Vegetarian/halal marshmallows for baking

[Ezzie29]

So I always make my brownies with marshmallows to make them lovely and fudgy. Made some at Christmas for the first time since being with DP, he merrily ate some (I say some, he scoffed a LOT) and it was only about a week later that I thought to check the packet and realised the marshmallows had pork gelatine DP says it’s fine as he didn’t know when he was eating them, but going forwards I’ll obviously make sure my brownies are halal. I’ve googled and I can see a lot of vegetarian or halal marshmallows (will need to get them online I think as limited shopping options where I live) but thought I’d ask on here to see if anyone has used non-pork gelatine marshmallows and which ones taste the best and melt down really well - I’m not sure how much of a difference it will make.

Or of course just suggestions on what else to use to make them really fudgy! I’m not a great baker so what I’ve always done is melt the marshmallows down with some condensed milk, butter and sugar before adding the other ingredients and I love how they turn out.

TIA!

[Ezzie29]

In hindsight, it’s also pretty lucky I’ve never made these in a situation where vegetarians were present, as it’s never occurred to me that the marshmallows would make the brownies non-vegetarian!

[PurpleCrowbar]

Gosh, I'm in the ME & everywhere sells marshmallows (my dc like them in hot chocolate). We aren't Muslim but the vast majority of people are so they must be halal...I'm guessing with beef gelatine which is used in jelly etc here? So definitely a thing, although not sure how widely available in the U.K.

Haribo do a halal range? Don't know if that includes marshmallows though.

[WatchingTheWheels85]

Freedom marshmallows are vegan also you can get marshmallows which have no gelatin in poundstretchers for about 80p.

[FrenchCritter]

The halal marshmallows usually use beef gelatine if imported from another country like Turkey so it wouldn’t be massively different.

Just check the manufacturing location on haribos, if it was made in turkey then it’s halal. Either way you can halal haribos in Tesco, the world foods bit

[Mummydoctor]

We are vegetarian and the best ones we love are the Freedom ones - they’re available at Holland and Barrett, and I’ve seen them in Morrisons too. There are a few specialist on line shops which sell vegan marshmallows but we prefer the freedom ones.

[Gingernaut]

Try to find marshmallows that contain beef gelatine.

Because of the way they're made, I doubt you'll find decent veggie versions.

[Gingernaut]

www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/freedom-confectionery-mallows-mini-pink---white-vanilla-bites-75g?langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=7dOMyOO2iwfXzY8Roan97HRBsXT%2FOGcL4gDqtEIltdWKlMTqNVywPNhDWeAuUkgAxYiNZ%2FK5Q75Md2UJ5uYMnTN9JtYUNwXRllgFcyLEWi0HATxilNInLEUMK8Vqg2Ab&ddkey=https%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Ffreedom-confectionery-mallows-mini-pink---white-vanilla-bites-75g

[Gingernaut]

Fucking Google links. Sorry.

[notatwork]

no use for baking but veggie and delicious, should your DH ever fancy a marshmallow for no particular reason: lees snowballs

[Ezzie29]

Thanks for the suggestions! Will go on a trawl. We have a Waitrose and a sort of Tesco here - it’s not actually a Tesco but does sell some of their stuff. We’ve also got a Holland and Barrett so will check those out. Just don’t want to end up buying mountains of marshmallows of different brands that end up not working!

[Teddybear45]

Go to an Indian / Asian / Turkish store. Can get halal jelly / marshmellows etc often for half the price.

[Hoppinggreen]

Dd is veggie and we get marshmallows from Sainsbury’s for her
Can’t remember the brand though, sorry

[Ezzie29]

Well we found marshmallow fluff which has no gelatine and Waitrose marshmallows with beef gelatine, so I’m going to try the fluff first but if it doesn’t melt down properly I’ll use the Waitrose ones so at least DP will be able to eat them!

[IncognitaIgnorama]

Would you mind sharing your recipe, op? I used to have an amazing recipe with marshmallows, but the book got lost in the move, and I can't find one suitably fudgey online

[jenniuol]

I would also love the recipe they sound great!

[Ezzie29]

Oh no, now I have bigged myself up and need to confess that “recipe” is overstating it! I’m a hit and miss baker because I don’t measure stuff out. all the same I shall tell you what I do. It involves box mix because I can never get cocoa cooking powder to work for me.

I get a pan and throw in about half a thing of butter or so, a load of caster sugar, about half a bag of mini marshmallows, a can of condensed milk and some vanilla extract (another thing I need to swap out but I’ve got pods somewhere, think they are fine) and I melt it all down together, I let the bottom catch a tiny bit sometimes because I like the flavour. Once it’s all melted down I will add in a small tub of double cream (Guernsey cream, I don’t know if English cream is different as I know our milk tends to be creamier than some English ones) whisk it all together. Will crack three eggs into a bowl and whisk together then add the fudge sauce a bit at a time so it doesn’t make scrambled eggs. I don’t usually add it all. Then I will add a brownie box mix - I use the co-op one, think it’s got little chocolate chunks. If it needs more liquid I will add it from the batter. Then just cook till they are at your preferred level of done. I’ve also done this using a basic sponge cake recipe that I’ve been doing for years, they ended up way too moist but I couldn’t bring myself to chuck them so left them on a cooling rack in the oven overnight and the next day they were perfect, you could really taste the fudge in them as you didn’t have the chocolate competing with it, altho you can taste the fudge in the chocolate ones too, so I’ve done those a couple of times. I’ll just double up the fudge sauce amount then use half for the brownies, half for the blondies. Any leftover sauce can be kept to put on ice cream. I never have any leftover as I eat it when the brownies are baking.

So yes. I’m embarrassed now. It’s really just me throwing stuff together and it turns out delicious because it’s hard not to when it’s got so many lovely things going on.

[IncognitaIgnorama]

That sounds amazing! Thank you, OP - I'll give your method a go

[Ezzie29]

Well the marshmallow fluff worked, they turned out exactly the same as when I’ve used normal marshmallows!