Gingerbread Hot Cocoa and Gingerbread Marshmallow Men

The perfectly spiced hot cocoa for winter! We love the little Gingerbread Marshmallow Men who dive into our Rodelle Cocoa!

Ingredients

Gingerbread Marshmallow Men

• ½ cup powdered sugar for dusting
• 3 quarter-ounce packages unflavored powdered gelatin
• 1 cup cold water, divided
• 1½ cups sugar
• ¾ cup brown rice syrup or light corn syrup
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon Rodelle vanilla paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa

• 6 cups whole milk
• 3 Rodelle cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 2 Rodelle vanilla beans, split lengthwise and scraped
• ¾ cup Rodelle dutch-processed cocoa powder
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar, to taste
• 1 tablespoon Rodelle chocolate extract
• 2½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

Make the Gingerbread Marshmallow Men

• Line a lightly-oiled 10x15 baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Lightly spray the paper with oil and gently dust it with a bit of the powdered sugar. Set the powdered sugar aside for later.
• In the bowl of the KitchenAid® Stand Mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together the powdered gelatin and ½ cup of the water. Let sit while you prepare the rest.
• In a 3.0-quart saucepan on your KitchenAid® Gas Convection Slide-In Range, combine the sugar, light corn syrup, molasses, and remaining ½ cup of water, and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 3-5 minutes.
• Insert a candy thermometer and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the syrup reaches 240°F.
• Turn the stand mixer to low and gently pour the syrup into the gelatin mixture.
• Increase the speed to high and whip for about 15 minutes, until the mixture nearly triples in size and becomes white and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla paste, spices, and salt, and mix until completely combined.
• Pour the marshmallow cream into the prepared baking sheet and smooth the top with a spatula.
• Leave the pan to dry out, uncovered, overnight.
• The next day, dust the top of the marshmallows and a cutting board with powdered sugar.
• Use the parchment paper to help you turn the marshmallows out onto the dusted cutting board. Use a lightly oiled cookie cutter to cut the marshmallows into gingerbread men (reserve any excess trim for making rice krispie treats!)
• Toss each marshmallow in the powdered sugar until it's no longer sticky on any side.

Make the Gingerbread Hot Cocoa

• In a 3-quart saucepan set over medium heat, bring the milk to a simmer with cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean seeds and pods, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep 10 minutes to infuse.
• Strain the milk into a large bowl, discarding the vanilla pod and cinnamon sticks.
• Sift in the cocoa powder, and add the brown sugar, chocolate extract, ginger, cloves, allspice, and salt.
• Blend with KitchenAid® Hand Blender with the frother attachment until smooth and frothy.
• Return to the pot to reheat if necessary.
• Serve topped with a gingerbread marshmallow man.

Click here to watch our easy how-to video and all of the steps to make this delicious hot cocoa!

This recipe was created by Sarah of Snixy Kitchen and Alanna Taylor-Tobin of The Bojon Gourmet for Rodelle and KitchenAid.