Peppermint Dipped Marshmallows

A (age 10) created a Christmas treat, not directly mentioned in, but inspired by Emilie Barnes' The Very Best Christmas, A Season of Fun for Girls.

I didn't intend to leave the boys completely out of day three of our count down to Christmas with picture books containing recipes or crafts, but this book is just too much fun, and contains too many crafts and recipes to be left off the list.


In the book, a group of girls form a club, to share Christmas traditions, and get ready for the holiday. They meet together to make cards, advent chains, pomanders, ornaments, festive napkin rings, decorations and more, while snacking on a host of Christmas goodies (recipes included).

The older girls were immediately inspired to form a Christmas club with their own friends, and have been busy planning their first meeting - a peppermint "tea". The book has all sorts of menu and decorating suggestions for the event. The girls followed instructions for making candy-striped invitations, eyed the paper peppermint carnations, and checked to make sure we have the ingredients for Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake (basically a chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding mix, and chocolate chips added), to be served with peppermint ice cream, and hot chocolate in place of tea.

Naturally, the hot chocolate will need a peppermint touch , and marshmallows, it's just not hot chocolate without marshmallows. So, A decided to see if she could combine the two by dipping marshmallows into a shallow bowl...


...with a few drops of red food coloring, and several drops of peppermint extract (a few more than she intended, but it really pours fast).


She left them out on a plate for a few hours...


...until the food coloring was dry, but for the marshmallows were still soft (the time will vary depending on the moisture in the air).


Then, she served them up. C, and I volunteered to be guinea pigs.


The marshmallows give the hot chocolate a nice hint of peppermint, and while the red dye does seep off into the liquid, it's not enough to make a mess, as long long as you stick with four or five marshmallows per cup - more than that, and you are in danger of a red, foamy ring forming around the edges of the hot chocolate.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with Watcha Making Wednesdays at The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M.