Written and Test Kitchen-ed by Theresa Corbin

Yes! I did. I discovered a Lucky Charms marshmallow recipe. But it didn’t work, like AT ALL. Then I found another. And that was an even worse disaster (for all of those who are confused, Lucky Charms marshmallows have pork gelatin in them. Don’t know what halal is? It’s all good. Just click here.)

 

But after a few very messy attempts and a lot of stubbornness that I will call patience, I reverse engineered my very own recipe of the illusive Lucky Charms marshmallow– and I call it HALALY CHARMS!! And it is glorious!

What follows is a gangsta recipe that is not for the faint of heart. It is for the OG (Original Gangsta Grandma).

But first let me ramble on, as most food bloggers do, about my love affair with the food item in question. Let me tell you a little tale. Name has been changed to protect the guilty.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl name Eresa-Tay who loved sweets and cereal. When she stumbles upon a cereal that also had candy it in, it blow her mind.

That cereal was Lucky Charms. Eresa-Tay loved the cereal so much that she picked all the marshmallows out of the box so that she could have a good cereal to marshmallow ratio. Until one day, her wise mother told her to stop doing that “for other children in the castle aren’t able to enjoy marshmallows in their own cereal when you eat them all”.

Eresa-Tay agreed not to eat all the marshmallows, but secretly stole them in the dark of the pantry. Her mother told her one last time not to steal extra marshmallows out of the box or she would stop buying Lucky Charms. Eresa-Tay thought she could call her mother’s bluff and so she continued to fly too close to the sun … She got burnt!

Eresa-Tay’s mother made good on her promise, and never more in her castle were charming luckies brought. And so Eresa-Tay was deprived of the glorious cereal/candy goodness for many, many moons.

Then Eresa-Tay converted to Islam and learned that there was pork in the marshmallows of her favorite and long missed cereal. No more Lucky Charms for Eresa-Tay … or so she thought.

One bright spring day, Eresa-Tay had had enough. She knew how to make marshmallows, and she had the stubbornness of a mule. So the put her KitchenAid to work and came out of a week long process of failure after failure a little worse for the wear having created Halaly Charms.

Ok, here goes. My recipe for Halaly Charms, complete with pictures and bloopers. Enjoy!!!

Start with the ingredients gathering

This recipe resembles my halal peeps recipe. Check that out here.

You will need:

1 box Cheerios (I choose plain-not honey nut-because the marshmallows already add a lot of sweetness. But any plain cereal you like will work)

 3 tbs of unflavored gelatin (I got beef gelatin here. Or you can get fish gelatin here).

1 cup ice cold water (divided in half)

1 cup light corn syrup

1-1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tbs imitation vanilla extract (without alcohol-I got mine at dollar general)

A few drops of your favorite color food coloring (*if you want more than one color, then you will have to divided the marshmallow after the fluffing phase. see below).

1-1/3 cups, plus one tbs, cornstarch (the extra tbs is to mix with powdered sugar and dust the pan)

1-1/3 cups, plus one tbs, powdered (confectioner’s/icing) sugar (see above) are you noticing a trend? Basically get all the different kinds of sugar you can find and get to work getting diabetes. j/j

Nonstick spray

How to mix it up:

1- Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, have the whisk attachment standing by. If you don’t have a KitchenAid, mix as you would mix egg whites to create firm peaks.

2- In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium-high heat, cover, and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. I used a meat thermometer- and previously no thermometer- and 7 mins was the perfect time.

4. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

5. Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture (be CAREFUL! This is deadly hot and sticky like lava).

6. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and fluffy. This takes about 10  minutes.

7. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping and then add the food coloring. *If you want more than one color, this is where you divide the marshmallow fluff depending on how many colors you want. And remember each color will need its own pan for cooling and drying.

**If you change your mind about wanting to make Halaly Charms at this juncture, you can follow this link here and make halal peeps instead!!

8. Once you have fluffed (and divided if you desire many colors), attach dough hook (if you have a KitchenAid mixer) or use a spatula coated with nonstick spray to mix in 1-1/3 cups of powdered sugar and 1-1/3 cups cornstarch, making sure it is sifted. NO lumps allowed.

9. Mix until the marshmallow fluff comes together to form a loose ball and is tacky but not super sticky to the touch.

10. Prepare your pan(s) one for each color. Combine a tbs each of powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Add the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan.

Coating the pan(s) with powdered sugar and cornstarch is important. Without it, the marshmallow fluff will be greasy from the non-stick spray and have a hard time drying.

11. Spray a spatula with non-stick spray and spread your marshmallow-y goo evenly in the pan(s) and let it sit for 2 hours, or until completely cool.

Now you have one big, thick marshmallow. But you need crunchy, dried marshmallows if you want Lucky Charms-style marshmallows.

How to dry your marshmallow

If you have a dehydrator, use it.

But for the rest of us who do not and refuse to buy appliances that only serve one function, follow these instructions (reads, I am cheap. the KitchenAid wouldn’t even be in my possession if it weren’t inherited from my mother).

1. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting (mine went down to 170 degrees Fahrenheit). Once the oven is heated, turn it off. Yes, turn off the heat. You don’t want to melt your marshmallow. You just want the dry, warm air of the oven to extract any moisture.

2. Put your pan(s) in the oven with the light on and let it set for 1-2 hours. If you have one of the fancy British ovens with a fan that I have seen on The Great British Baking Show and GBBS Master Class (fan girl moment), turn the fan on.

3. Then let your pan(s) set outside the oven for 1-2 hours. 

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you have reached desired dryness and crunch in your mallow. For me it took 3 of these cycles and then I left it in the oven (with the heat off and the light on) overnight for good measure. The thinner your marshmallow is in the pan, i.e. if you used more pans for more colors, the quicker it will dry.

5. Spray a pizza cutter or sharp knife with non-stick spray and cut into small squares. If you have tiny cookie cutters you want to use, go right ahead. I had an edible marker I got in a cookie making kit. So I drew shapes on some of the Halaly Charms.

6. Pour the biggest bowl of cereal (I used unsweetened Cheerios), mix in tons of Halaly Charms (trademark Corbin 2015), and kick back, relax, and watch some cartoons with your halal cereal.

 

Bloopers:

 

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