Grease an 11×17″ (an 8″x8″ will work) cake pan and shake the powdered sugar inside so that you have a light coating of powdered sugar. (Like you are greasing and flouring a cake pan) and set aside. Put the extra powdered sugar in a bowl, you will need it again.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment, pour ½ cup of the cherry juice, food coloring (if using) and sprinkle with the gelatin and let it sit while you move on. This is called “blooming”.

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining juice. Stir gently until the sugar is dissolved (the liquid becomes clear instead of cloudy), and then with the help of a candy thermometer, boil the sugar mixture until it is 240 degrees. You know you are getting close when it starts to foam up and then settles back down. Do not over cook the sugar or you will have caramel.

BE CAREFUL! You are going to be handling hot sugar.

You are going to pour this into the gelatin mixture in about 4 small additions, whisking the previous amount in completely and then stopping the mixer and adding a little more. You could stream it in down the side, but it wont hurt anything to stop and start, and you will end up with less sugar on the sides of the bowl.

Once all of the hot sugar has been added, you are going to slowly increase the speed on your mixer to high and then let her rip for about 15 minutes. The marshmallow will start to be thick and glossy.

If your mixer has a glass bowl, adding the mini chips now will make them melt. You want the mixture to be only slightly warmer than your hands before you add in the chips.

Spread the mixture into the pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. If it is sticking too much, wet the spatula.

Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and let sit for at least 4 hours.

Cut into 24 pieces if you are using the 7×11.

You can toss them in a little more powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together, but you will want to make sure that any excess is tapped off. You only want enough to make them not sticky. You can skip this part if you plan on dipping them in chocolate.

They will keep, tightly sealed at room temperature for…well they were all consumed within 48 hours