I found this recipe on Little Birdie Secrets and knew I had to make it.  They were fun and easy to make.  I gave my boys the job of crushing the candy canes with a hammer, which made them happy.  The recipe makes a huge pile of marshmallows – perfect for giving some away and still having enough for your own hot cocoa.

I don’t have a picture of the ingredients because my camera battery died just as I started making these.  There are some step-by-step photos on Little Birdie Secrets if you’d like to see more details.

Peppermint Marshmallows

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 6 crushed candy canes (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Crush the candy canes.  This is probably easy if you have a food processor.  I don’t, so I had the boys hammer them in a ziplock bag.  We ended up having to put it all into another ziplock, since it broke open a bit.  Try to get the candy canes as fine as possible.  I used 6 candy canes, but ended up with a bit less than 1/2 cup.

Stir the powdered sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl with a fork.  Line a 9×13″ pan with foil.  Spray it with cooking spray and then sift several tablespoons of the powdered sugar mixture over the top of the spray.

In a large mixer bowl, pour 2/3 cup water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top.  Let that soften while you melt the other ingredients.

In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar, corn syrup, candy canes and salt.  Cook over medium heat until it is all dissolved, about 7 minutes.  This did not look like it would work at first.  It was clumped together and just looked like a mess.  But after a few minutes it smoothed out and began to melt.

Pour the candy cane mixture into the gelatin.  Mix on high for 10-15 minutes, until fluffy.  Spread into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle some of the powdered sugar mixture over the top.  Let cool at room temperature for 2 hours.

Remove the foil from the pan and peel away from the marshmallows.  Cut with a wet knife, dipping each side of the marshmallows in the powdered sugar mixture.  Store in an air tight container at room temp.

I had several of the marshmallows in hot cocoa.  Very yummy!