Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you decked out in green? Is there corned beef and cabbage cooking in your slow cooker? Are you drinking Guinness for breakfast?

I am wearing green, of course, but there will be no Irish food or beer in our house tonight (unless a leprechaun brings it here). But, I did want to make at least one green foodstuff, and one can never go wrong with homemade marshmallows.

Don’t fret if you haven’t made your own marshmallows before! It is easier than you would imagine — sprinkle a little gelatin in some water, boil some sugar syrup and whip it all together in a stand mixer. Today we’re going to add some rainbow sprinkles, too, for a little extra St. Patrick’s Day spirit. Plus, rainbow sprinkles make everything better. Obviously.

The food coloring I used was a bit on the blue side, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using the same color I did. A regular green would probably work a bit better. You can use any kind of rainbow sprinkles you’d like, but keep in mind that some types may add a bit of crunch.

I had planned to make these a bit minty, rather than vanilla, but I realized at the last minute that all of my peppermint extract was gone. I think the vanilla + sprinkles combination works well, though, and honestly? Homemade marshmallows are never NOT good. Just throw them in an airtight container of some kind once they’re cut, and enjoy the magical deliciousness for weeks!

St. Patrick’s Day marshmallows (Makes about 64 small square marshmallows, adapted from Bon Appetit)
Vegetable oil (for the pan)
About 3/4 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch and a few tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles, for coating the marshmallows
1 cup water, divided in half
3 (1/4-ounce) envelopes of powdered unflavored gelatin (available near Jello in the grocery store)
1 1/2 cups sugar (regular/granulated)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
Green food coloring (gel is preferred, but liquid is fine)
1/3 to 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Use a paper towel to lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 9×9 baking pan (or a 9×12, if you want skinnier marshmallows) with vegetable oil. Stir the powdered sugar, cornstarch and a few tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles together and sprinkle a little bit over the pan, then move the pan around to make sure the sugar/cornstarch mixture is totally coating the bottom and there are some rainbow sprinkles everywhere. Keep the extra mixture in a plastic bag for later.

Pour 1/2 cup water into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatin powder into the bowl over the water and stir to make sure all the gelatin touches the water. Let it sit there while you heat the sugar.

Pour the other 1/2 cup water, sugar, corn syrup and salt into a medium-sized heavy saucepan (I used 2 1/2 quart, but a 3- or 4-quart is good if you have one). Turn the heat on medium-high to bring the mixture to a boil and stir frequently until the sugar seems dissolved. Once the mixture starts boiling, stop stirring. The mixture will probably rise and you may have to turn the heat down a little. That’s totally fine.

Put a candy thermometer in the boiling syrup (try to get it into the mixture without touching the bottom of the pot if at all possible). Allow it to boil (don’t stir) until the thermometer reaches 240F – this is likely to be marked on the thermometer as the “soft ball” stage. Try not to laugh.

Once the mixture reaches 240F, remove it from the heat for a few seconds so the bubbling dies down.

Turn the mixer (with the gelatin/water in there) on low speed and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture down the (inside) side of the bowl in a steady-ish stream, while the mixer is going. Increase the mixer speed to high once all the sugar syrup is in there. Mix for 5-10 minutes, until the marshmallow fluff is thick and fluffy (and no longer hot). Add the vanilla extract and a few drops of green food coloring and mix to combine. Add more green food coloring and mix again, if the color isn’t quite right.

Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles and mix just to combine.

Immediately use a spatula to scrape the marshmallow fluff into the pan you prepared earlier. If it’s being fussy, get your fingers wet and use them to smooth out the top.

Leave the pan of marshmallow, uncovered, at room temperature for at least four hours (I usually leave mine overnight). The top should not be very sticky anymore and you should be able to use a clean spatula or your fingers to pull the marshmallow away from the sides of the pan.

Use leftover powdered sugar/cornstarch/sprinkles mixture to dust a cutting board. Carefully remove the marshmallow from the pan (use a spatula, your fingers or both). Flip it upside down onto the cutting board, so the already powdered part is facing up. Dust that side with a bit more powdered sugar mixture, if it’s sticky.

Use a paper towel to rub a bit of vegetable oil on a pizza cutter or long knife, then use that to cut the marshmallows into squares. (Cut however you want, but if you don’t have some kind of guide on your cutting board or pan, it may be easiest to slice down the middle, then separate each half into pieces, versus working from one side and moving across). Lightly dust the cut sides of the marshmallows in the extra powdered sugar/cornstarch/sprinkles mixture.

Store the marshmallows in an air-tight container. Separate layers with wax paper or parchment paper.