For the Love of Starbucks (DIY Marshmallow Stir Sticks)

This post was sponsored by Starbucks as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received compensation and complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

To say we are Starbucks fanatics in this house might be a slight understatement. My three year old has been known to request Starbucks (or “tar-books” if you ask him) by name on more than one occasion. One of my favorite collections is our Starbucks coffee mug collection. We add to it every year during the holidays when the new red cup comes out. That’s true coffee love people!

Since going to Starbucks every day is a little less than practical with three kids in tow we have long found a way to bring the Starbucks experience home to us with Starbucks Coffee K-Cups. As much as I love Starbucks I don’t know what I would do without my Keurig, and the two (Starbucks & Keurig K-Cups) are a marriage made in heaven as far as I’m concerned. These days I can’t imagine having the brain capacity at 6am to actually brew an entire pot of coffee every morning. Pressing a button is far easier!

Did you know though that Starbucks also makes Hot Cocoa K-Cups? (and they are soooo yummy). We’ve tried a lot of hot cocoa and the Starbucks K-Cups are by far my favorite. Salted Caramel, well need I say more? Velvety cocoa perfectly complimented with a pinch of sea salt and a dash of natural caramel flavor. And the Classic, well the name just speaks for itself. Classic Starbucks inspired Hot Cocoa made with real cocoa and non-fat milk. My eleven year old insists the Starbucks Hot Chocolate K-Cups are “definitely more chocolately”.

Anyway, I’m thrilled because the kids can now have their Starbucks experience at home right along with us. And with ease of the K-Cup format my little guys can even become their own baristas!

Of course you can’t have the complete Starbucks experience without some yummy treats so we made some Starbucks -worthy ones of our own using marshmallows, melted semi-sweet chocolate bits & a few colorful sprinkles (see tutorial below).

We used the gourmet marshmallows that came in our cozy collection (see details below for how to win one of your own) but you could use any large marshmallow, semi-sweet chocolate bits and sprinkles. I’ll let the pictures walk you through the process. Chocolate dipped marshmallow are beyond easy to make. Simply melt chocolate according to package directions, dip your marshmallows, add some sprinkles and you are good to go! The kids love them and they make awesome stir sticks for hot cocoa.

Some Starbucks hot chocolate & some yummy treats and we are cozy-ing up at home to weather out what’s left of this awfully cold winter weather. Hurry spring!