Chocolate Marshmallows

Lightly spray 9×9 baking pan. Dust with cocoa. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine gelatin and ½ cup water; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water. Set that aside.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup and remaining ½ cup cold water. Cook over medium high heat stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, cook mixture without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 240ºF.

In a bowl, beat egg whites, extracts and salt on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, combine both gelatin mixture and cocoa mixture. Slowly beat in hot syrup. Beat all the ingredients on the highest speed of your mixer until marshmallow triples in volume (color will lighten, too) and mixture becomes thick, about 4-6 minutes. Gently fold in egg whites.

Pour marshmallow into prepared pan. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Chill for at least 2 hours or until set. Cut into squares.

To dip into chocolate, melt candy coating. Dip bottoms of each marshmallow into chocolate. Set upright on a wire rack to set. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen.