Cinnamon chocolate marshmallows

For most of my life, marshmallows and I have not been friends. I’d make my s’mores with only chocolate chips and graham crackers, I preferred whipped cream in my hot cocoa and candied-yam casserole was not welcome on my holiday plate.

I’m not sure if it’s the spongy texture or the plain flavor, but marshmallows just never appealed to me. I was even convinced that they were a chemically engineered food, with nary an ingredient found in the natural world.

But one day I had a homemade marshmallow. And everything changed.

I had always found commercially produced marshmallows insipid, but a homemade marshmallow has depth and character, with its sweetness more robust, its texture more springy and its flavor more nuanced. Heck, the two types of marshmallows are hardly the same confection.

Now if you go to a store that sells these artisan marshmallows, you can expect to pay a lot of money. We even have one place in New York City that sells each one for four dollars. That’s ridiculous! But with a strong stand mixer and a little time, you can make your own marshmallows for a fraction of the cost.

A marshmallow’s base flavor is vanilla, which is pleasant, but I wanted to jazz mine up a bit. I threw in cinnamon and chipotle for warmth and spice and then added a bit of chocolate for its bittersweet, creamy notes. After I made my fluff, it was tempting to add it to a peanut-butter sandwich, but I decided to wait and let the marshmallows set so I could eat them as they were meant to be.

My patience definitely rewarded me as the marshmallows were fluffy with a red-hot flavor, enjoyable both on their own and dropped into a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

And perhaps its better for both my teeth and my waistline that I’ve only recently been introduced to the delight of good marshmallows, because trust me, once you start eating these you won’t want to stop.