Messy Fun with Marshmallow Dough

I was cleaning out the cupboards when I found a tin of (very) expired custard powder. I hate wasting food and as custard powder is essentially just flavoured, coloured cornstarch (maizena) and you will know by now that I use cornstarch for many things, from dry shampoo (see this post for directions), to nappy rash cream (make a paste with a little water) to goo (see this post for instructions). Today, I decided we would just have fun with it.

I found a recipe online using cornflour and shaving foam a while back. I do not remember what they called it but I will dub it marshmallow dough as it has that super soft, fluffy, powdery texture of marshmallows, but is just more stretchy and pliable. You have to feel the texture for yourself to understand just how soft and fluffy it is (but be warned- you will want to play with it too). 

Mine happened to have a sweet marshmallow-like smell thanks to the lovely vanilla fragrance of the custard powder. If you are using cornstarch and not custard powder, you could add a few drops of marshmallow essence (or any other fragrance).

INSTRUCTIONS:
 
So here is what you do.

First you add some shaving foam to a bowl (about the amount that a man would use to shave his face, if that makes any sense). The kids loved this part!!!

You can add a few drops of food colouring if desired. Noodle wanted pink and I added some pink gel colouring, but thanks to the yellow colour in the custard powder mine turned out more of a peachy-orange colour. Alternatively, you could leave it white (if using normal cornflour and not custard) and use it to create faux snow.

Now add the custard powder (or cornflour) a little at a time until you get the desired texture (I probably used about half the amount of the shaving foam) and mix. 

Then it is play time! Let the kids mould, stretch, pull, squeeze or poke to their hearts desire.

(WARNING: This might smell delicious but it is not edible). 

  
This gets messy as the dough is very sticky, so protect surfaces or play with it outside (like we did) and have a bowl of soapy water close by. You will be glad to know that it washes out very easily (due to the soapiness of the shaving foam I suppose).

Squish was covered in it by the time we were done and I literally needed to hose him off outside before coming back on the house. 

The bad news is that it loses its texture after about an hour one all the air inside the shaving foam has been squeezed out (well that was our experience anyway). It is fun while it lasts though!