Make your hot chocolate super festive with these coquito marshmallows! With warm spices, coconut flavors, and a great dose of dark rum – You’ll float these in your hot chocolate every day ’till January!
It is almost December and from now until Christmas my life goal is to be Festive AF.
Many of you don’t feel like celebrating. Guys, I get it. Millions of us are walking into uncertainty. We have no idea what will become of us past inauguration day. We must put that aside for now. Embrace this holiday season. Let the politicians do their thing. Don’t talk politics at the dinner table or over holiday drinks. Don’t focus on the President-elect’s latest tweet. In fact, stop trolling his Twitter account. Stop it. Put the phone down. Better yet – Somewhere on the interwebs is a video of a cat covered in tinsel. Find it and share the shit out of it.
We’re aiming for Festive AF. And Festive AF when you’re Latino means you coquito the smack out of e-ve-ry-thang and listen to all the Spanish Christmas music. I have my old school 80’s playlist on repeat.
Every Christmas season I take the flavors of coquito and infuse those flavors into a dessert. Just the flavors. I’ve never made coquito. Like, never. Coquito making is way too divisive. Fights break out and I have no fight left in me. Everyone thinks their coquito is the best and is ready to prove it to you. Purists come out of the woodwork, brandishing their fisted yellowed index cards containing coquito recipes passed down from abuela to abuela. They will not hesitate to say – You are doing it all wrong.
Ready to say, uh-uh – You CANNOT use canned coconut milk. Abuela used fresh coconut, grated along with her fingers. You have to be willing to bleed for coquito. Abuela did. You should too.
“Egg yolks in coquito! Abuela did it all the time! Salmonella? Pfft.”
“None of that fancy small batch artisan rum – Puerto Rican Moonshine, carajo!”
“You’re using too much ginger! Abuela doesn’t even use ginger in her coquito!”
And on and on and on. I just don’t have the energy. You fight it out. I’ll just sample everyone’s and make dessert using the concept and flavors of coquito.
Now flow with me. Let’s talk about these Coquito Marshmallows real quick.
I dig boozy marshmallows. In fact, every marshmallow made in this space has been boozy. Every single one. Boozy marshmallows are like j-ello shots for your hot chocolate.
And now they come coquito flavored.
You’re damn welcome.
Don’t be intimidated by marshmallow making. The hardest part (and it’s not hard at all) is making the booze infused sugar syrup and pouring it over the gelatin spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and coconut flavors.
To enhance the coquito flavor, I added more coconut milk, coco lopez, and another shot of rum once the marshmallows increase in volume.
I did the right thing.
These marshmallows are delicious. They taste like coquito – Rum, coconut, warm spices. I ate about a dozen while cutting them up, which doesn’t help my pre-diabetic condition. So worth it, though. Like, YOLO and who needs all ten toes, right? These marshmallows are perfect for Christmas gift giving. No spills, no crumbs.
Make these now. Float them in your hot chocolate for a nice boozy sweet treat.
Be festive AF.
That’s your goal.
Festive AF.
[purerecipe]
Coquito Marshmallows
Ingredients
For the marshmallow coating
- 3/4 cup Confectioners' powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup Cornstarch
For the bloom
- 3/4 ounce three, ¼ oz packets Unflavored gelatin (I used Knox)
- 4 ounces 1/2 cup Water
- 1 ounce 2 tablespoons Coco Lopez
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly grated nutmeg
- For the boozy sugar syrup
- 5.5 ounces Light corn syrup
- 13 ounces Granulated sugar
- 3 ounces 6 tablespoons Dark rum (I used bacardi)
- 1 ounce Coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon Coco lopez
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla beam paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
To enhance the coquito flavor
- 3 tablespoons Coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons Coco Lopez
- 1 tablespoon Dark rum
Instructions
Prepare the coating:
- In a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch. Cover and set aside.
Prepare the pan:
- Spray an 8”x8” square pan with PAM spray and sift the marshmallow coating to bottom of the pan. You
- are looking for an even coat. Set the pan aside.
Prepare the bloom:
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the gelatin, water, coco lopez and spices. Stir with a fork lightly to combine and prevent the gelatin from clumping to the bottom of the bowl. Leave in the mixer while you prepare the sugar syrup.
Prepare the sugar syrup:
- In a medium stainless steel pot combine the light corn syrup, granulated sugar, rum, coconut milk, coco lopez, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover the pan with a lid and continuing boiling, covered, for 5 minutes. Covering the pan allows steam to form which melts any sugar which may have crystallized. After five minutes, insert a candy thermometer and bring up the temperature of the syrup to 240° Fahrenheit.
Marshmallow makin’:
- Once the syrup has reached 240° Fahrenheit, remove pan from heat and allow the temperature of the syrup to reduce to 210° Fahrenheit. This can take anywhere from 7-10 minutes. You can help it along by partially submerging the pan in a bowl of ice water and stirring the syrup.
- Once the syrup has reached 210° Fahrenheit, carefully pour the syrup (be careful – It’s STILL HOT!) into the mixing bowl with the bloomed gelatin. Start your mixer, on low at first as you add the syrup, and then increase the speed to high. Allow the mixture to double in volume. While the mixer doubles in volume, quickly combine the coconut milk and coco Lopez.
- When the mixture has doubled, add the coconut milk and Coco Lopez mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing the mixture to thicken and become fluffy with each addition. Add the rum and whip on high until the becomes fluffy once one more.
- Turn off the mixer and using a silicone spatula very lightly sprayed with PAM, pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Smack the pan a few times against your counter to remove air bubbles and sift some of your prepared coating over the top of the marshmallow mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
To cut marshmallows:
- Remove marshmallow pan from the fridge. Liberally sift your work surface with the marshmallow coating. I mean, be liberal with it. Don’t skimp on it. Remove the plastic wrap from the pan. Use a knife (or your fingers) to loosen the marshmallow from the pan and pull it out. Place onto the powdered surface and then flip the marshmallow square to coat the other side.
- Using a large chef’s knife (or the largest knife in your kitchen), cut 8, 1” vertical strips.
- Periodically clean your knife because marshmallows stick! Now with your knife make 1” increment cuts horizontally. You should now have a crap load of marshmallows squares - Or rectangles if you have linear issues.
- As you cut the marshmallows, toss them into the marshmallow coating to prevent sticking. Store them in an airtight container or a large ziplock back.
- They last forever…FOREVER.
