Since 2014, I've challenged myself to make something creative and unique that I've never done before every holiday season.
It started when my Disney friend Ariel shared Disneyland's recipe for Gingerbread Cookies, and I thought to myself "I've never made homemade gingerbread. I should try it!" Since then, I've been making different treats every holiday season that I've never attempted before! Things like Homemade Candy Canes (2015), Fudge (2016), Peppermint Marshmallows (2017), Figgy Pudding (2018), Eggnog (2019), A Holiday Yule Log (2020), English Toffee (2021), and Pepperidge Farm Cookies (2022). In 2023, I branched out and instead of making something to eat, I made something to wear. With some help from my mother, I learned how to sew a Santa Hat (2023), so I made a few for me and even more for the rest of the family. Last year, I made those tasty Peppermint Butter Mints (2024) that melt in your mouth, which were pretty delicious.
This year, I was thinking to myself about tasty holiday beverages. I've already done homemade Eggnog, which is the classic Christmas drink. But there's another one that I think I could do, along with all the things that go into it. Hot Chocolate!
Plus homemade marshmallows and whipped cream! It's going to be delicious!
Theresa really was not thrilled when I told her I'd be making homemade marshmallows again. She remembers when I made the Peppermint Marshmallows previously when I bloomed the gelatin and it made the whole kitchen smell like death.
I added hot water to bloom the gelatin and luckily the odor did not materialize.
Whipping this gelatin up before the next step.
Which is adding the sugar! We laugh sometimes when we see the packaging on marshmallows saying "A Fat Free Food!" Yeah! Because it's mostly sugar!!! I have some white sugar, corn syrup, and water on the stovetop coming up past a boil.
Once it gets to the proper temperature, it's ready for mixing.
It gets poured into the whipped gelatin.
Then I whip, whip, whip until this sticky mixture is filled with air.
Adding a little vanilla for flavoring this time.
Then whipping it all together again.
I coated some pans with parchment paper then powdered sugar and poured the sticky stuff into it. These need to sit at least overnight to set up for me to cut later.
Time to make the hot chocolate! We're using all the good stuff to make this tasty. A medium dark chocolate bar from Trader Joe's, Vanilla, Espresso powder, and heavy cream.
The kids are helping me with this part, adding heavy cream to a glass bowl and getting a double boiler going on the stovetop.
I am busy getting this chocolate bar cut into slivers.
They'll melt better if they're smaller.
So tasty. I seem to be missing some though...
Hmm.
Adding the chopped chocolate pieces to the warm milk and cream. The double boiler underneath was great because I know the temperature will never get too high.
The kids helped add all the other ingredients.
Once everything was melted, I pulled out the immersion blender to bring everything together and add a little air to it.
For our last hot chocolate topping, we're making homemade whipped cream. I kept the glass bowl and beaters in the freezer for the last hour.
Time to pull the marshmallows from the parchment and getting them cut, then finally we'll assemble and bring it all together.
I was happy to comb Goodwill's shelves for some cute mugs. First I found the penguin mug, then a couple visits later, the two adorable snowmen.
Our blue capped snowman, who I'm assuming is drinking hot chocolate himself, hold our delicious hot chocolate plus a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
While our red capped snowman holds hot chocolate and our homemade marshmallows.
Our penguin has the best of both worlds. A few marshmallows and a dollop of whipped cream, topped with shaved chocolate.
How is the whipped cream hot chocolate?
Ian - That's really good!
Theresa thought it was good, but a bit sweet and too creamy.
And what about our marshmallow snowman friend?
Alli really liked the homemade marshmallows.
Mixing them all together to get the marshmallows to melt a bit more.
You know, our penguin friend is looking a little too plain. I think we need to add a little pizzazz. Something to step it up just a little bit.
Something like FIRE! Yes I bought a butane torch just for this!
There we go!
Give it a big stir.
Yes, that's a very tasty hot chocolate.
Not content to just have toasted marshmallows on their hot chocolate, they also wanted plain marshmallows toasted.
Not quite as much control with the butane torch as a campfire, but they we delicious.
Theresa said that this was the best hot chocolate she's ever had. It's dark with a bitterness to it, but without the thick pudding consistency of drinking chocolate. She decided that she'd rather not have all the creaminess and sweetness that the whipped cream and marshmallows add, and just wanted a small cup of straight hot chocolate. She said it's so rich though that she couldn't have too much of it.
We all thought this homemade hot chocolate, marshmallows, and whipped cream were a big win this holiday season!
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