Edible Coal with Free Printable Gift Tags

Marshmallow Coal - and edible coal and funny Christmas gift for friends or coworkers

Legend will tell you that naughty boys and girls get coal. You could say that legend is wrong but then you’d technically be arguing with Santa, which would probably get you added to the naughty list…. and if you get added to the naughty list, you’d get coal in your stocking. It’s a vicious cycle, my friends. It’s fun to give coal, if you don’t believe me then make this edible coal and give it to you coworkers or neighbors this holiday season. Here’s a little secret though… it’s not really coal. This tastes 1,000 times better than coal.

Once you bite into one of these you’ll see that it’s marshmallow wrapped in chocolate, covered in black sanding sugar. They’re fun and easy to make and give. And since I love you, even though you’re naughty, I’m going to share with you the free printable gift tags that you need to attach to this edible coal Christmas treat. Save Santa, Be Naughty.

Ready to make some yummy coal? You’ll need:

black sanding sugar
melting chocolate (more on this below)
marshmallows
skewers or a fork
parchment paper

Before we start, let’s talk about the chocolate for this project. You need chocolate that you can melt. There’s several options, some of which are better than others. First, there’s just regular milk chocolate chips. These are my favorites to use and taste yummy but can be tricky to get them to melt perfectly and take longer to harden. Next you can use candy melts but let’s be honest – they don’t taste that great. If you want a really yummy treat, I would recommend using something else. Finally, I like using brown almond bark which has a chocolate flavor. It’s very easy to melt, hardens quickly and has a good flavor.

Before you begin, get your work surface and supplies ready because once you melt the chocolate, you need to move quickly. Lay out a piece of parchment paper that you can lay the edible coal on until the chocolate hardens. Pour the sanding sugar into a bowl and set it to the side. I skewered a few marshmallows to begin with but in the end wound up using the same skewer over and over again. If you don’t have a skewer, you can use a fork.

Melt the chocolate according to the package directions and then dip a marshmallow into it, using a spoon to make sure the sides and top are fully covered. I also used the spoon to scrape off any excess. You don’t need a ton of chocolate, just enough for the sanding sugar to stick to.

Immediately dip the chocolate covered marshmallow into the sanding sugar. Cover the sides, top and bottom with sanding sugar. Gently remove the marshmallow from the skewer and place on the parchment paper to harden. The sanding sugar goes fast. If you’re making a large amount of these, consider dipping half of the marshmallow into the sanding sugar. If you want to make a lot of these for several gifts, consider ordering a bulk quality of sanding sugar online.

They look like my normal cooking – black and slightly charred. The looks are part of the package though. While you’re waiting for the chocolate to harden, print out the coal gift tags.

You can use these gift tags for more than just these edible coal treats. If you want to have fun, wrap gifts in black paper and attach these tags. You can also use the “Spoiler Alert: It’s Coal” cut file to make your own DIY Christmas gift bags.

Once your coal is set and ready to be packaged, all you have to do is assemble your gift bags and you’re ready to hand out coal to all your naughty friends and coworkers.

They look like real coal and it’s awesome. Who wouldn’t love to get this coal in their stocking? My neighbors are lucky, they’ve been pretty good this year so instead of coal, I’m giving them Santa Bread.