Chocolate Marshmallows Recipe - Dessert for Two (2024)

Chocolate marshmallows are the perfect Valentine's Day treat to make for someone special. They're also great melted in hot chocolate for a double dose of chocolate. If you've never made marshmallows from scratch before, you are going to LOVE how fluffy and soft they are.The chocolate dip is optional, but so pretty!

Chocolate marshmallows:

Let's go back to you and all of the lovely things you want to make for your Valentine! I am loving all of your requests for homemade Valentine's Day desserts! When the request for chocolate marshmallows rolled in, I made them straight away.

The thing about making marshmallows is that afteryou make them once, you have all the ingredients in your house to make them again. And then after you run out of the ingredients, you find yourself buying more boxes of gelatin and light corn syrup because after eating homemade marshmallows, the ones at the store are just no longer acceptable. The ones at the store have a hard outer shell that homemade ones lack. Homemade chocolate marshmallows are nothing but soft, pillowy goodness.

It's a habit to make chocolate marshmallows at home, yes, but it's one I'm happy to have because it only takes 15 minutes. Seriously. They take a few hours to set up, but start to finish work is only 15 minutes. It's a sticky 15 minutes, but it's a good time.

I used dark cocoa powder in this recipe to make them as dark and chocolatey as possible, but regular cocoa powder will be just fine. Another optional step is the dunking in chocolate bit, but during my rigorous taste-testing routine of taking a bite of a plain chocolate marshmallow followed by a bite of chocolate-dipped chocolate marshmallow, it was no contest. But just to be sure, I repeated the routine several times. It's safe to say everything is better dipped in chocolate, and it's also safe to say that I couldn't be happier to be your official marshmallow taster.

Ingredients:

Granulated Sugar. Just ¾ cup of granulated sugar. You may not substitute any other type of sugar for this.

Light Corn Syrup. When we say light corn syrup, it is referring to the color, not the calories. Light corn syrup is clear, and dark corn syrup is brown. We want the clear corn syrup here. If you're wanting to make marshmallows without it, try my homemade marshmallows without corn syrup recipe that uses maple syrup. They're slightly softer, but still totally delicious.

Gelatin. We need a packet of unflavored gelatin powder. It's in the baking aisle. You can use powdered gelatin from Amazon, but I'm sorry, this recipe is not meant for gelatin sheets and I did not convert is as much. Plain, gelatin powder is the goal.

Cocoa Powder. I recommend dark cocoa powder here, for the best color and flavor. Since we're not baking with it and asking for it to rise in response to acidity, the best and darkest you can find. Of course, regular plain cocoa powder that you use for small batch brownies will work, too!

Vanilla Extract.

Dark Chocolate Chips. This is optional, if you're dunking the chocolate marshmallows in chocolate.

Coconut Oil. Also optional, it's for melting the chocolate chips with for dunking. If you're not dipping them in chocolate, you don't need this. Also, you can sub vegetable or canola oil for the coconut oil, if needed.

How to make chocolate marshmallows:

1. This is a small batch of marshmallows made in a loaf pan, so line your pan with parchment paper and spray it generously with cooking spray.
2. Next, in a heavy sauce pan, add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and two tablespoons of water. Do not stir the mixture. Clip on a candy thermometer to the pan and ensure the tip is in the ingredients.
3. Turn the heat on and bring to a boil, and then let it rise to 238-degrees Fahrenheit. Do not stir or swirl the pan.
4. Meanwhile, dissolve the gelatin in another 2 tablespoons of water in a large bowl.
5. In a small bowl, add another 2 tablespoons of water. Microwave for about 25 seconds until hot, and then whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.
6. Stir the cocoa powder and water mixture into the gelatin mixture in the large bowl.
7. Now, once the sugar is 238-degrees F, you're going to slowly stream it into the bowl with the gelatin mixture while beating with an electric mixer. Slowly stream the sugar while beating constantly. Aim to pour the hot sugar in the center of the bowl, because it will harden when it touches the sides of the pan.
8. Once all of the sugar is mixed in, mix in the vanilla.
9. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the fluffy sticky mixture into the prepared pan.
10. Let rest for 3 hours at room temperature to firm up. To cut, use a greased knife. If they're too sticky, douse them lightly with extra cocoa powder.
11. To dunk in chocolate, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small bowl. You can do this in the microwave on LOW power or in a double boiler. Dunk the edge of each marshmallow in chocolate, and place on parchment paper to set.

I based this recipe on my small batch of homemade marshmallows, so if you're looking for a plain vanilla version, I gotcha covered there, too. The recipe is poured in a loaf pan to make 8 large marshmallows, or 12 mini marshmallows. I read on Pinterest that you can dissolve chocolate marshmallows in hot milk for instant hot cocoa. I haven't tried that, since all of the marshmallows were used in my rigorous taste-testing process, but with the next batch, I will! But can you just imagine two of these babies floating in your hot coffee?

I have to go now. I can feel another round of taste-testing coming on.

Tips and tricks for marshmallows:

1. Yes, you really need a candy thermometer that clips to the pan. There's no other way of knowing if the sugar is at the exact right temperature to make marshmallows. Sugar boils on a spectrum, and at lower temps, it's too soft like caramel, and at higher temps, it's hard like a lollipop.
2. This recipe uses a bread loaf pan, but you can double it for an 8" square pan of chocolate marshmallows. Be sure to
3. Dark cocoa powder makes the darkest marshmallows, but any cocoa powder will work.

Can you freeze chocolate marshmallows?

No, I'm sorry. Gelatin does weird stuff when it's frozen, especially in homemade marshmallows. Eat these fresh, it's a small batch, after all!