Sweet & Stretchy {EDIBLE} Marshmallow Dough

Edible Marshmallow Dough | Mama Papa Bubba

While Gracen napped this afternoon, I decided to finally put the bag of marshmallows I’ve been carting around for the last couple of weeks to good use.  And oh my word, am I ever glad I did!

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I originally came across this post via Pinterest and immediately fell in love with the idea of marshmallow dough. As insane as it sounds, I often find myself thinking, hmmm…. what can we mix with cornstarch today?  (Totally crazy, I know.) We’ve tried water, shampoo, and hair gel, but I had never thought of marshmallow goo before!  I filed the idea away and knew it would make for an extra special day one day soon.  Today, when it came time to make it, rather than retrieving my computer from the other end of the house and pulling up the recipe, I decided to wing it.  And I must say, it turned out really well.  Turns out that our dough is missing 2 of the ingredients in the original recipe, but I think it would turn out well either way. The finished product is soft to the touch, yet firm, tacky, but not so sticky that it makes a mess of your hands, and it smells absolutely amazing – like Rice Krispie treats or cotton candy.

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With the dough made, I set out a few fun things to explore it with on Grae’s little picnic table outside.  Included were some sundae cups and spoons, a knife, some heart-shaped cookie cutters, some birthday candles, some sugar crystals, and some candy sprinkles.  Then it was time to wait for the little miss to wake up.

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I was so anxious for her to discover the play invitation I’d set up that it was just my luck that she’d ask to stay in her room for quiet play time upon waking up, rather than coming out and getting her afternoon started like she normally does. ☺  When she did come out of her room though, she spotted the marshmallow dough station through the window almost immediately.  Her eyes lit up with excitement and curiosity and she was off to play.

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After a little bit of cutting and pulling, it was straight to the candy sprinkles – and who can blame her really? They’re just so darn colourful and fun-looking!

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Of course, what pairs better with sprinkles than birthday candles?

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I think she may be getting anxious for the birthday party that’s happening next weekend…

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The really cool thing about marshmallow dough is that other than being soft and smooth and smelling {and tasting!} delicious, it has an incredible amount of stretch.  It can be pulled and pulled and pulled without breaking.  Even when you’re trying very hard, as Miss G clearly is in this photo. ☺

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Though it’s quite a bit firmer and stickier than a regular play dough, it still cuts well with cookie cutters, which Grae was pleased about.

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And the plus side to the slightly sticky nature of the dough is that candy sprinkles cling to it really well.

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Next up was some cutting practice.  Gracen really enjoys cutting, and I really should have brought out a sharper knife for her to continue practicing with, but a butter knife did work.  Because the dough is quite heavy, it provides a good amount of resistance, which is great for building up those little hand muscles.

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Gracen loved exploring marshmallow dough, and though I really don’t want her eating corn-syrup filled marshmallows just yet, the beauty of this play material is that it is fully edible, so you don’t have to worry about little ones who are inclined to put things in their mouths getting sick if they do sneak a taste.

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One thing to keep in mind is that because marshmallow goo eventually does set, you’re really only guaranteed one day of supple, mouldable dough.  For us, this wasn’t a issue as Grae played with it for a good long time and I felt we got more than enough play out of it to be worth the cost of the ingredients and the effort that went into making it.

If you’d like to make your own batch (which you certainly should!), here’s our modified version…

 

Coloured {Edible} Marshmallow Dough  {inspired by My Buddies & I}

  • 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or other high temperature tolerant oil)
  • 1 one pound bag of large marshmallows
  • 3 – 4 cups of cornstarch
  • food colouring

Over medium heat, melt coconut oil in a pot.  Once liquid, add the entire bag of marshmallows.  Stir frequently until marshmallows are completely melted.

Working quickly, divide the marshmallow mixture into four bowls (approximately 1 cup per bowl) and stir in 3 drops of liquid food colouring into each.  Add 3/4 of a cup of cornstarch to each bowl to start.  Using a spoon, stir vigorously until marshmallow goo and cornstarch begin to come together.  Use your hands to knead in the extra cornflour once the dough is cool enough to handle.  If needed, add an extra 1/4 of cornstarch to each bowl to firm up the dough, however, be careful not to add too much as the dough will become overly hard.

Enjoy!

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30 thoughts on “Sweet & Stretchy {EDIBLE} Marshmallow Dough

  1. I love all the colours you made! I love the marshmallow dough just because it is so different from other doughs, and I’m glad your little girl enjoyed it! I shared on my fb page today & I’ll pin it today, too! Thanks for linking back to us.

  2. Is there something I could use instead of coconut oil to make this? I love the idea of it for my girls, but I am allergic to coconut. thanks

    1. Hi Magnoliabelle! Oh yes, the coconut oil can definitely be replaced with another oil without an issue. I’d suggest just a regular vegetable oil as they do well with high heats. Grapeseed oil or even butter would work too. :)

    1. Hi Shawna! I’m sure you could, though I’d probably go with something that does a bit better at hit temperatures. Grapeseed or any vegetable oil would be my choice. :)

  3. At first I thought it actually said 11 pound bag of marshmallows!!!! lol then I understand just (1) 1lb bag

  4. I am going to try to make this with my daycare kids. I am sure they will love it! Thanks for sharing.

  5. I don’t know what i did wrong, but our dough was just too hard. I tried again not putting as much corn starch and it was just so sticky that while fun to play around with pulling and making a taffy like mess, got too frustrating for my 2 yr old twins. I added a bit more cornstarch and too hard again…. any thoughts on what i did wrong?

    1. Well shoot, that’s no fun! My initial thought was that you may have added too much cornstarch, but it sounds like you were pretty careful with slowly adding to it and not going overboard. When it was soft and sticky, was it still warm, or had it fully cooled? I did find that as ours cooled, it hardened up a wee bit and lost most of its stickiness. Could that be it?

    1. Hi Sara! I haven’t tried it myself, but I’d guess YES! You may have to adapt the amount of cornstarch depending on the consistency of the marshmallow creme, but it should work out just fine. :)

  6. I tried this today and failed miserably. How did you melt the marshmallow without getting it burnt? What utensils did you use Jen? What brand of marshmallow did you use? Do they have to be nice and fresh? I used a bag of old ones that are a bit hard, so it was hard to mix them. Sorry about all these questions. My daughter was disappointed. :(

    1. With the similar fondant i make i spree it by wrapping tightly in cling wrap. You can oil the wrap first
      Then store in fridge. Take out half an hour before you use it.

  7. 1/2 success: we had a nice effect for approximately 3 minutes, and then it got sticky again…….. Kids were kind of disappointed…

  8. The marshmallows can be really easily melted in the microwave, jusy keep watching till they puff then stir and heat again it is easy to see when mallow is melted. Usually not more than 1 or 2 minutes. Then you can actual do one colour batch at a time with no big clean up. If you exchange the corn floor for icing sugar you get an easy rollable moldable cake fondant. Am looking forward to trying this though

  9. This is a really weird question, but I kinda want make candy teeth fro my boyfriend. I’m looking for a candy material I can mold with my hands into a shape, let it set and it will keep its form but still taste good. Do you think either this or the “candy clay” would work for that?

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