Your new best friend should be PAM.

I’m not even being remotely sarcastic.  I can’t even express how important it is to spray every damn thing when making marshmallows.  The pan, the parchment paper, the knife, your hands.  Or else you’ll be one huge sticky mess.  Like I get.  Every single freaking time.  How do I always forget to spray the parchment?

To answer that question – I don’t know.  But really, I always thought making marshmallows was going to be some daunting task.  And it truly is if you forget to douse yourself and everything within the marshmallow’s vicinity in PAM – butttt, if you don’t forget it’s super simple.

I’m talking whip this stuff together in less than 15 minutes, simple.

Which is completely super cool, because I’m a huge fan of topping everything with marshmallows.  Chocolate and graham crackers, puddings, sweet potatoes.  You get the gist – I like marshmallows on all the things.

But I also can’t just be simple, either.  It’s impossible.  I mean – why in the world would someone settle for plain Jane when you can obviously trash it up and make it ten times better?

That’s where these suckers come in.  Key – freaking – lime pie marshmallows.  Because who wouldn’t want to eat a s’mores made of that?

Made with key lime juice and lime zest, these little nuggets are a perfect combination of sweet with a citrus punch.  It’s insane how similar they are to the actual dessert.  But less time consuming.  And ten times easier to continuously pop in your mouth.  Whoops.

Key Lime Pie Marshmallows

• 1/3 c key lime juice (I used bottled)
• 2 packets of plain gelatin
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2/3 c light corn syrup
• 1/3 c water
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 2 limes
• about 1/2 c each of powdered sugar, crushed graham crackers, and toasted coocnut

Lightly spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Line with parchment paper and then lightly spray again.  (Redundant? Sure. But you’ll thank me.)

In the bowl to a stand mixer, combine the key lime juice and the gelatin.  Set aside and allow the gelatin to soften.

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil.  Attach a candy thermometer to the side (or hold your parent’s fancy meat thermometer over the super hot stove…) and allow mixture to boil until it reaches a temperature of 240 degrees F.  You can “swirl” the pan around, but don’t stir.

Making sure your stand mixer has the whisk attached, turn your mixer on to a medium speed.  Slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin.  To do this, you kind of rest the pot on the side of the bowl and allow a thin stream of syrup to enter into the gelatin mixture.

Once the syrup has been added, increase the speed on the mixer to high and allow it to whip the marshmallow until it forms a stiff, white, and glossy appearance.  Stir in the vanilla and lime zest.

Pour the marshmallow into your prepared pan and allow it to sit for at least 3 hours.

When the marshmallow has set, turn it over onto a lightly sprayed cutting board, peel away the parchment paper (oh, wasn’t that easy?) and using a lightly spray knife (hello, again, PAM), cut into 2-inch squares.  Immediately toss the cut marshmallow into one of the coatings to ensure it won’t stick anywhere else.

I would let you know how long these store for, but honestly – they’ve never made it that long!