Happy December to you—and happy Marshmallow Monday! Today’s recipe is a nod to my favorite part of Christmas. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m one of those people who has a Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re one of those two-weeks-before people, I’m sure you have you’re reasons, but maximizing Christmas tree time is very important to me.
This year, though, I was a little worried about how enthusiastic my little feline roommates would be, this being their first Christmas with me. But I must say, they have stayed true to the theme of being pretty much kitty angels. Yup, turns out, they are exactly the right amount of enthusiastic.
Mostly it’s Franklin who’s super into the Christmas tree. Louisa’s not mad it’s there, she’s just 100% unaffected by it. Franklin on the other hand can’t get enough of sleeping under it. He takes all his belly scratches underneath it (please and thank you). And he LOVES the smell—there’s been some pretty intense sniffing going on. He’d like to do more pawing at ornaments, but he’s a good boy and stops when I ask him to. He’d also like to run manic laps around it, but the positioning of it against the wall means that he has to dart back and forth in semi-circles instead. He makes it work.
Okay, now for that recipe! First, you’re just going to make a batch of basic marshmallows, and below are the instructions for how to create the white chocolate seals. They are a little labor intensive, but ’tis the season, right? And they look so cute! Hope you have fun with these.
Happy mallowing!
M
White Chocolate Seals with Christmas Trees
Prep time: 45 minutes | Ready in: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients and tools:
1 cup white chocolate chips, divided
Green food coloring
Toothpicks
Plastic squeeze bottle
Icing spatula (you can also use the back of a spoon)
Parchment paper
Directions:
1. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt 3/4 cup of white chocolate on the stovetop in a double boiler (save the rest for attaching the seals to the mallows). You can also create your own make-shift double boiler: 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.
3. Pour melted white chocolate into plastic squeeze bottle. I recommend doing about 1/4 cup at a time so it doesn’t all cool as you’re working. Keep the rest of the melted chocolate hot on the stove. HINT: Fill a large mug or small pitcher with hot water to place the plastic squeeze bottle in when you’re “painting” trees. This will keep the chocolate melted and squeezable.
See the video below for a demo, but here are a few technique tips:
—> Pipe almond-sized dots of white chocolate. It doesn’t take much.
—> Pipe and spread eight to ten chocolate dots at a time, then give them a minute or two to start to harden before you start painting the trees. This will make the food coloring “stick” better.
—> Dip the toothpick into the food coloring multiple times while painting the trees. Almost once for every “branch.”
Watch and learn!
Once your seals are done, freeze them for 20 to 30 minutes, until completely hardened.
Final steps:
1. Melt remaining white chocolate as before.
2. While chocolate is melting, remove the chocolate seals from the parchment by using the icing spatula (or a knife) to carefully lift them. The white chocolate will soften at room temperature, so once they are all loosened, keep most in the freezer, and just pull out a handful at a time to attach to marshmallows.
3. Pour white chocolate into plastic squeeze tube, and working with a handful of mallows at a time, put a small dot of chocolate on the tops and press a seal into it. Use a tool rather than your fingers to avoid melting the chocolate with your fingers—it could smudge the tree.
And that’s it! Store them in a Ziplock in the freezer until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Pine and Crave 