Its finally time to admit, its sweater weather.
I am a summer girlie through and through, but living in Eastern Washington, winter is clearly unavoidable.

The kids have been requesting homemade hot chocolate as soon as they hop out of the car after school and since I have stopped drinking coffee, I can’t help but join in on the fun.

I have completely changed the way I look at my pantry lately.
If we run out of a certain pre-packaged store-bought ingredient (to an extent) I ask myself, “can I make this at home?” And often times, the answer is yes.

Example: The kids ran out of the store bought chocolate syrup for their hot chocolate / chocolate milk. Instead of adding it to the list, I checked the pantry and I had everything to make it myself. So we did! And spoiler alert, not only is it so fulfilling to know you can make things at home, but it is also extremely satisfying to know what ingredients actually go into something.

You can find our homemade chocolate sauce [here]!

Back to the star of the hot cocoa, marshmallows.

[Watch me make this recipe on instagram]

Who knew that making marshmallows at home was literally 4 ingredients… and pretty simple!
We have absolutely loved making these and enjoying them on these frigid cold days.

If you want to make some for your family, follow along!
Now let’s get into it.

We’re going to start off with our gelatin, I use (this).
Add 1/2 cup of water to the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl if using a handheld mixer) and then use 3 scoops (or 3TBS) of whatever unflavored beef gelatin you prefer and let it sit while you make your sweetener in the next step (15ish min of sitting time)

Next up, the sweetener! This part can be customizable to you.
In this recipe, we use Honey BUT if you are allergic to honey, don’t prefer it, etc. Please feel free to use another ingredient (ex: agave syrup or maple syrup).

Add another 1/2 cup of water into a sauce pan and then add in 1 cup of Honey (or other sweetener).
Let it come to a boil and then simmer while frequently stirring for 15 minutes.
You can also use a candy thermometer if you’d like. Let it come to 240°F.

After 15 min, your sweetener is ready to add to the bowl of your stand mixer or if you are using a handheld mixer, whatever large bowl you’ve had your gelatin blooming in.

With the whisk attachment, start your mixer on slow. Slowly pour in your sweetener down the side of the bowl while the mixer is moving slowly. Also, if you’d like to add any flavoring (vanilla, mint, etc.) add that now. (I used 1 tsp vanilla)

After everything is added, increase the speed to medium high for roughly 8-10 minutes.
You will see the marshmallow slowly transform!
It will start off dark and runny, and slowly start to resemble marshmallow fluff.

Now that your Marshmallow fluff is complete, you want to work quickly here.
Pour your mixture onto a cookie sheet (you can use parchment paper with arrowroot sprinkled around to prevent sticking, or if you like thick marshmallows, use a smaller square/rectangle dish.)

After it has set, sprinkle a little arrowroot powder over the top (you can also use tapioca flour).
Let sit at room temperature for roughly 1-2 hours (if it is still sticky, let it sit. You can also dab some extra arrowroot on the sticky parts).

Now you can cut them into squares or use a small cookie cutter and make shapes!
NOTE: If it sticks to your knife, you can always add some coconut oil / avocado oil / butter to grease your knife.