There’s nothing better than a steaming cup of hot chocolate with a sweet marshmallow on top. It’s the first day of December, so it’s the perfect time to whip up my family's favorite sweet treat. My daughter loves sprinkles and marshmallows, we found these adorable dye free sprinkles at Trader Joe’s perfect for the Christmas season. So, I wanted to incorporate them inside the marshmallows and see how that turned out. Pretty darn cute if you ask me, my daughter absolutely loves them!
If you’ve never made marshmallows before, they are fairly easy and so much better than the store-bought ones. I made these without any corn syrup and substituted it with maple syrup to fit the season, but you can also use honey if you like.
Ingredients:
For the Marshmallows
1 cup water, divided
3 tbsp gelatin
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/3 cup sprinkles
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond
1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
For the Hot Chocolate
Whole milk, as much as you need.
Chocolate chips, as sweet as you want in.
good pinch of salt
A splash of vanilla
Method:
In the bowl of your stand mixer add 1/2 cup of cold water and the gelatin packets. Set that aside and allow the gelatin to bloom. Next in a saucepan, add the sugar, maple syrup, salt and a 1/2 cup of water and allow to simmer on medium-high and stir the mixture for the first minute only, keeping a close eye that it doesn't boil over (*stirring later in the process may contribute to the sugar mixture boiling over). Cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit (the "soft ball" stage). This should take approximately 12-15 minutes.
Next turn on your mixer and while it is on, slowly drizzle the sugar syrup on the side of the bowl. Be very careful not to touch the sugar syrup. Once all the sugar is added, and it looks light, fluffy, and marshmallow like add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and sprinkles and mix gently for a few seconds. Lastly, prep your 13 x 9“pan by sifting a generous amount of powdered sugar on the bottom to keep the marshmallows from sticking. Pour the marshmallows out, spreading it as evenly as possible. Sprinkle a handful of sprinkles on the top and allow the marshmallows to set for at least eight hours or overnight. Once the marshmallows are all set, turn them out onto a cutting board and cut into squares.
For the hot chocolate, simply add chocolate chips, milk, and vanilla to a saucepan with a good pinch of salt. Allow the milk to warm through and the chocolate chips to melt, whisking as you go. Pour into some cute Christmas mugs and top with these festive marshmallows and enjoy.
This batch of adorable marshmallows did not last long in my house. I definitely plan on making them again for Christmas Eve, when we’re all snuggled together on the couch, sipping hot chocolate, and watching our favorite Christmas movie, while we wait for Santa to come.
I sure hope you give these Christmas Marshmallows a try this holiday season. If you want to stay in the loop and never miss another blog post, subscribe to my blog here.
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