November Playdough of the Month: Pumpkin Spiced Marshmallow Dough

Candied yams (well, sweet potatoes probably) with an ooey, gooey glaze of toasted marshmallows. Delectable pumpkin pie spiced to perfection. Two Thanksgiving staples in many households. If we're being perfectly honest, I was never a huge fan of either, but they were hallmarks of the season through my formative years, and together, they were the inspiration for this months playdough: Pumpkin Spiced Marshmallow Dough.

We essentially made a very basic marshmallow fondant and added pumpkin spice seasoning. Ours was a simple recipe with only four ingredients: marshmallows, powdered sugar, pumpkin spice, and water (not pictures).

Marshmallow fondant can be somewhat tricky to work with, especially in large quantities, so we decided to make a very small batch. We started with 2 cups of mini marshmallows and 1 tablespoon of water. These were microwaved for 30 seconds, stirred, then microwaved another 30 seconds. Vance enjoyed watching them puff up in the microwave, and carefully stirred out the marshmallow lumps when we were finished heating them.

Vance then added a few good shakes of pumpkin spice, and stirred that in as well.

By then, the bowl had cooled enough for Edward to handle, so he got to help stir in the powdered sugar.

Having learned our lesson the last time, we added small amounts at a time until we reached kneading consistency. We ended up using about 1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, plus a bit extra to work it on the tabletop.

Not that the sugar reserved for kneading lasted that long....

At any rate, our fondant was moved from the bowl to the table, and worked until we had a nice stretchy, if somewhat stiff, dough. It wasn't too stiff to play with, though, so play we did. Vance periodically added more pumpkin spice to his share, and it worked just fine, especially since he spent so much of his time pounding the dough.

Edward wound up seeing how many tiny pieces he could divide his portion into, and eventually started eating them. They must have been pretty good, as he kept sneaking taste after taste. Vance tried a nibble too, and seemed to like it, though he didn't seem to find it as irrresistible as Edward did.

We've stored our playdough in the fridge (in an airtight container, which should go without saying) to keep it longer, and like any marshmallow fondant, it needs worked for a bit before its really pliable again. We've really enjoyed it, though I'm not sure how much longer it will last, as Edward is determined to eat it all.