Gingerbread-Infused Butter

I was thinking about the marshmillets from the other day, and I realized that I need to offer an alternative to holiday marshmallows made by Kraft. If possible, I recommend making the marshmillets more from scratch. I used the the flavored marshmallows out of convenience, but you can use other regular or vegan marshmallows. Even better, you can make your own marshmallows, like these, and I even found David Soleil’s ebook of vegan marshmallows.  If you are using plain marshmallows, substitute the Earth Balance spread with gingerbread spice-infused Earth Balance instead.

The only problem with using the recipe below is that it is missing molasses, but you can add between 1 to 2 cups of molasses (depending on your preference) when melting the marshmallows. In addition to adding molasses, if you want to use this as a butter spread on toast or the like, try adding some agave or honey for a little more sweetness.

Gingerbread-Spiced Butter
I have used Nicole Harris’ gingerbread spice mix and Leanne Vogel’s Gingerbread Cookies as guides to create my spice mixes, and I used André Baranowski‘s Ethiopian Spiced Butter as an inspiration for the infusion method.

Ingredients
2 Sticks or 1 C Earth Balance Spread or Salted Butter
2 tsp Ground Cloves
2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
2 T + 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 C + 2 T Ground Ginger

Directions
Combine the spices in a bowl. In a large saucepan, melt the spread over low heat. Pour in the spices. Stir with frequently with a wooden spoon for 30 minutes to fully infuse the flavors. Transfer the mixture into a small glass bowl or storage container. Cool until solid.

Note
If you are using real butter, you can use this opportunity to clarify it of impurities by removing the foam that forms at the surface during spice infusion. Foam no longer forms, strain the melted butter through a fine mesh colander or cheesecloth into a bowl to remove the milk solids.

Gingerbread-Spiced Marshmillet Treats

I was craving rice crispy treats for a while, as well as warm spice mixes, such as clove, cinnamon and ginger. Thankfully, the local overstock grocery store was selling leftover holiday marshmallows for cheap. The marshmallows smelled amazing through the bag and were in the shape of adorable little gingerbread people. I could not resist buying them; I bought vanilla snowmen marshmallows, too. (If you want to use other marshmallows, please read my gingerbread spice-infused butter.) The overstock store, however, did not have any puffed rice, so next I stopped at Sprouts to see how much their bulk puffed brown rice was. The price was more than I expected, so I looked around for other puffed cereal options. I cannot eat puffed wheat of any variety, so those grains were right out. I was rather curious about the bags of millet, which happened to be on sale, especially since I had never eaten it before.

Puffed Millet

The texture of millet was surprising, but I thought this cereal would work well with my desire to make gooier treats by adding extra mallows. These are not crispy. At all. Puffed millet grains are much, much softer than puffed rice. I actually added one third more marshmallows than the original recipe called for. I also halved the amount of mixed in oil, but greased my hands repeatedly to cut down on the stickiness.

Gingerbread Marshmillets
Based on the Shamrock Rice Crispy Treats recipe as a guide.

Yields: 12 to 15 Servings

Ingredients
2 8-oz bags Kraft Jet-Puffed Gingerbread Men Mallows
2 T Earth Balance Spread, plus more for greasing
6 C Puffed Millet Cereal

Directions
Line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with either baking parchment paper. Set aside.

Grease a large glass mixing bowl with buttery spread. Pour the cereal into a large measuring cup or clean dry bowl. Set aside.

Coated Gingerbread Marshmallow People

Melt the spread and marshmallows in a large pan or medium pot over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent the sugar from burning to the bottom. Remove the melted mallows from the heat.

Melted Gingerbread Marshmallow People

Transfer the cereal into the greased bowl. Fold the melted marshmallows into the millet. I mixed the marshmallow and millet together with my hands. If you use this method, grease up your hands first with a bit of the butter or spread to prevent the marshmallow from sticking to you so much. My hands became sticky marshmillet treats themselves as I was mixing. As the mixture cools, it will harden and become more difficult to mix, so work fast.

Mix the millet into the melted mallows.

Once thoroughly combined, quickly press the mixture into the pan, spreading evenly and flattening the surface. Use a knife to cut the marshmillets into bars.