Today I’ve got such a cute Christmas fun food idea to share with you – easy marshmallow penguins! I’ve been waiting for weeks to share these fun treats with you – didn’t they turn out cute?!
Be sure to check out my recipe video so you can see just how easy these are to make!
I hope you will love these funny little penguins as much as I do, I think they are probably my favourite creation this year to date!
Make them with your kids for a fun Christmas holiday project or serve them up as a yummy festive treat. They’re perfect to give as homemade gifts and for party food too!
It’s the first day of December and I’m very excited to announce a project that I’ve been working on behind the scenes all month – the Eats Amazing Fun Food Advent Calendar!
Every day from now until Christmas I’ll be sharing a new festive food idea and I’ll be announcing them over on the new Advent Calendar page too, so do click on the link, bookmark it and pop back each day to see what’s new!
I’ve got a very busy (but fun!) month ahead of me, I really hope you enjoy all the fun food I have planned.
Now back to the penguins – these are so easy to make, I promise. My batch ended up with such a range of individual characters – the hardest thing is bringing yourself to eat them!
Marshmallow Penguins
Ingredients:
- 200g bag marshmallows
- 200g dark chocolate
- handful yellow and orange smarties (chocolate beans)
- edible candy eyes
Method:
Line a baking tray or plate with grease proof or baking paper – check that it will fit in your fridge first.
Break up the dark chocolate and place it in a microwave safe bowl.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one to ensure it melts evenly. Be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate, heat only until just melted and smooth.
Hold a marshmallow by an end ‘edge’ between a finger and thumb and carefully dip it into the chocolate, leaving a patch of uncovered marshmallow for the penguins tummy.
Hold it upside down over the bowl of chocolate to allow any excess chocolate to drip off, then stand the marshmallow up on the baking tray as shown below. Top tip: you’ll find it easier to manoeuvre if you hold a teaspoon or cocktail stick in your other hand to help guide it into place.
Don’t worry if some of the chocolate puddles behind the marshmallow – it forms a little tail!
Repeat with the remaining marshmallows until you have created as many penguins as you need.
Place the tray in the fridge until the chocolate has completely hardened – 10-15 minutes should do it.
When the chocolate has set, re-melt the bowl of dark chocolate if needed.
Cut the smarties in half with a sharp knife. Some of them may crumble, so discard (eat!) those and just keep the ones with a fairy straight edge.
Lay all of the penguins down
Using a little of the dark chocolate, stick two candy eyes and a smartie ‘beak’ onto each penguin.
Return to the fridge to set.
Store the penguins in an airtight tin or container until ready to serve. They look fantastic on a platter sprinkled with icing sugar or shredded coconut ‘snow’.
Notes: I used a dairy free dark chocolate to make these – if you want to make them completely dairy free, you could use yellow and orange skittles or pieces of dried apricot for the beaks instead of the smarties.
If you have any leftover melted chocolate, use it make a few giant jazzies!
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to see the next fun project in the Eats Amazing advent calendar!
For more fun and delicious food ideas for the festive season, check out the Christmas Food section here on the Eats Amazing blog or pop over and follow my Christmas Pinterest boards for lots more fun ideas from around the web; Christmas, Cute Christmas Food Ideas and Healthy Christmas Food.
Grace
Disclosure: This post contains some Amazon affiliate links; I may receive commission on items purchased through the links.
Cute and easy marshmallow penguins recipe - fun penguin themed food idea for kids.
- 200 g bag marshmallows
- 200 g dark chocolate
- handful yellow and orange smarties (chocolate beans)
- edible candy eyes
Line a baking tray or plate with grease proof or baking paper. (Check that it will fit in your fridge first.)
- Break up the dark chocolate and place it in a microwave safe bowl.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one to ensure it melts evenly. Be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate, heat only until just melted and smooth.
Hold a marshmallow by an end ‘edge’ between a finger and thumb and carefully dip it into the chocolate, leaving a patch of uncovered marshmallow for the penguins tummy. Hold it upside down over the bowl of chocolate to allow any excess chocolate to drip off, then stand the marshmallow up on the baking tray as shown below. (Top tip: you’ll find it easier to manoeuvre if you hold a teaspoon or cocktail stick in your other hand to help guide it into place.)
- Don’t worry if some of the chocolate puddles behind the marshmallow – it forms a little tail!
- Repeat with the remaining marshmallows until you have created as many penguins as you need.
- Place the tray in the fridge until the chocolate has completely hardened – 10-15 minutes should do it.
- When the chocolate has set, re-melt the bowl of dark chocolate if needed.
- Cut the smarties in half with a sharp knife. Some of them may crumble, so discard (eat!) those and just keep the ones with a fairy straight edge.
- Lay all of the penguins down
- Using a little of the dark chocolate, stick two candy eyes and a smartie ‘beak’ onto each penguin.
- Return to the fridge to set.
Store the penguins in an airtight tin or container until ready to serve.
Recipe Video
Notes: I used a dairy free dark chocolate to make these – if you want to make them completely dairy free, you could use yellow and orange skittles or pieces of dried apricot for the beaks instead of the smarties.
Love this fun food idea? Why not save it to Pinterest so you can easily find it again!
Joyce Denen says
These are adorable! Your marshmallows look taller though than the typical “square” shaped ones. Which brand or type did you use?
Khadeejah says
What do u use for the eyes
Grace says
Hi there, as I said in the blog post above, I used candy eyes – you can find them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005BPU1P8/?tag=eatsamaz00-21 Hope that helps!
michelle davies says
how did you do the eyes? it looks like something white stuck on the choc?
Grace says
Hi there, as I explained in the blog post above, I used candy eyes – you can find them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005BPU1P8/?tag=eatsamaz00-21 Hope that helps!
Pascale says
These are so cute! I can’t wait to make them!
Pascale says
I was searching on Pinterest for some new Christmas baking ideas and found your adorable penguin blog! I am so excited about how these turned out. I will be posting about these on my blog and will reference your original post. Merry Christmas!
Roisin says
These are so adorable I couldn’t help but make them tonight. I searched and searched for the tall marshmallows you show here but it no avail, while mine ended up cute, it definitely would have been easier/cuter using the ones you did. Could you please share the brand/type you used?
Thank you
Grace Hall says
Hi Roisin, thank you, I’m glad you loved the idea! I did use marshmallows that are a bit taller than the ones you normally get in the supermarket. I found these ones in Poundland the last few years – I haven’t looked for them this year but it might be worth looking there if you have one near you?
Nicky Lightfoot says
Are those giant marshmallows? If anyone is in the UK then Waitrose and Home Bargains sell them …but they seem the wrong shape
Grace Hall says
Hi Nicky, they aren’t giant marshmallows but they are a bit taller than the ones you normally get in the supermarket. I found these ones in Poundland the last few years – I haven’t looked for them this year but it might be worth looking there if you have one near you?