Introduction: Cinnamon Heart Marshmallows

 Valentine's Day was over and we still had lots of cinnamon hearts lying around, so we decided to make marshmallows out of them! These marshmallows taste great in hot chocolates, or just on their own. You can change the amount of sugar to cinnamon hearts ratio if you want, but we think they taste perfect this way.

As Kiteman says, you can probably make these out of any hard candy in place of the cinnamon hearts, as long as the candy doesn't have a soft center or it is a caramel candy, like Werther's or something. I haven't tried it yet though, so I'm not 100% sure.

Step 1: Ingredients and Supplies

 Here are the ingredients and supplies you will need:

    Ingredients:
 • 4 envelopes of unflavoured gelatin (4 tbsp)
 • 1 1/2 cups water
 • 2 cups cinnamon hearts
 • 1 cup sugar
 • 1 cup corn syrup
 • 1/4 teaspoon salt
 • icing sugar
 • vegetable oil

   Supplies:
 • kitchen aid mixer or something similar
 • parchment paper
 • medium sized pot
 • baking tray (ours was 18" by 13" and 1.5" deep, but you can use something similar)
 • heart shaped cookie cutter (optional)
 • candy thermometer (optional)
 • sieve (optional)

Step 2: Prep Gelatin

 In the bowl of the mixer, combine the 4 packets of gelatin and 3/4 of a cup of water. Stir with a spoon until it becomes very thick.

Step 3: Combine the Other Ingredients

 In the pot, combine the cinnamon hearts, sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 of a cup of water.

Step 4: Cook Mixture

 Put it on medium heat, and stir until most of the hearts have melted. Once they have, turn the heat down a bit so that the mixture is slowly boiling. Keep cooking until it reaches 234-240 F, or the soft-ball stage. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can use this method: if you drop some of the mixture into cold water it should form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from the water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand. This link shows what it should look like: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/video/softball.html

Step 5: Whip the Mixture

 Once the mixture is at the right temperature, turn the heat off and, with the whisk attachment at full speed, beat the mixture into the gelatin. Keep on beating it for about 15 minutes. For the first few minutes, it won't do much, but just keep beating it. It also splashes a lot, so be careful!          

Step 6: Pour Mixture

 While the mixture is beating, line the pan with parchment paper and spread a little oil on it. Once it has been 15 minutes, pour the mixture into the pan. Spread it around evenly, and let it sit for 10-12 hours.

Step 7: Cut the Marshmallows

 Once it has been sitting for 10-12 hours, you can cut it. First, cover your working area with icing sugar, you can use a sieve if you want. Then you have to take the marshmallow mixture, which now has stiffened, and turn it onto the icing sugar. Now you can cut the marshmallows. You can use a cookie cutter or a knife, but make sure you oil them first. Once you cut the shapes out, cover them with icing sugar so that they don't stick to each other.  

Step 8: Enjoy!

 You should store these in an airtight container and eat them within a week. We all had our doubts about this because we don't think anybody has ever made these and this was our first try, but they turned out WAY better than we thought they would. So if you have any cinnamon hearts lying around, try it!

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