Bakers know how tricky it is to bake with marshmallows, which are technically aerated puffs of sugar foam that melt and revert back to liquid form when baked at high temperatures. It’s often a hit or miss when making cookies stuffed or topped with marshmallows, like a good s’mores cookie or our gooey s’mores scones recipe. There’s an easy trick, however, to ensure perfectly toasted, ooey, gooey marshmallows instead of melted or burnt ones in the oven. This trick has something to do with your freezer – you’re going to freeze marshmallows first before baking them. This freezing tip will ensure the marshmallows won’t spread in the oven. The outside will be toasted and the inside remains soft and gooey, perfect for s’mores cookies or other baked s’mores treats.
There are a few ways to go about freezing the marshmallows. One way is to incorporate the marshmallows directly into the batter or cookie dough of your s’mores-themed cookie or treat. Freeze the dough until hardened, and then bake the cookie as you normally would. You might just need to increase the baking time by a few minutes. Let’s say, however, you want to top a cookie or a treat with a marshmallow. In this case, you can freeze just the marshmallows until hardened before placing them on top of the goodies, like cupcakes and cookies, that you’re about to bake. But make sure the marshmallows are on a parchment-lined plate and spaced apart to avoid clumping when you’re freezing them.
Freezing marshmallows extends their shelf-life and improves their textures in the oven
Aside from elevating their texture during baking, freezing marshmallows can also help extend their shelf life. There are many times when we check on a bag of opened marshmallows in the pantry to discover they have melted together and become sticky. Freezing marshmallows helps you avoid this. Freezing marshmallows also does not change their texture much. While they get harder, but never frozen solid, in the freezer, once properly thawed, they regain their fluffiness.
Ready to use our freezing tip to incorporate into your next s’mores-themed bake? You can start with our 3-ingredient cookies recipe that brings the taste of s’mores indoors. Freeze the marshmallows first, for about 30 minutes, before incorporating them into the recipe. With our gooey s’mores scones recipe, you would freeze the marshmallows while they’re incorporated into the scone dough. To spruce things up, you can also freeze marshmallows before making our perfect-for-a-rainy-day s’mores dip in a skillet recipe.
