I couldn’t bring it up past 210 in my kitchen (and I tried in both electric and gas and using three brands of maple). FYI, a reader on instagram messaged me saying she also found it super weird when making the recipe that she also couldn’t get it past 214F no matter how long it boiled and that her maple even began to burn so she gave up.
I truly don’t get why as, you so rudely ‘explained’, this is happening to us home cooks when I also perfectly know that you can reach higher temps for other candy making purposes. Yet we somehow don’t seem to be able to… in our home kitchens? I dunno.
I think you’ll find that I’m the type of food blogger that likes to openly say when I don’t know something (or something isn’t working for me despite very good ending results nonetheless). I don’t mind looking ‘stupid’ for the sake of helping you guys out navigate the recipe better. I mean, imagine that none of you can boil the maple past 210-ish at home and I just give y’all anxiety telling you that you must… lmao, have a great day too.
😉
Why are these listed as two ingredient marshmallows when the ingredients list clearly shows 4?
Because water and salt are always omitted in the ingredient count, as in the “old days” recipe developers used to even omit it from the ingredient list (recipes would just say add water and salt as it’s expected that literally everyone has that in their kitchen). Nowadays most of us bloggers list them in the ingredients to help you guys prep better.
And needless to say, it’s more catchy marketing (and this is how I make a living). But I don’t think most people find this deceiving at all, as literally every recipe should include salt (yes, even desserts). Alas, clearly it bothered you personally enough to comment… what can I say 🤷♀️
I can’t see the link to the video…
Are you running an adblocker? In my experience it usually disabled the video plugin too 🕵🏻♂️
Yes, but remember to change the temperature and decrease the time by 2 minutes or you could have a wonderful accident instead.
Om nom nom nom
Do you think it would work okay to only make half a batch of these? Thanks…
Absolutely!
Hi Paola….
Does this recipe also work with a keto maple syrup with monkfruit in stead of sugar?
Thanks!
Unfortunately no Joseph (this one was specifically developed around maple syrup!), but see my recipe for keto marshmallows as those are insanely popular with you guys and are meant to be made with ‘keto sweeteners’. xo!
Miss Paola what a delightful video, you make it looks so easy!!
They ARE easy Sam 😉