Today we are taking a short break from all the fall recipes and indulging in sunny, fruity hibiscus madeleines!!

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Thank you National Dairy Council for sponsoring this post! All opinions are 100% my own.

Nothing says “the holidays” quite like getting together with friends and family and enjoying a hot beverage as you catch up and spend quality time together. I mean let’s face it, it’s cold and some of us have snow already! ‘Tis the season for hot cocoa and marshmallows and PEPPERMINT! Yes, I am breaking out the peppermint now. Get ready for a whole lot of it (#sorrybutnotsorry)!! But let’s start first with some homemade hot cocoa and marshmallows; a holiday staple (and classic).

Let’s start with this rich and chocolatey homemade peppermint hot cocoa. It’s extremely easy to make your own real deal hot cocoa.

It’s just a matter of combining pure 100% chocolate with milk, a hint of vanilla (to balance the flavors), and peppermint extract.

Simmer all together until chocolate melts and you have a thick, rich mixture. To make sure everyone in our family can enjoy this goodness, I used Lactaid to make a big batch of hot cocoa. With different food sensitivities, it’s important to create meals and treats that everyone will enjoy, including those with lactose intolerance.

Of course, a cup of hot cocoa is not complete without marshmallows!!

Homemade marshmallows have been on my bucket list for years!! I finally got to make them this past weekend and my goodness they are good!! Nothing like the store-bought ones in a GOOD way.

And they are not difficult to make as I had imagined and would be a great project this long holiday weekend with family in town. I can see the little ones enjoying playing with the powdered sugar and getting creative with the flavor possibilities. You can go crazy with the add-ins seriously! I went with peppermint because… well I am a HUGE fan!!

Please agree with me that there is nothing better than homemade rich and chocolatey peppermint hot cocoa with some marshmallows. Or maybe some hot cocoa with a serving of whole-grain oatmeal cookies!

If you are looking for more lactose-free recipes, be sure to visit the National Dairy Council for more recipes.

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Yield: 3 servings

Homemade Peppermint Hot Cocoa

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 ounces 100% dark chocolate
• 2 cups Lactaid Milk (lowfat or fat-free)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, grate the chocolate bar. Add in milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract.
2. Bring mixture to simmer (do not boil) until thick and chocolate is melted.
3. Serve into mugs and top with marshmallows.

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Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1½ cups water, divided
• 4 packets unflavored gelatin (each envelope is ¼ oz.)
• 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• Few drops of red food coloring (optional)
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment and grease parchment.
2. In a large bowl, add ¾ cup water. Sprinkle the gelatin on water and let sit for a few minutes to soften.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the rest of the water, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to boil over high heat. Once boiling, use a candy thermometer and cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees. Remove it from heat.
4. Using a mixer on low speed and using the whisk attachment, mix the gelatin mixture. With the mixer on, pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture. Pour down the side of the bowl to avoid splashes. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer to high and beat the mixture until stiff peaks form about 10-12 minutes. Add in vanilla and peppermint extract. Mix for an additional minute. The mixture should be cool.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan using a silicone spatula. Smooth the top with an offset spatula. Add a few drops of red food coloring and using a butter knife, swirl the coloring on top. Let cool and firm up at room temperature, uncovered, for at least three hours or better yet overnight.
6. When ready to cut up, sift the confectioner’s sugar onto a working space. Turn over the marshmallow onto the sugar. Using a greased sharp knife, cut the marshmallows into squares. Roll in powdered sugar and serve with hot cocoa.
7. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week.

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The post Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows with Peppermint Hot Cocoa appeared first on A Classic Twist.

How was the long weekend? I hope you guys had a relaxing one and got some time to get into the summer spirit. I had my best friend visiting so it was a great weekend hanging out with her and catching up. We shopped, baked, went to the gym (after all that baking!), had a movie date and spent numerous hours talking. It was the perfect girl’s weekend. After she left, I started some weekly prep. I figured we should start the week with a warm loaf of bread. This rosemary olive oil bread is the best thing I baked yesterday and I did bake a few things (coming soon!!).

Our local grocery store carries a rosemary bread that the hubs and I love to get every time we are making a fresh batch of pasta and it was the inspiration for this loaf. Remember the not so terrific process behind this honey whole wheat bread? Well, that did not happen this time! This gal has been learning and is no longer scared of yeast. (Thanks for all the encouragement!)

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I can barely ice a cake smooth or pipe a buttercream rose, yet I am attempting to make French macarons. I’ve never had a macaron and I’ve never made macarons. But they made it to my baking ‘bucket list’ a few months ago, after I came across these gorgeous tiffany blue macarons.

So when Lindsay from Love and Olive Oil announced her April Kitchen Challenge was to make macarons, it seemed like a great idea to give them a try now. Why wait till later?? Little did I know!

I jumped into the literature of macarons not knowing anything about what it takes to make them. A common theme that was immediately clear was that making macarons is an extremely difficult task. Second, there are lots of different schools of thoughts about how to make a successful batch of macarons. A very ‘superstitious’ ritual, if I must say.

I started off with Brave Tart, as Lindsay suggested, and she has several great posts on all you need to know about macarons. I learned almost everything from handling meringue to macaronage on her blog.

Most macaron recipes call for a food scale and since I wasn’t about to buy one just yet, I had to look for a recipe that did not require a scale. I adapted a recipe from Sprinkle Bakes for the ingredients, but following the instructions for Bravetart’s macarons.  Thanks to her mythbuster article, I was able to go into this project prepared.

Making macarons starts with whipping up egg whites and sugar to make a stable meringue.

Then sifting together almond flour and powdered sugar for the dry ingredients. The most crucial stage is folding the dry ingredients into the meringue, the process of macaronage, which deflates the meringue. With proper macaronage you should have a ribbon-like mixture that can hold up to piping and maintain its shape. The batter is piped onto parchment paper in 1 1/2 inch circles, given a solid tap on a counter, then, depending on your oven temperature, baked for 10-15 minutes. Sounds simple enough right??

Yeah, it’s not. It took three batches. The first batch failed period. The second batch (pictured in cream) were ‘oval’ not circular, baking somewhat crooked. The third batch (pink) turned out circular and much better. However, they still baked crooked…the shells were falling off. After three batches, my French macarons were not perfect, but that is OK. I did not expect to get perfect cafe-quality macarons on my first try. With practice and good techniques, I’ll make close to perfect macarons one day.

It was great fun to jump into this project and not knowing much about macarons or how to make them. Thanks to Lindsay for inspiring this bold step. Now I’m looking forward to the next challenge she has in store. If you have not checked out her blog, do so NOW! It’s amazing.

I have more macarons to experiment with, and they might just show up on a certain dessert table I’m planning for an upcoming shower.

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French Macarons

Macarons, are a delicate French cookie, made from egg whites, sugar, and almond flour. Typically filled with delicious buttercream frosting. Recipe's here!

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup confectioners' sugar ¾ cup fine almond flour 2 large egg whites, room temperature ½ cup extrafine sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ½ teaspoon salt A pinch of cream of tartar Gel food coloring (optional) Filling: Lemon Swiss meringue buttercream

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• ¾ cup fine almond flour
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• ½ cup extrafine sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• A pinch of cream of tartar
• Gel food coloring (optional)

Filling:

Toggle ingredient group

• Lemon Swiss meringue buttercream
• Lemon Swiss meringue buttercream

Instructions

1. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. I used a 1½-inch round cookie cutter to draw circles on the parchment paper and flipped the paper (drawing side down)
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and prepare a pastry bag with a round tip. I used Wilton 2A
3. Using a food processor, pulse almond flour and confections’ sugar. Sift several times until there is less than 2 tablespoon of almond buts left. Add those to the dry ingredients.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, sugar, salt and cream of tartar. Whip for 3 minutes at medium (4 on a Kitchen aid). Increase speed to medium-high (7 on kitchen aid) and whip for another 3 minutes, then increase speed to high and whip for an additional 3 minutes.
5. Add the vanilla extract and food coloring and whip for an additional 2 minutes until stiff peaks form. Remove the whisk.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the meringue and fold with a rubber spatula. Be very careful and gently fold the dry ingredients to deflate the meringue. The batter will be ready when it falls off the spatula in a thick ribbon.
7. Transfer batter into pastry bag and pipe the batter into the pre-traced circles on the baking sheet. Tap baking sheet hard on counter to release any air bubbles trapped in the batter.
8. Let piped macarons sit for 30 minutes to ‘dry’.
9. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until you can cleanly peel a macaron away from the parchment. If the shell of the macaron comes off when you pick it up, then its not done.
10. Cool completely on the pans before peeling from the parchment.
11. To fill: Pipe a little mound of buttercream into a shell and sandwich with the other naked half.
12. Store refrigerated for at least 24 hours before serving. The macarons get better with age (true story!)

Notes

ZAINAB'S NOTES:  • I suggest you read up on macarons before attempting to make them. There are lots of flavors and colors to experiment with, but it is recommended you start with a simple vanilla recipe until you are familiar with the process. • I will definitely get a kitchen scale for my next try. I got lucky here but I can see how having a precise measurement of ingredients will help avoid mishaps.

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