Celebrating Autumn – Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows and a Giveaway!

Welcome Fall!!

This week of celebrating Autumn couldn’t have come at a better time.  We have been having temperatures in the 80s and 90s, and honestly, it has pretty much still felt like summer.  Until I woke up yesterday morning to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures.  It looks like fall has finally arrived here in Utah, and what better way to celebrate than with a Fall Festival!

This week, I have joined up with 4 other fantastic bloggers who will be bringing you all things fall. Yesterday, Myra at A Blessed Life showcased a super cute fall banner.  Check it out HERE and you can also link up your fall crafts and enter her giveaway!  We’ll have lots of other crafts and recipes from other bloggers – Jen at Tatertots and Jello, Liz at Hoosier Homemade and Amy at Positively Splendid – throughout this week.

I had the hardest time choosing what I wanted to make for this festival.  Do I go savory or sweet?  Pumpkin, apple or squash?  So many decisions!  But then I ran across some pumpkin marshmallows for sale online, and I knew that I wanted some.  But I had never made marshmallows before.  So this was a perfect time to try it out!

Let me tell you – if you have never had a homemade marshmallow, you are really missing out.  And if you think they are too hard for you to make, you are completely mistaken.  A stand mixer comes in mighty handy, but you could probably get by with a hand mixer.  (But forget it if you want to do these completely by hand – unless you are super buff and want to whisk forever!)  But besides that bit of kitchen equipment, these are really one of the easiest things you can make!

These marshmallows are perfect on their own, but I tried a few out in a cup of hot cocoa yesterday – oh my goodness.  PURE HEAVEN!  It was just cheap cocoa, but this was seriously the best mug of cocoa I have ever had.  The spices and the pumpkin flavor from the marshmallows melted into the chocolate and made a blissful cup of deliciousness.  This is definitely going to be a regular thing around my house now!!

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

makes about 50 1″ marshmallows

3 (1/4 ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
about 1/2 sleeve graham crackers

Line a 9×13 pan with plastic wrap and spray it uniformly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Put the 1/2 cup cold water and the 3 envelopes of gelatin in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Allow to sit and bloom for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil.  Once it has started boiling, do not stir.  Bring to 250F, or until a small amount of syrup dropped in a glass of cold water forms a rigid ball.

In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.  Mix well.

Attach the mixing bowl to a stand mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment and start the mixer on low speed.  Carefully pour the boiling sugar mixture down the side of the mixing bowl.  Increase the speed to medium high and add the salt.  Mix until stiff, shiny and white, about 5 to 12 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the pumpkin mixture until combined.  Return the bowl to the mixer and mix for an additional 3 minutes.  You can test to see if it is ready if you dip a spatula in the mixture and it should form a continuous ribbon off the spatula into the bowl.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.  Let it sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours.

Put the graham crackers in a food processor and process until you have very fine crumbs.  Lay a piece of waxed paper on the counter and spread out about half of the crumbs.  Turn the marshmallow pan over onto the crumbs and remove the plastic wrap.

Cut the marshmallows into squares about 1″ x 1″.  Place the remaining crumbs in a bowl and dip the individual marshmallows in the graham cracker crumbs until all sides are covered.

The marshmallows are best eaten fresh, but can be kept in an airtight container or about a week or in the freezer for a month.

And that’s not all!!  First of all, we have a fun giveaway.  My original giveaway fell through, but I kinda think this one is more fun!  You will get all kinds of fun things to do some Halloween baking, plus I’ll be sending you 1/2 pound of candy corn fudge (recipe coming soon as well!)  Because I’ll be shipping food, you must be a resident of the US or Canada to win.

Here’s how you can enter:

*Leave a comment on this post!

For additional entries: (please leave a separate comment for each one you complete)

*Become a fan of Taste and Tell on Facebook and share this giveaway with your friends
*Follow Taste and Tell on Twitter and tweet about Celebrating Autumn using the #celebratingfall hashtag
*Link up one of your favorite fall recipes in the linky below

This giveaway will go until next Tuesday, October 12th at 1pm MST.  The winner will be announced later that night!

Don’t forget to link up your favorite fall recipe.  I can’t wait to see what you all share!