Hope you’ve got your eating pants on – here’s a delicious recipe from our very own frankie Good Stuff award winner Jen Lo.

It’s winter. And for me, that means oversized beanies, big cuddly jackets and hot chocolate – with marshmallows, of course! Consider it blasphemy if you will, but I’ve never been a huge fan of those pink and white marshmallows from a packet… and since marshmallow is so easy to make yourself, why wouldn’t you? Plus, it flings the doors wide open to some wonderful flavour combinations, like my all time favourite – matcha and strawberry!

For this marshmallow recipe you can use as much or as little matcha powder as you like. As long as you stick to the base recipe, you can make it your own by adding your own special flavour twists! Try it with salted caramel and big chunks of toasted nuts for something extra decadent.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

shallow brownie tin
baking paper
heat-resistant spatula or wooden spoon
stand mixer or electric hand mixer with whisk attachment
off-set spatula
saucepan
candy thermometer

INGREDIENTS:

10 sheets of gold gelatine
ice water for soaking gelatine
200ml water
450g sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
freeze-dried strawberries
20g matcha powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Line your tin with baking paper, making sure to stick it down with baking spray, otherwise things are going to get super-messy later.

2. Bloom your gelatine by placing the sheets one by one in a bowl of ice water until soft (but still slightly elastic). Squeeze out all of the excess water out, remove and set aside.

3. Place 200ml of water in a heavy based saucepan with the sugar and bring to the boil, making sure that all of the sugar has dissolved.

4. Cool to 90 degrees and add the bloomed gelatine and stir to dissolve completely.

5. Transfer your mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, and whisk on high until it starts to turn white in colour. Turn the mixer down to low and add your vanilla paste and matcha powder and whisk until just incorporated.

6. Turn the mixer back up to high and continue to beat for another three to four minutes until you reach firm peaks. Note: at this stage you want the mix to still be quite warm for ease of pouring into a tray.

7. Working quickly, pour half the mixture into a tray and spread out to the corners until as even as possible. Crush the freeze-dried strawberries on top and spread the remaining half of the marshmallow on top and leave it to set for three to four hours (or overnight, if you can wait that long!)

8. Cut into squares, and drown them in your winter beverage of choice, or dip into tempered dark chocolate for something extra decadent!

These are best consumed within a week for ultimate fluff factor, but will keep up to a fortnight in an airtight container.

To see more delicious treats from Jen, swing past Bakedown Cakery.