Unbelievably, I’ve never made Rice Krispy treats with T. Maybe that’s because we never have Rice Krispies in the house! But that’s no excuse because as all us moms know, you can substitute a lot of things in a recipe when in a pinch (and not wanting to run to the store), and these treats are no exception. And something we always seem to have on hand is a partial bag of marshmallows along with a couple of varieties of other cereals, plus butter, so I was ready to finally go for it with what I had in hand.

This time I found myself with about half bag mini-marshmallows that were in a use-or-toss state, plus either Cheerios or some sort of healthy, light lacy-flaky-looking cereal. While the second of the two would not work well with a crispy treat recipe (way too brittle and delicate even when drenched in milk, so no way it could hold up to the stirring or the sticky marshmallow), I knew the Cheerios would, so I went with those.

Again, because I only had half the bag of marshmallows, I had some math to do before getting started. However because I’ve already done the math, you don’t have to!

The other thing I decided to do was jazz it up a bit and not go with boring squares. While my neighbor told me her attempts at cutting up marshmallow treats with cookie cutters was unsuccessful, I have to say I did alright. I think it was because I greased up the cutters with a tiny amount of non-stick cooking spray before making my cuts; once the cutters started showing any signs of gumming up, I wiped them clean with a damp tea towel and re-greased (again, lightly!). At least I can see what I made, can you (hint: they’re leaves, along with a couple of small turkeys)?

Another decorative direction I took was dipping my shapes on one side in melted Candiquik vanilla candy coating and then I coated that side with sprinkles. I didn’t do a lot of my pieces like this as for me it was a bit too sweet-tasting, but they sure did turn out looking nice!

I even attempted a tweak on the “Cake Pop” by forming the mixture into balls, putting those on sticks, and dipping them into Candiquik. Sadly, this was unsuccessful for me. I believe the fail resulted from the combination of the light-and-airy texture of the crispy treat with the heavy-and-dense weight of the candy coating on the stick; it was far too top-heavy as a stick treat and they just slid down the sticks. Next time, I might roll smaller balls and not use sticks instead.

Or better yet, as I did here, you could always just form the crispy ball, put it on a stick, and coat with a few sprinkles without the candy coating. T seemed to prefer these, too (he went in right away when I did this). You could even put sticks into the leaves if you wanted to; mine just were not thick enough to do so.

With Thanksgiving coming up, a fun thing you could do with any of these treats is to wrap them individually in cellophane, tie them closed with ribbon and nametags, and use them as name cards on your Thanksgiving table. While I won’t have time this year for that project, maybe you will.

Here’s to some leaves you won’t mind cleaning up… with your appetite, that is! Happy Fall!

Marshmallow Crispy Treats (Adapted from Recipe on Bag of Marshmallows)

Ingredients:
1/8 c. butter
1/2 package mini-marshmallows
4-1/4 to 5 c. Cheerios cereal

Directions:

1. Microwave butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH for 30 to 45 seconds or until melted.
2. Add marshmallows; toss to coat.
3. Microwave butter-marshmallow mixture for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring halfway through.
4. ADD cereal; mix well.
5. Press firmly into greased 8×8 in. or 9×9 in. square pan. Cool.
6. Flip out of pan and cut into squares or use cookie cutters to cut servings. To coat pieces with Candiquik, follow instructions on candy coating packaging to melt, then hand-dip one piece at a time on one side, then coat with sprinkles immediately, and dry on a cutting board or wire rack wet side up. If using cookie cutters, scraps of your mixture can be formed into balls 2 in. in diameter, placed on sticks, and rolled in sprinkles for an alternative presentation.
7. To store: Wrap leftover pieces tightly and store in a cool, dry place.