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Zephyr is a type of Russian homemade marshmallows recipe. These tasty confections are fluffy and literally just melt in your mouth. Learn how to make these homemade marshmallows with the easy video tutorial.
I have been working on perfecting this recipe for some time and these have the right fluffy consistency using real ingredients (no jell-o needed), and they have intense blackberry-lemon flavor. P.S. that beautiful pinky-purple hue is all natural from fresh blackberries and makes these completely irresistible!
The closest thing I could compare zephyr to are gourmet marshmallows. These are lightyears better than store-bought marshmallows and are stunning on party dessert tables. Think: showers, birthdays, tea parties, etc. Zephyr is the first thing people eye on a dessert table because it’s just so pretty!
This blackberry-leon zephir recipe was modified from Air Cake on youtube.
Watch How to Make Homemade Marshmallows:
This recipe is simple, but it is important to follow the process and have precise measurements. I have included all of my best tips to make sure you are successful the first time and every time!
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Ingredients for Blackberry Puree:
2 cups (or 8 oz or 250 grams) blackberries
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 egg white, room temperature
For the Agar Agar Syrup:
1/3 cup (75 ml) water
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
2 tsp (5 grams) agar agar*
Powdered Sugar to dust
*Agar agar us a plant based thickener that works similarly to traditional unflavored pork-derived gelatin. It is kosher-friendly and doesn’t add any aroma or flavor especially when heated which is awesome!! It is available in natural and health-food stores like Rosauers, Whole foods and is reasonably priced on Amazon.
How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (Zephyr):
1. In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through fine sieve, pressing on solids with a spatula. Scrape the back of the sieve to get 1/2 cup or 125 grams of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.
2. Once puree is chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk.** Beat 8-10 min on high speed or until thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is whipping, proceed with step 3.
3. In a medium sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 min, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.
4. With mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into the whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form.
5. Right away, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M large open star tip and pipe roses onto parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping them even in width/size.
6. Let stand in a draft free, low humidity, room temperature (70˚F) area, uncovered 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily, then match 2 halves together and roll sandwiched marshmallows in powdered sugar.
⬇ Print-Friendly Marshmallows Recipe (Zephyr) Recipe:
Homemade Marshmallows (Zephyr) VIDEO
Ingredients
For the Blackberry Puree:
- 2 cups or 8 oz or 250 grams blackberries
- 1/2 cup 100 grams granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 egg white, room temperature
For the Agar Agar Syrup:
- 1/3 cup 75 ml water
- 1 cup 200 grams sugar
- 2 tsp 5 grams agar agar*
- Powdered Sugar to dust
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids with a spatula. Scrape off the back of the sieve to ensure you have 1/2 cup or 125 grams of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.
- Once puree is fully chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment.** Beat on 8-10 min on high speed or until mixture is thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is going, proceed with step 3.
- In a medium sauce pan, stir together 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 minutes, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.
- With the mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Once syrup is in, scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 min on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Right away, transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M large open star tip and pipe roses onto parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping the roses even in width/size.
- Let homemade marshmallows stand in a draft free, low humidity, room temperature area (70˚F), uncovered for 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily. Once set, match 2 halves together then roll sandwiched marshmallows powdered sugar.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Regarding the use of raw egg whites: Always use eggs that have a whole, un-cracked shell from a trustworthy source. This method is similar to an Italian Buttercream where adding the hot syrup partially tempers the egg white, but if you want to take extra caution especially if pregnant or elderly, you can try using pasteurized egg whites, although from my research, it may take longer to beat the mixture if egg white is pasteurized.
I hope you all love these and find the video tutorial helpful! If you make these (or any recipes from my site), I now have an awesome new spot where my readers can share their yummy photos! You’re invited to join my closed VIP cooking group on Facebook!
Hi Natasha.
What can i do if i dont have blueberries and can i use gelatin in place of agar agar?
Hi there, this recipe is intended to be used with the agar agar only. I had one other reader report not so great results with regular gelatin when trying to substitute. Do you mean blackberry? I haven’t tried anything else to advise.
Addendum to my previous review: I think I figured out the problem with the prolonged set time: I have never worked with agar agar before. I was thrilled when I finally found it, in the 3rd store that day and in the Asian food section. After making my 2nd batch of marshmallows, waiting multiple days for them to set, and watching the fluffiness sink, I figured it out. For those of us unfamiliar with agar agar; it comes in either powdered or flaked form. And no, they are not equivalent. 1 tsp powder is approximately equal to 1 Tablespoon flakes. Next time I will know.
I love the flavor and the melt in your mouth texture. The drying or setting time is way off in my kitchen. IDKY. Ultimately, they did set, 3 days later, and were rather difficult to remove from the paper. Flavor is fun and they actually did seem to melt in my mouth. Texture at 3 days set time was still a little floppy and slightly crusty on the outside – like a marshmallow peep that you have allowed to air dry for a few days because duh, why would you eat Peeps any other way than slightly stale – am I right? Mine were A-LOT smaller than yours but from what I could tell, your batter was a lot firmer than mine, despite whipping both times, more than the recommended time in grease free bowl. Ohh oh oh oh, one more thing, I almost forgot, I left mine as single rosettes rather than doubled, because I liked the delicate feel they conveyed. Overall, I enjoyed the process and have since started another batch. If I can post a pic, I will.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Robbin! I would make sure the right amount of agar agar was used. I’m curious if humidity is possibly affecting it also?
Hello. I was wondering if you can use these for s’mores or roasting at a campfire? Will they toast the same as a factory-made marshmallow?
Hi Nicole, I haven’t tried this over a campfire, but now I’m curious if that will work. If you happen to test that, I would love to know how you like it.
Hi Natasha
I have Boirin fruit purées I use for chocolate fillings
I tied using that but it didn’t work
How can I make this work with commercial purées?
Hi Alison, I haven’t tested that specifically to advise on the process. If you experiment, I would love to know how it goes.
Hi Alison, I haven’t tried Boirin fruit purees so I’m not sure what to advise on that.
Hi Alison, I used the same commercial puree raspberry flavor and it worked wonderfully. However, I did boil it with some sugar and let it thicken and cool. On the flip side, I tried making it with mango puree, did not cook it beforehand, and it would not fluff up after 20 minutes of mixing. I’m not sure if it’s the cooking with sugar that does the trick, but maybe something to try. Next time I’ll cook the puree a bit before trying to mix it in the blender. I also did a double batch so not sure if that impacted anything.
Hi, does this recipe double easy? triple ?
Or does it get cool off too fast ?
Also, have you tried flakes not powder agar agar?
Hi Kat, I have not tried doubling it so I’m not sure if you would double the time throughout the recipe. You won’t need to double it for baking though. I am using a 6Qt stand mixer and the bowl was pretty full with the mixture – I think doubling it would overwhelm the mixer. It may be safer to make the recipe twice. Has anyone else tried doubling the recipe? Please share your experience and thanks in advance! 🙂 Also, this recipe is intended to be used with the agar agar only. I had one other reader report not so great results with regular gelatin when trying to substitute. I hope that helps!
I meant if there’s a different between the type of agar. The store I bought agar agar from did not have powder agar agar but only flakes agar agar. It seems to work the same BUT MASURE BY WIGHT not tea spoon.
Also, I have a glass bowl kitchen aid, and based from your video is bigger (not sure what Q amount it holds) I made 1 batch and it completely ruined, did fluff and the hot agar was chunky all over the place.
I didn’t give up though! Doubled the batch and they turned out beautiful! The 2 egg whites where able to mix really fluffy. One egg white didn’t mix fluffy enough after like 10 min still watery, after 20 bearly fluffy. So if your mixer is bigger double is fine!
Just cook the berries a little longer. I got 1.5 cups from it. So returned it to the stove drained and simmered just a bit more and it reduced to like a littttle more than 1 cup.
Thank you for the recipe! They’re the most darling little things!
Oh! And I used frozen raspberry measured by wight and they came out so tasty!
Hi Kat, that’s great to know that the flakes work since I haven’t tried that and that it works by weight which makes sense. I have a 6-quart mixer. I”m’ so glad it worked out. I’m not sure why 1 batch wouldn’t fluff though.
Oh sorry I meant if flaky AGAR will work the same. The store near me only had flaky no powder. And it seemed to work the same just had to measure by WIGHT.
Also. I have a bigger kitchen aid mixer. The glass bowl, not sure what Qt amount it holds.
So. One batch DID NOT work. I mixed for 10 min, still watery, 25 min later fluffy (but now I know it wasn’t fluffy enough) the agar ended up being chuncky all over the place and they did not firm up.
One of the other comments asked why theirs didn’t “freeze” probably didn’t mix the egg white mixture enough.
I tired 2 batch’s at once and it turned out beautifully! Got really fluffy and hot agar incorporated well!
Oh, and I used frozen raspberries (measured by wight) simmered for 10 min but for 1.5 cups of juice, so just returned to heat for a little more till it condensed to 1 cup.
They beautiful and tastie! Thank you for such a old-fashion yet such unique recipe!
Hello Kat, thank you so much for sharing your experience making this recipe. Glad it turned out well and you liked it! The info that you shared is really helpful, thanks for that.
I love this recipe. I already made zephir using this recipe times and every time it turned out great. By the way, I noticed that using frozen raspberries gives even deeper flavor and it’s easier to get enough of the berry syrup than from fresh blackberries, since raspberries are jucier.
I meant to say I used this recipe 3 times already.
Hello Mariana, thanks for your great comments and for sharing that info about using frozen raspberries. I will probably try that too next time.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Marian!!
Hello, Natasha!
Trying to do this recipe second time.
The shell of my Zephyr is too chewy.
I tried others girls zephyr who did by your recipe it taste different outside.
what can I do wrong?
Thank you!
Hi Anna, It could be possibly due to letting them sit and dry for too long. I’m not sure what else if none of the ingredients or measurements were changed in the recipe.
Love this recipe! Super easy to make, I didn’t have agar agar so instead of using the 2tsp of agar agar I used 4 tsp of corn starch and they turned out amazing!
That’s perfect! Thanks for your great review and for sharing that with us, Melanie.
Hi Natasha, if you don’t want to use blackberries as they are seasonal fruits in Malawi.
What can we use as a substitute or can we make plain marshmallow florets?
Hi Zahira, there are many great ideas in the comments I think you will find helpful. Anything from raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla are a few I’ve seen listed.
Hi Natasha, if you don’t want to use blackberries as they are seasonal fruits in Malawi.
What can we use as a substitute
Hi Zahira, there are many great ideas in the comments I think you will find helpful. Anything from raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla are a few I’ve seen listed.
Hello,
Can you bake these to a very low temperature for a couple of hours? Just like meringue cookies!
Thank you!
Hi Diana, I highly recommend following the instructions listed for them to work properly.
Hi Natasha! Can I substitute egg with meringue powder?
Hi Rhea, I haven’t tested that so I can’t say for sure.
Can I freeze them or store it for latter?
Hi Marina, I have not tried freezing this recipe to advise.
Hi Natasha,
For some reason, the puree/egg white mixture wouldn’t blend into stiff peaks. I was using the wisk on speed 10. it got foamy and nothing else. Please advise
Hi Inga, it could be due to having grease in the bowl or on the whisk attachment. Also, make sure it is regular egg whites without additives (sometimes carton whites have additives). Lastly, excessively humid environments could cause that to happen. I hope that helps to troubleshoot!
Can I use Knox gelatin to replace the agar agar gelatin?
Hi Lidya, this recipe is intended to be used with the agar agar only. I had one other reader report not so great results with regular gelatin when trying to substitute. I hope that helps!
Gelatin must be kept cold to remain solid. Agar agar is used here because it remains solid at room temperature and does not need refrigeration. They are not interchangeable.
That’s just not true. Nearly all american-style marshmallows use gelatin and have no problem staying firm at room temp.
These turned out amazing! Perfect amount of sweetness and so fluffy.
Love it! Thanks for your super nice review and feedback, Nancy!
Hi natasha. My month is watering now,I was trying to find a recipe for zefir and here it is,I love watching your videos and trying them out. I have a question 8 oz =1 cup,u wrote 2 cups =8 oz,so is it 2 cups or 1 cup? I’m going to make this tomorrow. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Hi Olga, with blackberries, an 8 oz package is referring to the weight – if you put an 8 oz container of blackberries into a measuring cup it will be about 2 cups,
What’s your take on using Apple sauce when making Zephyr?
Hi Sara, I think by the time you got enough applesauce to actually taste it, it would make the zephyr soggy.
Since you’re just making jam, can you use jam instead of the blackberry/sugar reduction? How much jam? Спасибо!
Hi, I honestly have not tried that so I’m not sure how it would affect the outcome. I think it could work but the berry reduction will probably have a deeper flavor.
This is so beautiful .I want to make this for a party can you tell how long can I keep it after making for the party. I want to make ahead and keep but don’t know how long it will stay fresh like this. Please do let me know. Thank tou
Hi Mary, you can store these at room temperature in an airtight container (like Tupperware) for 2-3 days in a low humidity area.
What a Wonderful Recipe!! We grow Boysenberries and I have a crop of them in the freezer – waiting to make jelly. Well, I’ll be making these too!