Marshmallow Snowflakes..so cute and so much fun!

It snowed today and I decided to join in and have some fun! And oh boy, did I have fun!

I’m not fond of the taste of fondant so I decided to try making the Marshmallow Fondant that was posted on the Daring Bakers forum at least two years ago. I’ve never made fondant before and although it was a messy process I would not hesitate to make it again. At first you will think that it’s never going to come together but then it does and everything works out just fine. However, I did find that instead of using shortening on my hands, if you just keep your hands damp, the fondant will not stick and wet hands are much more comfortable then greasy hands!

I made the small batch of Marshmallow Fondant which was more then enough for what I needed. If you’ve never made this before I would highly recommend just making the small batch to begin with and then work up to the larger batch. And last year I bought the Snowflake Plunger Fondant Cutters, knowing full well that eventually I would have to make my own Marshmallow Snowflakes! I’m adding the Snowflake Plunger Fondant Cutters to my Gadgets that Work because each size worked out very well, even the smallest one and they were super easy to use.  I served the Marshmallow Snowflakes with my Spicy Hot Chocolate

Marshmallow Fondant

Large batch:
16 ounces white mini-marshmallows
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds (8 cups) powdered sugar
½ cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Small batch:
1 cup mini marshmallows (I used 10 regular sized marshmallows)
1 tbsp water
1 1/2- 1 3/4 cup powder sugar

NOTE: Please be careful, this first stage can get hot.

Small Batch Directions:
Place marshmallows in a standard 1 cup measuring cup and push down and pack them in. Place in a microwave safe bowl and add the water. Put in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Just long enough for them to soften and puff up. Take out and stir with a spoon until it is combined well. At this point it looks kind of soupy. Then add the sugar and mix and fold until all is incorporated and it is no longer sticky. I take it out of the bowl when it gets to the point where most of the sugar is incorporated and I knead it in my hands. This takes roughly about 5-7 minutes. Take a fondant roller or a regular rolling pin and roll out just as you would Wilton’s fondant. You can get this fondant almost paper thin and it also repairs well. It’s cheap, easy to work with, and tastes great too.

Large Batch Directions:
Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY – palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It’s best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marshmallow Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks.

Marshmallow Fondant Snowflakes

1 small batch of Marshmallow Fondant (recipe above)
Extra Powdered Sugar (to sprinkle on your cutting board)

Materials Needed:
Snowflake Plunger Fondant Cutters or you can use Mini Cookie Cutters
Rolling Pin
Cutting Board
Paint Brush
Sanding Sugars and Nonpareils

Make the Marshmallow Fondant as per the directions above.

Sprinkle a tiny bit of powdered sugar on your cutting board. With your rolling pin roll out the fondant to about 1/32 thickness. The fondant is extremely easy to roll out and very forgiving so don’t be nervous. If the fondant is too wet, just add a tiny bit of powdered sugar and knead. If the fondant is too dry, rather then add more water, just wet your hands and knead the fondant for a minute or so. As I said the Marshmallow Fondant is very forgiving.

Carefully cut out a few shapes and set them aside to dry. If you’re using the snowflake fondant cutter, just press the cutter into the fondant, wiggle the cutter a little bit to loosen the snowflake. Then carefully lift the fondant cutter and hold it over a clean flat surface, push the plunger in and the snowflake just pops out! I know the plunger cutters are expensive but they work so well and you can get such gorgeous detail as opposed to the cookie cutters.

As you can see in the below photo, if you don’t roll the fondant out thin enough, you will lose some of the wonderful details of the snowflake.

I wanted my snowflakes just plain white but if you would like to color the fondant, just knead in some food coloring. Be careful with how much food coloring you use because any additional liquid will change the consistency of the fondant and you may have to add some additional powdered sugar.

However, instead of coloring the fondant, I just brushed each shape with a damp paintbrush (make sure the brush is DAMP not wet) and then sprinkle each shape with colored sugars or nonpareils. Then set aside to dry. The fondant is just sugar and when damp anything sprinkled on it will stick. I thought it would be fun to make some different shapes if say you were having your Bridge Club over and you could make some fondant hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs! Actually you could cut just about any shape you wanted as long as you had the correct cutter available. The possibilities are endless.

AllRightsReserved@BigBlackDog

Tagged as: Fondant, Marshmallow