Homemade Candy Cane Marshmallows

I first published this post about how to make candy cane marshmallows years ago, but I wanted to share it this month because it's SUCH a delicious recipe! It makes some mess and takes some effort because making marshmallows is kind of an unusual thing for most of us, but you can totally do it and they are SO soft and delicious and your kids will never forget making these with you! :)

So, if you've got the time to devote to the making & the clean-up, this just might be the perfect thing to put on your Christmastime bucket list!

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This post was sponsored by Wayfair

Whether they've been working hard outside shoveling the driveway, building a snow fort, making snow angels or just hiking home from the school bus stop, my kids love to come inside and warm up with a nice cup of hot chocolate. We decided to make it more fun during their winter holidays last week and make our own marshmallows! I have always loved adding candy cane to hot chocolate (there's just something so good about that hint of mint mixed in!), so we tried coating our freshly made marshmallows in a mix of icing sugar and crushed candy cane and the result was fabulous!

I'm going to share the recipe with you because I made some alterations to the original marshmallow recipe I shared on the blog 4 years ago. That recipe was great but it made a TON of marshmallows. Today's recipe makes a smaller batch so it's just right if you're making them just for your own family.

Ingredients

1 envelope Gelatin
2 Tbsp & 2 tsp Cold Water
2/3 cup Sugar
3 Tbsp & 1.5 tsp Corn Syrup
1 Tbsp & 1 tsp Water
pinch of Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
2-3 Candy Canes, crushed
1/4 cup (approximately) Icing Sugar

Instructions

Step 1: Put 2 Tbsp & 2 tsp. of water in the bowl of an electric mixer & sprinkle gelatin over it. Leave it there for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1 Tbsp & 1 tsp. water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute (stir constantly).

Step 3: Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and vanilla & beat for 4 minutes.

Step 4: Scrape mixture into a loaf pan lined with oiled plastic wrap (use cooking spray) and spread evenly. Let sit for a few hours.

Step 5: Remove from pan and dredge the marshmallow slab in icing sugar mixed with crushed candy canes (dredge just means get the sticky edges covered in the sugar, so that they won't be too sticky)

Step 6: Cut into squares with scissors or a chefs knife.

Step 7: Coat each piece of marshmallow in the confectioners sugar mixture.

Step 8: Make your hot chocolate as you like it (with your favourite mix or from scratch with your preferred recipe) and pour into your mugs (or tea cups... we had a little hot chocolate tea party when we made ours). While looking at mugs online for the fun of it, I found some adorable gold mugs on Wayfair.ca that I think would be so cute to have a set of! They all have gold designs, but each one is unique. The tea cups we used are from our good china set, so we were feeling fancy!

Step 9: Store leftovers in an airtight container (if you don't do this, they'll dry out quickly!)

We had fun with our little hot cocoa tea party and it was really fun to eat marshmallows we created by ourselves! I will warn you that making marshmallows can be messy business! We created a bit of a mess but it was totally worth it in the end and quite easy to tidy up with a bit of warm water. I'll also give you this tip: before the marshmallow mix is set, it can be manipulated without sticking if you wet a spoon, finger or spatula. If you don't wet it, the marshmallow will just stick to you or your utensil which can be challenging! This is especially useful when you're smoothing the mixture into your pan.

What's your favourite twist on hot chocolate?

Now, go have some fun, making your own marshmallows! If you do make some and share a photo on Instagram or Twitter, please tag me (@raisingmemories) so I can see!

Thanks for visiting my blog!