Chocolate-Covered Orange Marshmallows

Okaaayyyy…I’ve been a very absent blogger lately. And I don’t have entirely good reasons, but two of the better ones are that I got two little kittens in January, who will be coming to a Caturday blog post near you. (That means here—don’t go looking elsewhere, because that blog post will definitely be coming here;)). And then there’s other stuff…work was crazy, blah, blah, blah. Holidays, blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden it’s almost summer. Yikes. Not sure how that happened, but I’m coming back prepared to make it up to you.

Specifically, I’m coming back not only with a Marshmallow Monday post, but with an extra fancy Marshmallow Monday post! Mallows flavored with real orange juice, drizzled in chocolate, and topped with candied orange slices.

I had never made candied citrus before and for whatever reason didn’t think I’d be super into it. Well, I was super wrong. They. Are delicious. Which really shouldn’t be all that surprising to me—I mean, it’s fruit soaked in sugar. I like all of that. And I hope you do too!

Have fun with these! (And it’s good to be back—you all look fantastic, haven’t changed a bit.;))
M

Chocolate-Covered Orange Marshmallows

Prep time: 35 min | Ready in: 6 hours, 35 min

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
3 packages unflavored gelatin (vegetarian substitutions)
3 cups granulated sugar, divided
3 oranges
Peels from one orange
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Ingredients for this recipe (but skip the grapefruit and do two oranges instead)

Cooking tools:

A candy thermometer
Tin foil
9×13-inch cake or jelly roll pan

Directions:

For candied orange slices: make this recipe. They’ll need about eight hours to dry, which is a bit longer than the marshmallows need to set, so just take that into consideration when figuring out the timing of everything. You might consider making these the day before the marshmallows to ensure they’re good and dry by the time your mallows are ready to slice. When the oranges are ready, slice them into quarters.

For marshmallows:

Line the inside of the pan with tin foil, then coat well with cooking spray.
Juice oranges until you have one cup of orange juice.
Use a potato peeler to peel the zest (careful not to get the white part) of one orange—keep them in bigger pieces if you can. (It will be easier to remove them from the sugar/juice mixture later.) Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine a 1/2 of a cup of orange juice with the packets of gelatin and allow to sit until gelatin forms, about 15 minutes.
In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine the sugar, orange zest, and remaining 1/2 cup of orange juice, then stir until sugar has dissolved—about 3 to 5 minutes. Increase heat to bring mixture to a low boil, and continue to boil until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer—about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the orange zest.
Remove from heat and slowly pour sugar mixture into the bowl with the gelatin, simultaneously using a mixer on low. Gradually increase speed to high and continue whipping until the mix is very thick, about 10 to 15 minutes—imagine the consistency of pourable taffy.
Pour the mixture into the pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. (Spray spatula with cooking spray as needed to keep it from sticking.) Let the marshmallow sit for about 6 hours, uncovered, until completely set.
Cover a surface larger than the marshmallow slab with some of the remaining granulated sugar and carefully remove the marshmallow slab from the pan and place on the covered surface.
Cut marshmallows in squares. (It helps to continually coat the knife or cookie cutters with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking.)
Dust all sides of marshmallow pieces with granulated sugar.
Adding chocolate and candied oranges:
Place a piece of parchment paper into a jelly roll pan, then place a cookie rack on top. Put marshmallows on top of the cookie sheet. Set on the counter next to your stove.
Over high heat, bring 1 to 2 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low and place a bowl in the saucepan. Be sure the water doesn’t get displaced enough to spill over into the bowl.
Pour in chocolate chips.
Stir until completely melted.
Spoon chocolate onto top of marshmallow in a line, then place a candied orange piece on top. (I like just a little bit of chocolate, but if you like more, feel free to dip the whole top into the chocolate.)
Once all marshmallows are finished, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes until chocolate has hardened. Store, covered in a cool spot until serving.