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Produced by Chantal Braganza and Sun Ngo; Photography by Maya Visnyei; Food Styling by Eshun Mott; Prop Styling by Catherine Doherty
Homemade marshmallows are Tara O'Brady's party trick. They’re surprisingly easy, one batch feeds a crowd and they are always met with delight. She took inspiration from the cookie jar for these ones, with cinnamon and buttery-dough notes and a thin dip of dark chocolate.
3/4 cup (85 g) icing sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup water, divided
3 7-g pkgs unflavoured gelatin
2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cookie dough flavouring
1/8 tsp cinnamon extract
57 g semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
113 g semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 ½ tsp coconut oil
gold lustre dust, optional
Lightly spray a 9 × 9-in. metal baking pan and spatula with oil.
Whisk icing sugar with cocoa powder and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using a fine-mesh sieve, dust oiled pan with a light coating of cocoa mixture, then set aside pan and remaining cocoa mixture.
Pour 1⁄2 cup water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle in gelatin. Let stand 10 min to soften and bloom.
Combine granulated sugar with corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/4 cup water in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer. Set over medium-high. Boil, without stirring, until temperature reaches 238F on thermometer. Remove from heat; let stand 1 min.
Set mixer on medium-low speed, then pour hot syrup in a stream down the side of the mixer bowl into gelatin mixture. Increase speed to high in stages, beating until mixture is billowing and thick, about 12 min. Beat in cookie dough flavouring and cinnamon extract for 15 sec more. Sprinkle 57 g chocolate overtop. Pulse 3 times to blend, then let stand for 15 sec, for chocolate to melt. Pulse again 2 to 3 times to ripple chocolate through mixture.
Scrape mixture into prepared pan. Spread into an even layer and smooth top with greased spatula. Dust surface of the marshmallows with a bit of cocoa mixture. Let stand at room temperature until firm, about 2 hrs. Cut firm marshmallows into cubes with a greased, thin-bladed knife. Dip cut sides into remaining cocoa mixture.
Decoration: Microwave 113 g chocolate with coconut oil in a medium microwave-safe bowl on high for 1 min, then stir until smooth. Dip each marshmallow cube halfway into melted chocolate, then transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let stand until chocolate is firm. Sprinkle with lustre dust.