Thursday, June 28, 2012

Chocolate Coconut Marshmallows Recipe


Warning: Making these marshmallows and eating them may result in spontaneous bouts of happiness and sudden urges to hug & kiss those around you...


Who doesn’t like marshmallows? As a kid I was never concerned with what these sweet little treats were made of and just enjoyed them but as an adult who is very much concerned about Health and living a meaningful Life, I am. The marshmallows you’d typically find in stores are loaded with highly processed additives and preservatives and other crap that if you really knew how to make your own marshmallows, you’d wonder why they put so much unnecessary junk in the first place. Marshmallows require simple ingredients and if you’re going to make them you might as well make them clean ingredients. The main ingredient is not just sugar, but gelatin. Gelatin is the cooked collagen parts of an animal that is rarely eaten in industrialized modern society such as the bones, hooves, knuckles, etc. The truth is that these parts have a great number of health benefits. Rather than write about the benefits of gelatin, you can watch these videos from my friends and fellow C.H.E.K. practitioners, Josh Rubin and Ruben Serrano & Aram Hovsepian

Now let’s get to the recipe. I love marshmallows. I love chocolate. And I absolutely love coconut (I am Filipino afterall). What better recipe than to put them all together. I just made a batch the other day modifying a recipe by another friend and fellow C.H.E.K. Practitioner, Linda DeFever. You will need a hand mixer (or similar); if not, it’ll take a lot of muscle power to thicken the batter.

Chocolate Coconut Marshmallows

Actual ingredients I used


Sprinkle 3 tbs Great Lakes Gelatin onto ½ cup water and let sit for about 10 minutes until solid. You can experiment with a little more gelatin if you require more protein.

In a saucepan, heat ½ cup water, 1 ½ cups of organic sugar, 3 tbs raw organic cacao, and ¼ cup organic coconut flakes until it thickens a little. Linda’s recipe calls for a temperature of 220 degrees F but I didn’t have a thermometer so I just went by intuition. You can use less sugar, maybe a cup, and more cacao (maybe 4-6 tbs) depending on your taste. I plan on trying a batch with less sugar, more gelatin and cacao, and a little bit more coconut flakes next time.

Pour the heated mixture over the gelatin mixture and mix using a mixer for about 5-10 minutes until it thickens.

Grease a 9” x 10” baking tray (or similar) with coconut oil and pour the thickened mixture. Flatten it until level. Place into refrigerator for a few hours and then cut into squares. I prefer to keep the marshmallows in the fridge rather than keeping them in room temperature.

Enjoy and share with others….