Jumpin' June Bug Blog Hop

Welcome to my post for the Jumpin' June Bug Blog Hop! If you are here from Planlady19  you are in the right spot. If this is your first stop, head back over to My Little Corner to start from the beginning.

For my project I decided to make some indoor smores since it's been rainy here lately and we haven't had a chance to have many outside. I'll walk through the steps and post the full recipe at the end so you can just copy and paste if you want to print it.

The first thing I do is get the pan ready. This is probably the most important step in the whole process. It seems silly until you are trying to get your sticky marshmallow mess out of the pan...You'll want to rub the inside of the pan with vegetable oil. A lot of vegetable oil. All over the inside of the pan. To the point where you look at it and wonder if you should have used that much oil. Then, when you think you can't get any more oil inside the pan, coat it in powdered sugar. I've found the easiest way to get powdered sugar on the side of the pan is to pour the powdered sugar in the pan, cover with tin foil and shake the pan until it's good and coated. If you have a silicone pan, use it. You'll want the pan to look like this:

Then when that's all ready you can start getting the ingredients mixed together. I didn't really take any pictures of this because it's not all that exciting. I put my water and gelatin in my mixer bowl to set up while the sugar, corn syrup, salt and water boil together. Then when everything is all ready, you start your mixer on low and sloooooowly pour the sugar mixture into the gelatin. When it's all in, start increasing your mixer speed until you are on high. It will start to fluff up and look all marsmallowy after just a minute or two:

You'll want to keep mixing it until it's very stiff. The recipe says about 12 minutes, but I usually mix for about 15 or so. (And trust me, use a stand mixer. If you just have a hand mixer, borrow one from a neighbor or this isn't the project for you). When it's ready, pour it into a pan and let it sit for at least 3 hours. Overnight is better.

When it's ready, coat the top with powdered sugar (and leave it handy). This will help it not stick to everything in creation. Then, get some parchment paper or waxed paper and line your work surface with it. Then dump the pan upside down. If the pan was coated well enough the marshmallows will fall out. If you're like me, you'll have to run a knife around the edges to get it started. If that doesn't work, you get to put your hand in the edge and gently pull the marshmallows out. And I'll warn you right now that the bottom never looks as pretty as the top.

When you have them out of the pan, coat the sides and top with powdered sugar and cut into cubes. A knife works, but a pizza cutter works better. If you coat whatever you're using to cut with vegetable oil it will resist getting sticky for a little bit, but I won't lie - it's gonna get sticky. When you have your cubes, coat all sides with powdered sugar so they don't stick together again after you cut them. I coat them as I go to make life easier.

Then, just to make them tastier, dip them in dipping chocolate and roll them in crushed graham crackers. (I use the Candy Melts from Hobby Lobby because they are a ton cheaper than buying Baker's Dipping Chocolate from the grocery store). Yumm-o! I keep mine in the fridge just so the chocolate is nice and crunchy.

Then, just because I love my neighbors, I packaged some up just for them. And I even made an extra one to give to a lucky reader.

 BLOG CANDY: If you want to be entered to win a yummy box of homemade s'mores, just follow this blog and leave a comment below. I will pick a winner on Sunday evening.

Thanks for checking out my project! Now, head on down the blog trail! Next stop: DGirlLV

Here's a list of the whole blog hop:

JulieClawser - My Little Corner
Heart2Hand - Heart2Hands Highlights
Planlady19 - Planlady19
CindyAdamson - My Lazy Crafternoon <------------------------You Are Here
DGirlLV - DGirlLV
Caitlynsmommy - Crafting for Caitlyn
Doodles - Doodles Scraps
GrandmaJ - My Little Craftin' Corner
Skrappindiva - Skrappin Diva
AmyMLT - Cove of Creativity
LEIALOHA - Divine Scrapper
J_Bear - JBear's Home
Heaven4333 - Heaven's Creations
Scrappin_RN - Cuttin' Up
JanaZ - Simply My Crafts


Full recipe:
3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 pounds dipping chocolate
1 box graham crackers, crushed
powdered sugar for dusting
vegetable oil for brushing

Prepare pan with vegetable oil then coat with powdered sugar. Set aside. Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water into saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Then cook without stirring until it reaches 238 degrees with a candy thermometer.
Meanwhile, put remaining 3/4 cup water into a mixer bowl and sprinkle with gelatin. Let set for 5 minutes.
When syrup is ready, move bowl with gelatin to mixer. Start on low speed and slowly beat syrup into the gelatin. Gradually raise the mixer speed to high and beat until it is stiff - about 12-15 minutes. Add vanilla.
Pour into prepared pan and let stand for at least 3 hours until firm
Sift top with powdered sugar and flip marshmallows out of the pan onto a prepared work surface. Cut marshmallows into squares and coat all sides with powdered sugar.
Melt dipping chocolate according to package instructions and coat marshmallows in chocolate and then immediately roll in crushed graham crackers.
Place on waxed paper or parchment paper to dry. Store in an airtight container.