RAINBOW UNICORN TIE DYE S’MORES, EVERYONE! Who. Is. Excited? *THIS GIRL!* I wish you all could have been in the studio while we were shooting these. Poor Jeff, surrounded by three girls squealing over how fun, colorful and AMAZING these are. We knew we had to go big or go home for the upcoming National S’mores Day (August 10th!) so we went big. And we went home. And now, we shall all vow to eat more colorful s’mores. Here’s how…
3 packages unflavored gelatin (1/4 ounce packets)
1 1/4 cup water, divided
2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Powdered sugar
Gel food coloring (electric pink, electric blue, electric purple, turquoise green, yellow)
8×8″ Pan
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the powdered unflavored gelatin with 3/4 cup cold water. Let sit.
2. In a small sized pot, combine the sugar, corn syrup and remaining 1/2 cup of water. Heat over medium and bring to a boil. Once boiling, raise heat to high and cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees.
3. Using a fine mesh sieve, completely cover the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with a solid layer of powdered sugar. Have five bowls and five spoons ready before whipping the marshmallow.
4. Turn stand mixer to low and carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Turn the speed up to high and whip for 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla and mix till combined. (If making plain white marshmallows, continue to whip for a total of 15 minutes. In order to make and swirl the different colors, you need the marshmallow mixture to be a little softer, so only whip for 5 to 7 minutes.)
5. Once you have whipped the mixture, quickly divide the marshmallow into the 5 bowls and color each one with the different gel food colorings. Work quickly as the mixture will set fast.
6. You are going to pour the marshmallow into the pan in 2 layers. For the first layer, in a clockwise direction, place half of the purple in one corner, then half of the pink next to it, followed by half of the yellow, half of the green and ending with half of the blue which should also connect back to the purple.
7. Using a stick of any kind (a chopstick works perfectly!), begin to swirl the colors into each other, careful not to completely mix the colors together. This is the fun part! Every batch will be different.
8. Repeat the process on top of your first layer but start the purple in a different spot than before. This just helps to ensure that every marshmallow will have a little bit of every color. Gently swirl the colors only in the new top layer.
9. With the fine mesh sieve, cover generously with powdered sugar and flatten the surface with your hands. Let sit uncovered overnight to set.
10. Run a knife along the edges. Remove the marshmallows from the pan and cut into squares.
Photos by Jeff Mindell | Recipe by Theresa Rountree | Creative Direction + Styling by Kelly Mindell
In case you’re wondering, the marshmallows taste a lot like Peeps! Sugary, colorful marshmallow goodness.
To learn how to make bright natural food dyes, click here! And for more sweets + treats, click here.
psst… We just wrapped a REALLY fun (and also colorful!) project with Natasha of Violet Tinder and she did her own take on colorful s’mores!! I just had to share them so we could all have one big technicolor marshmallow PAR-TAY!
These are amazing! I want to make them asap. Do you think you could use your natural dye options in these?
These are absolutely amazing! I love the vibrant colors.
OMG!!!! GENIUS GENIUS!!
The colours are mind bonkers-ly amazing!!!! Teddy would freak out over these… I love them, Kelly! (Imagine busting these out at the campground? Outer space next level s’mores) … Xo
Your math is off for the water measurement. 3/4 cup plus 1/2 cup = 1 1/4 cup.
Oops! Thanks so much for catching that, just updated!
If I could leave emojis in the comment section, I’d leave about 1000 heart eyes for this! Ahhh-mazing!
Wow this looks amazing
These are AWESOME!
These turned out SO fun!!
hahah these are so rad~
THE BOMB DOT COM!
These are amazing! and so colorful
What an amazing idea! Making these for my daughters Neon/Glow Sweet 16!! Thank you!
Does it have to be gel food coloring – or will regular affect the results? So excited to try making these tonight!
You can use regular food coloring, though the colors might not be quite as vibrant!
OMG the marshmallow swirl picture makes happy neurons fire on overdrive in this brain. I want to try this in ombré colors!
They look.. electric. I bet they taste good, it’s gel food coloring, but let’s admit their look is odd.
If I purchase the 6 color set from amazon does it consist of all of the colors or do I need to purchase the turquoise green separate? These look amazing!! Want to be sure I get all of the right colors!!!
We used a turquoise color (this one!) but I imagine you could create a similar color with the blue + green in the set!
These look amazing! I wouldn’t even want to eat them because they look so cool.
I love these! I have been experimenting with different flavors and colors of marshmallows for bit and never dreamed of tie-dye!. Looks great, can’t wait to try them.
Girl these look FANTASTIC! I can’t wait to try these out with my kiddos!
Love a great and delicious chemistry project. My husband and I made these tonight. It was a blast, and we both agreed that the taste is better than any store bought marshmallow. Thanks for sharing!
For a vegan version, do you think agar or konjac would work best? I can’t decide which. I’m betting pectin would not work at all though…?
Unfortunately we haven’t tried this recipe with any vegan options so I can’t speak to whether it would work or not, I’m sorry! I imagine if you look up any recipe for vegan marshmallows you could use that as your base.
must say a nice art work. these color foods made me hungry
240 degrees? Are we talking celsius or fahrenheit?
How have I just found out about the phenomena now?! Definitely trying unicorn s’mores this summer!! They look amazing!
Simply Lovebirds
Very impressive.. I will try this.
Are so beautiful that I can eat them 😀 Great idea !
These are very useful tips. I’m taking notes on this in case I’ll be needing this in the future. We all want a stress free moving and avoid any problem in the way.
So fun and easy to make!! This is a must for everyone.
So so fun and easy to make. Taste super yummy, too. This is a must for everyone!!!
Thanks for your great information.I appreciate your effort and keep posting.
How long do these keep? I plan on making these mallows as gifts for the holidays, storing them in small mason jars. Thanks for any info!
These are so cool! Can these marshmallows be toasted (browned) like normal marshmallows?
Really awesome post and thanks for sharing this information.