We are at the height of hot cocoa season, which officially began November 1st and ends March 20th - that being the first day of Spring when people have high hopes of filling glasses with ice cubes instead of mugs with hot milk. In the Northwest I suppose it could be argued that hot cocoa season lasts until July 5th, the unofficial first day of summer, but I'm usually done with mugs and all cocoa biz long before then because who can allow themselves to sip hot cocoa (at 200 calories per mug) whilst looking at magazines taunting the arrival of swimsuit season?!?
You can use regular marshmallows for these stirs but the mini-marshmallows that come in a container are great. I usually keep a couple of jars on hand because they also work great in cookies when you want just a bite of marshmallow and not the whole cloud!
This isn't really a recipe - there are no certain amounts - just spread some mini-marshmallows on a plate and set aside. In the microwave, melt any kind of chocolate you want and stir until smooth. It takes about a minute to heat the chocolate - when you remove it there will still be lumps but as you stir it will all melt. Be careful not to over heat the chocolate because it can burn! I used semi-sweet but dark chocolate is great! Once the chocolate is smooth (and no need to worry about tempering chocolate here!) dip the candy cane in the chocolate or use a knife to spread chocolate over the candy cane - whatever works for you.
Roll the candy canes in the mini-marshmallows - this is a very kid-friendly activity so get them involved! 1 cup of chocolate chips was just the right amount for a dozen dipped candy canes.
These take about 20 minutes to fully set or you can put them into your refrigerator to speed things up. Once set, they are ready to use! Fill your mugs with hot cocoa, add a stir and sit back and watch the magic happen! As the chocolate melts those little mini-marshmallows break free and float on top of the cocoa - YUM! The chocolate melts into the cocoa as you stir so every sip becomes just a bit richer...elastic waist-band pants might be needed!
We didn't bother with covering these with plastic wrap or keeping them in a Zip-lock style bag - which you should do if you want to keep them for a while - we were too busy stirring them into our cocoa so they didn't last long enough to cover! If you don't cover them the marshmallows will get hard - but not to worry, they soften up just perfectly in the cocoa! Happy sipping!
