Chicago Metallic Marshmallow Pan, reviewed

I always enjoy having a batch of fresh, homemade marshmallows around the kitchen for snacking and hot chocolate emergencies. Marshmallows are easy to make – especially if you have a stand mixer to speed the process along – but getting them to look picture perfect is a little bit tricky. The marshmallow mixture needs to be molded while it is still warm, preferably in something with a nonstick surface that will allow you to easily pull the marshmallows out when they have set.

I’ve used all kinds of things for molding marshmallows over the years and one of my favorite options is a silicone pan that is greased with vegetable oil or cooking spray. The flexibility of silicone allows me to pull the marshmallows out easily, even if the pan has a very detailed design. Still, it is difficult to get into the corners of pans and the sides of the marshmallows often don’t have a clean, square line to them – which is a nice feature if you’re planning to cube your marshmallows and give them as gifts. Chicago Metallic designed a pan specifically with marshmallow-making in mind.

The No-Bake Collapsible Pan is a plastic pan that has sides which fold down flat when they are unlocked. This design allows you to very easily get marshmallows, no-bake cheesecakes, caramels or other no-bake treats out of the pan once they are set without a struggle and while preserving perfect corners every time. After using it a number of times, it’s definitely one of my favorite pieces of equipment for goodies like these. The pan comes pre-marked, which makes it easy to cut your treats into identical sizes (my marshmallows often turned out quite irregular before) without a second thought. The pan is not non-stick, which means that it does require greasing to ensure a clean release on marshmallows, though caramels and many other no-bake treats come out without any additional prep required. The pan is also not oven safe, so you are limited to what you can use it for – but since it folds flat for easy storage, it’s definitely worth having around if you make these types of treats on any regular basis. It’s also available in a 9×13-inch size for larger batches.