Marshmallow Infused Vodka

The campfire is roaring. Staring into the fire's burning depths, you are mesmerized while being filled with the smell of campfire smoke. There's nothing that would go better with your campfire than a nice toasted marshmallow, right? Well, think again, because once you've tried marshmallow infused vodka, you may be singing a different tune. If my parents would have fed me marshmallow infused vodka when I was eight-years-old instead of marshmallows, I may have started this blog a lot sooner than a couple weeks ago!

After doing pineapple followed by strawberry, I thought I'd try something you can't buy at your local Farmer's Market!

If you like vanilla, you'll love marshmallow vodka!

Preparation Time: About 10-20 minutes

Infusion period: 1-5 days

Materials you’ll need: 

• Approximately one bag of great big puffy marshmallows
• One canning jar (narrow mouth works best)
• Vodka
• Knife
• Wire strainer or a coffee filter (not pictured)
• Funnel (not pictured)

Recipe:

·    Fill canning jar with Marshmallows. Fill jar full of vodka.

Servings:
The longer you let this infuse, the more your marshmallows infuse. If you let a full mason jar infuse for about a week, it will yield about 16 ounces of gooey goodness!

How to make this tasty drink:

• Cut your marshmallows in half or thirds (I did thirds). This exposes more of the inner gooey parts, expediting the infusion process. The hard outer shell is slower to break down in the vodka, so let's give those marshmallows a bit of a helping hand. This is why I don't use those tiny marshmallows. Finally, I avoided the colorful marshmallows because all the colors would just blend together making for a not so eye appealing concoction.
• Drop your marshmallow bits into your canning jar. Fill that jar to the tippy-top.
• Pour in your favorite vodka. Be careful. At first, the marshmallows will recede. Don't be fooled. This only happens for a brief second and then they will puff up and spill out of your jar. This is why I suggested a skinny jar rather than the wide mouth. I used both. With a little hand-eye coordination, you can get by just fine. Just pour fast and get your lid on your jar ASAP! (see picture above)
• Shake it up a bit
• Store in a cool dry place
• Shake whenever the mood hits you to shake the living crap out of something. 
• The marshmallows won't completely dissolve in your jar. That's okay, this is normal. In making mine, I checked it after a day and just let it sit for the rest of the week. It did continue to dissolve each day after I shook the jar. But there was still some marshmallow sludge floating at the top of my jar. 
• Just skim off the puffy sludge.
• Pour from your jar into your storage container. I'm a big fan of glass flasks. Your end product should be a white(ish) color yummy concoction. Perfect for the white in your red, white and blue 4th of July (or Week of Craig) vodka tasting party!



It doesn't look pretty...
But it tastes delicious!

• Optional: You may wish to strain it for even more purity through a wire strainer. It's a bit too thick for a coffee filter. And let's be honest, I'm lactose intolerant. I don't own a cheesecloth, so I can't even comment on if that would work. Speaking of cheese cloths, why do you need a special cloth to eat cheese? The whole concept puzzles me.

How to drink your tasty drink:

There's great debate amongst those I've talked to about how to drink your marshmallow vodka. While most vodka infusions taste great chilled either over ice or straight out of your refrigerator/freezer, I took my first sip straight out of my mason jar at room temperature and it was delicious. Of course, if you like the flavor of vanilla, you're going to love marshmallow vodka! I've also been told that you can use marshmallow vodka to replace any vanilla vodka in mixed drinks. Yum!

A really eye appealing option for your red, white and blue party is to add ice and marshmallow vodka to a martini shaker and serve in a martini glass with a Marciano cherry in the middle. The cherry will sink to the bottom and voila, you've got yourself a red and white beverage. Or, if you've been exported to Canada like my pal, Christa, this would be the perfect compliment for Canada Day.

I give you yumminess,
now drink it!!!

What I learned after doing this for the very first time:

I didn't expect my marshmallows to puff out as quickly as they did. So be ready for that once you begin filling your jar with vodka. This was a fairly simple recipe, so there shouldn't be too many problems for you. I tried it by filling one jar all the way up with marshmallows and another jar just part way. It didn't appear to matter much, but the full marshmallow jar seemed to infuse faster. 

Also, some people prefer to only infuse their marshmallows one day and then use some sort of a press to expedite the infusion process. I just let my infusion do it's thing with the help of a shake here and there and almost all the marshmallows dissolved on their own. Patience is a virtue and I'm a virtuous SoB when it comes to infusions. So, don't run out and buy a coffee press unless you really like coffee!

Clean up alert: if you let your wire strainer sit overnight, it will become hard to clean. Get that gooeyness gone ASAP before it becomes hard! 


Finally, if you wait a bit to serve, you'll find you need to shake your concoction, as it may have begun to settle a bit.

Want some fun mixed drinks?

Because marshmallows are just one part vanilla mixed with one part goop, you should be able to substitute your concoction for any vanilla vodka recipe. The good people at Drink Mixer have 91 vanilla vodka recipes you could substitute your marshmallow vodka with. 

But let's be honest, what you really want is a S'more martini, right? I know I do. The Martini Diva has a complex recipe for you. Or, you could try this one from Delish.com that you could just sub your concoction with.

I'm totally vamping here, but I'm going to make my own marshmallow vodka recipe. That's right, I'm calling my shot, and it's going to be delicious!  I give you, Craig's S'more Martini:

1. Rim your glass with  your marshmallow gooiness left at the top of your flask. 
2. Sprinkle crushed up graham crackers over your gooiness.
3. Add 1 ounce of chocolate. (I plan to try for appearance purposes only to line my martini glass with chocolate syrup swirls. I know, not high class...) perhaps I'll put a little in the martini shaker cup to make sure the chocolate flavor gets mixed in there too.
4. Add 3-4 ounces of marshmallow infused vodka (shaken in martini shaker). 

After trying Craig's S'more Martini, I'm committed to make this better. One tip, use the chocolate topping to make fun designs in  your martini glass, but don't use it as your chocolate in your martini. Ummm... it didn't taste that good. I'm going Godiva next time. Try it and tell me if it's any good. I'm dying to hear your thoughts!

Recipe Alterations:

There's really not much you can do with this recipe. Except drink it. yummy!

Cheers,

Craig