Sage and Brown Butter Marshmallows

A couple of Thanksgivings ago, I read about Brave Tart's sweet potato casserole made with homemade brown butter and sage marshmallows, and I was excited to try making them. This year seemed like the perfect opportunity, with a lot of unpicked sage in the flower box, and no responsibility of hosting Thanksgiving, but not traveling across the country either.



Making marshmallows from scratch is kind of a crazy thing, and it had never occurred to me to do it before I saw it on Smitten Kitchen, I believe it was. What really intrigued me and made me want to try making marshmallows was the idea of making flavored ones, such as these savory ones for sweet potato casserole, or peppermint ones for hot coco.

Brown Butter Sage Marshmallows

1.5 oz gelatin
8 oz cold water

3/4 oz fresh sage, finely chopped
11 oz light corn syrup
8 oz water
28 oz sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 oz unsalted butter

Ample powdered sugar for dusting

Lightly grease a 9”x13” pan.

Combine the gelatin and 8 oz cold water in the bottom of a stand mixer bowl. Set aside.

Heat the sage, corn syrup, water, sugar and salt over medium heat until the mixture reaches 240°. Shut off the heat and let it stand until it cools to 210°.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, brown the butter.

Pour the cooled syrup into the mixing bowl with the awaiting gelatin. Whisk on medium speed until the mixture has more than doubled.

Slowly drizzle in the browned butter and continue whisking until well incorporated.

Scrape the marshmallow goo into the pan and tap to dislodge large air bubbles. Dust the top of the giant marshmallow with powdered sugar, cover in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

To cut the marshmallows, dust a cutting board generously with powdered sugar. Pull the chilled marshmallow out of the pan by literally reach your fingers between the it and the pan. Dust the exposed bottom of the marsh mallow with powdered sugar. Cut the marshmallow into strips and roll them in powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking. Next, cut each strip into individual marshmallows. Toss these cut pieces in more powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking.

For more detailed instructions, see Brave Tart's original recipe.

As for the sweet potato casserole, Brave Tart didn't really give a recipe for hers, so I used one from Epicurious for the sweet potato mixture.



I popped it under the broiler for a few minutes before heading out the door, and this is where things went wrong. My glorious marshmallows were either in there too long, or I set the broiler on too high, and they melted, bubbled, and charred. Now, I had a layer of goo with burnt bits floating on top, rather than a lovely mosaic of browned marshmallow. And when it was served for Thanksgiving it was, shockingly, even worse. I suspect that the host heated it too much/when it shouldn't have been, and the marshmallow just oozed over the whole thing like a lake, so you couldn't even tell if you were getting sweet potatoes, or what was in the pan, or anything.  Ahh, well.  At least I can say I have now made marshmallows from scratch.  And three people saw them to verify that -- including myself - and now you've seen the photographic evidence.

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