Tag Archives: hot chocolate

Hot Chocolate, Marshmallows and MORE!!!!

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 1 comment

Yes, Virginia, they do make vegan marshmallows.  If you aren’t hip to all vegan ingredients, you may not know that marshmallows contain gelatin, which is an animal by-product.  However, don’t let it get you down – there are several brands of vegan marshmallows to choose from.  Two off the top of my heads are Dandies, and Sweet & Sara… there is also a brand in a tub called Suzanne’s that makes a “rice-mellow-creme” which makes super easy & yummy rice krispy treats!

yummy sweet and sara vegan marshmallows

Though I certainly enjoy eating marshmallows straight from the bag, there is nothing like a good mug of hot chocolate filled with them to warm you up when you have been playing outside.  My kids got a play house for Christmas, so, its pretty clear to me that I’m gonna need to be bundling all three of us up to go play outside quite often throughout the new year, fueling our insides and warming our hands with mugs of hot cocoa 🙂

Nothing warms you up quite like a shot - in this case, a shot of hot chocolate! This was my humble little cup - the kids wanted bigger cups (surprise, surprise)!

Vegan or not, homemade hot chocolate is really quite simple to make.  I also have an extra “healthy” hot chocolate recipe that includes pureed sweet potatoes… I know… it’s one of those things that sounds really weird, but trust me – it tastes delicious AND it gives the kids an added boost of nutrients (and they won’t even know it!)!  Give it a try sometime!

Old Fashioned Vegan Hot Chocolate

  • 2  1/2 cups soy milk
  • 3 Tbsp raw sugar
  • 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • dash cinnamon
  • dash cayenne (for those of you who like it *spicy*)

Heat all ingredients together over medium heat, whisking well, then simmer until hot! Enjoy! (tip: it whisks together really easily once it is hot)

Secret-Ingredient Hot Chocolate

  • 1  1/4 cup soymilk
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup pureed sweet potatoes
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp chocolate syrup
  • dash pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Blend all ingredients together and heat, then serve!

AND WHILE YOU”RE AT IT…
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Vegan S’more’s
If you have vegan marshmallows lying around, you might as well spoil yourself and make some vegan s’mores too!  All you need is marshmallows, graham crackers and some dark chocolate.   Many graham crackers are vegan unless they contain honey. Nabisco original graham crackers are what we currently have over here.  It is also really easy to make your own graham crackers!  Vegan chocolate is easily found in your neighbor health food store (Earth Fare, Trader Joes) but these days even Kroger and Publix usually carry one kind of vegan chocolate bar or another, you just gotta read the ingredients!  (Tip: look on the wrapper for the vegan symbol, which is a green “V”.)   Wow!… just scrolling through a search of images of “vegan chocolate bars”, a brand named Organica even makes a vegan white chocolate!  I’m gonna have to try that!
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just in case you forgot how…
Its super easy to make s’mores… in fact, I think I probably made my first one in kindergarten (with the help of an adult, of coarse!)… First break a graham cracker in two, then in the microwave, heat one square of chocolate on one side of a graham cracker for about 20 seconds (give or take).  Then do the same with the marshmallow on the other side of the graham cracker.  Put them together like a sandwich and enjoy!

ahhh - I just couldnt resist! Next time I will try to get a picture BEFORE I bite into it!

Another fun thing I enjoy doing with vegan marshmallows is making ambrosia.  My grandmother, Mom Mom, used to always have ambrosia around when we would come visit as kids and I have always loved the mixture of coconut, fruit & marshmallows ever since!  It’s a quick throw together desert that kids love!
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Mom Mom’s Ambrosia
  • 1 regular can mandarin oranges (drained)
  • 1 regular can fruit cocktail (drained)
  • 1 regular can crushed pineapple (NOT drained)
  • 1-2 cups vegan marshmallows*
  • 8 oz vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand is my favorite)
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Mix and chill! Devour!

** Vegan marshmallows are primarily really big for some reason (comparable to the regular jumbo sized ones), so for this recipe, I actually cut my marshmallows into mini-mallows, which was a little sticky on the scissors, but it was pretty quick and made it, as Goldilocks would say, “just right”!
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