PATRIOTIC MARSHMALLOW BARK

Patriotic Marshmallow Bark a fun, festive, and OH SO sweet dessert! Make these marshmallow treats with only 5 basic ingredients and 10 minutes of prep time.

These chocolate covered marshmallows make for a perfect summery treat to serve around the summer holidays. Red, white and blue desserts never tasted so good.

Patriotic Candy Bark

I’m a huge fan of marshmallows, so I take every opportunity to create a simple dessert that includes them. I used my Easter Marshmallow Bark as inspiration. That and I saw these darling red, white and blue Star Marshmallows at Walmart and knew I needed to make something with them! Like most chocolate barks, this recipe is super easy and super fast.

We have a lot of candy bark recipes on this site, including CARAMEL APPLE BARK for Fall, VALENTINES BARK, and even CHRISTMAS BARK, but this one is uniquely patriotic in color and shape. Thanks to the red, white, and blue marshmallows, we can add a great amount of red, white, and blue to every piece. The patriotic sprinkles make this treat more festive and sweet!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Minimal ingredients. You only need a handful of ingredients to make this recipe truly delicious. The two main ingredients are just marshmallows and white chocolate. After that, we are just improving upon the great recipe by adding some more pops of color.
• Simple instructions. The directions for this recipe are so basic that it is easy for anyone to make. Perfect for when you have kid chefs helping you out or you are a novice baker yourself.
• Perfect for parties! Adding sweets to the dessert table is always a great way to liven up the party, and this festive red, white, and blue bark is sure to become the highlight of any table. Made to be hand-held and portable, they are perfect for snacking as you mingle or enjoy during the fireworks.

Patriotic Marshmallow Bark Ingredients

White chocolate- You will need one 12-ounce sized bag of white chocolate chips. Keep in mind that you may wish to use a higher quality chocolate, I used Hershey’s but any brand will work great.

Marshmallows– You can use one 10-ounce bag of mini marshmallows or some of the fun Jet-Puffed Star Marshmallows. I found them at Walmart.

Shortening– While this is technically optional, using 1 tablespoon of shortening will help the chocolate to melt more smoothly.

M&Ms- Use 1/4 cup of Red and Blue M&Ms. You can buy a bag of them already sorted for the holiday, or you can pick the colors from the regular blend and enjoy the other colors as a snack.

Sprinkles– Use patriotic sprinkles for a festive touch, they look great as decorations on top.

Cookie cutters and sticks- If you want to make this bark into personal sized marshmallow pops, a star shaped cookie cutter and sticks work great. But honestly, cutting them up into squares is just so much easier. That said, my kids adored the stars, so I’ll let you make the call.

How to make Patriotic Marshmallow Bark

Prep

Get started by lining an 8×11 or 9×13 glass dish or a half-sized cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Melt chocolate

Then, put the white chocolate chips and shortening, in a medium sized glass bowl. Proceed to melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute. Give it a small stir, then return it to the microwave in 30 second increments, until the chocolate is completely melted when you stir it.

My bowl of chocolate took just over 1 minute in the microwave. White chocolate looks like it’s not all melted when it really is. Stir it several times and make sure it really needs more microwave time. I usually have to stir mine for 30 seconds until it’s fully melted.

Combine ingredients

After the chocolate is melted, add the marshmallows and stir to coat. You will want to do this kind of quickly, be sure the chocolate coats the marshmallows well. However, if you take too long, the marshmallows start to melt, which you don’t want.

After the marshmallows are well coated, add the M&M’s candies and stir once more.

Proceed to transfer the chocolatey marshmallow mixture to your prepared pan. Using a rubber scraper, make sure marshmallows extend to the edge of the pan. Press down slightly to make it all somewhat even.

Then, shake on any sprinkles you would like to decorate the bark with.

Chill

Place the dish in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until the chocolate has set. You want to use the freezer so that it cools the mixture as quickly as possible, you don’t want those marshmallows to melt.

Shape

Remove the dish from the freezer and let sit on the counter to return to room temperature.

After that, cut it into pieces. If you use a cookie cutter, I suggest using a metal one and spraying the edges with cooking spray prior to cutting.

If you want to make marshmallow pops, insert the stick into the middle after you cut the bark with a cookie cutter.

Serve and enjoy!

TIPS ON MELTING WHITE CHOCOLATE:

• Melting white chocolate can be a little frustrating if you’ve never done it before. The reason is because white chocolate seizes easily. When chocolate seizes, it looks like it’s not melted yet, prompting people to return it to the microwave, which worsens the whole thing.
• Stir several times after each 30-second increment in the microwave. Many times you’ll find that a good 20-30 seconds of stirring it around in the warm bowl will melt it the rest of the way! If you’ve had back luck with melting chocolate in the past, try adding shortening!

WHAT’S THE BEST CHOCOLATE FOR MELTING?

When making candy like this I really find that dipping chocolate just works best. You can purchase Ghirardelli Melting Wafers at most grocery stores. I buy my melting chocolate in bulk on Amazon. If you really want to use chocolate chips instead, I suggest melting 1/2 a tablespoon of shortening or 2 tsp coconut oil in with the chocolate chips, to thin it out and make it easier to dip the candy.

CAN I USE COLORED MELTING CHIPS?

Absolutely! Add some fun colors with those Wilton melting chips (or similar brand). They are practically colored white chocolate anyways! Adding a drizzle of colored chocolate over the white would look great, but you can take away the white chocolate completely and just use a colored variety.

HOW DO I STORE THIS MARSHMALLOW DESSERT?

After you’ve completely cooled and cut your marshmallow bark, you can keep it stored in an airtight container at room temperature or keep it stored inside of the fridge. It will last about the same length of time either way. It’s just a matter of personal preference.

Check out these other delicious candy recipes!

• CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY STICKS
• HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ORANGE STICKS
• EASTER EGG OREO BALLS
• MARSHMALLOW PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE BARK
• OREO FUDGE
• GOOEY CARAMEL POPCORN
• CHOCOLATE CHERRY OREO BALLS
• EASY PUMPKIN PRETZELS
• BANANA CREAM PIE MUDDY BUDDIES
• CREAMY VELVEETA FUDGE
• S’MORES FUDGE
• CARAMEL S’MORES POPS

Patriotic Marshmallow Bark a festive, fun and OH SO delicious dessert! Make these marshmallow treats with just 5 simple ingredients and about 10 minutes of prep time.