How to make your own marshmallows

Home cooks don’t think twice about making cookies, cakes and candies in their kitchens, but marshmallows? No, they buy them bagged.

“It’s just ingrained in people’s minds that you buy marshmallows from the store, just like you buy Ritz crackers from the store. But once you have the opportunity to make marshmallows, you realize they are heads and tails above store-bought,” said Shauna Sever, author of “Marshmallow Madness! Dozens of Puffalicious Recipes.”

“When you make a basic vanilla marshmallow, not only can you taste the truly lovely vanilla flavor, but you can taste sugar –– not just sweetness. It’s slightly creamy and melts in the mouth,” said Sever.

Mallows made at home can go way beyond the standard white vanilla. They can be flavored with fruit nectar, extracts, spices, maple or chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, root beer, fruit concentrates or purees, caramel or liquors, such as tequila or rum.

The puffy pillows can be filled with ganache, jam or slivers of candy bars, or studded with chocolate chips, cake crumbs, crushed cookies, fresh herbs, salted nuts, dried fruits or bacon bits.

Think beyond the white rounds you’re used to; mallows can be made into any color and shape. Imagine the sticky stuff twisted into ropes, layered into multi-colored squares, piped into ice cream cones, skewered into lollipops, spread onto cupcakes and sandwiched between cookies.

“I like to think about them like I think about a cookie plate,” said Sever, a native of the Chicago suburbs who went to school at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. “A plate of sea-salt caramel marshmallows are great to serve with coffee. And I love to give them as edible party favors. They are perfect for weddings because they are so customizable with flavors and colors.”

For Easter, she suggests piping the marshmallow cream in the shape of chicks, using cookie cutters or candy molds to create holiday shapes, or piping the cream into the shape of nests, which can be coated with shredded coconut and filled with jelly beans.

Although marshmallows come nowhere near being called healthful, the homemade variety is gluten-free, fat-free, has no preservatives and can be made vegan-friendly. A 2-inch cube has about 25 calories.