S’mores Rice Krispies Treats

I posted about making these on Facebook about two weeks ago and mentioned that I’d post them soon.  I have felt bad that I’ve not done it yet until now.  But I keep thinking about them.  This is the kind of things I’m sad to not get to eat sometimes.  I like Rice Kripsies Treats of all kinds.  And S’mores are fabulous in all their ooey-gooey glory.  Oh, I’m sure it’s been done before and maybe even with Golden Grahams cereal, but one day I was looking for a treat to make for the family and just happened to have Golden Grahams (something we don’t very often have around here).

I did measure the ingredients just so if these turned out great I would be able to share the recipe with you, but I really just started dumping things together.  I simply just melted marshmallows and butter, added the cereal, stirred it together, then put a layered milk chocolate in the center before finishing with another layer of marshmallowy cereal and more drizzled chocolate on top.  Anyone can make these!

S’mores Rice Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

16 ounces marshmallows

3 oz. butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

3 cups Golden Grahams cereal

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup marshmallows

2 ounces (1/3 cup) milk chocolate chips—melted

½ teaspoon shortening or oil added to melted chocolate

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with nonstick foil, spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.  In a large microwave safe bowl (or in a large saucepan on the stove), melt the marshmallows and butter (1 minute in the microwave, then stir with a wooden spoon and melt for another 30 seconds or so (depending on wattage of microwave)—it doesn’t take long!  Once the marshmallows are melted and the butter incorporated, add the Rice Krispies and Golden Grahams and fold together until everything is covered evenly with the marshmallow mixture.  Immediately spread half the mixture into the prepared pan and tamp it down evenly.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the first layer, then add the extra cup of marshmallows.  You could put the pan under the broiler for a few minutes to get toasty marshmallows, but I chose not to.  The heat from the warm marshmallow treats begins to melt the chocolate and extra marshmallows.  Add the rest of the cereal mixture to the top and spread evenly.  Use a potato masher lightly sprayed with cooking spray to press it all down evenly.  Melt the extra chocolate chips in a small glass bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each time.  Add the shortening (or oil) to the melted chocolate and stir together until it’s glossy.  Put the melted chocolate in a plastic sandwich zip top baggie, cut a small corner from the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the treats.  Let sit until cooled, about an hour.  Remove treats from the pan by using the foil edges, peel of the foil and set the treats on a cutting board.  Cut into desired sized pieces.

   Man, I wanted a bite of these!  I think Parker ate 3/4 of the pan of treats.

Crispy Topped Brown Sugar Bars—Baking Chez Moi—Tuesdays With Dorie

I missed the last TWD post.  It was two weeks ago.  I actually just forgot about it until late the day it should have been posted.  Good thing we have a rewind week next week—I plan to make up the lemon madeleines I missed.  Dare I try to make them gluten free?

Anyway, today we get to tell you about the Crispy Topped Brown Sugar Bars in Baking Chez Moi (pages 324-325).  These were a fun, simple treat to make for my family.  First off all, they are topped with some caramelized Rice Krispies cereal.  While I think I made them just a tad crispy, I still think those are really fun.  Dorie mentioned they would be great as a crisp topping for ice cream and I agree.  They couldn’t be easier to make.  Put some sugar in a skillet, let it begin to color, add the cereal, stir it until the cereal is all coated in the caramelizing sugar and let it cook another minute or two.  Spread it on a sheet to cool.

 

I love that for these bars, she talked about a lot of different toppings you could use, including granola, coconut, caramel popcorn, nuts, endless options.  I might need to play with this recipe some more.

The boys mentioned that even the cookie layer on the bottom was a bit crispy, so I will just make sure to not bake them quite as much next time (I only baked them for 16 minutes when the recipe suggested 22).  I used milk chocolate just to please the boys, but would love to make these with a bittersweet chocolate as Dorie suggested. 

Chocolate is spread on the hot-out-of-the-oven bars and it melts pretty quickly and is spread evenly.  Then the Krispies are added and pressed into the top.  Cool and cut into squares.  Love trying new recipes!

 

Candied Date Crispies, Almost Like Aunt Helga’s

It’s time for a sweet, healthy treat!  Remember in August when I posted my last Secret Recipe Club post?  And I got to cook and bake deliciousness from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch?

One of the things I made and posted about were her Aunt Helga's Candied Date Balls.  As much as I really did stick with the recipe, I did change it up enough that if you want her recipe, check it out, but here’s the recipe as I made it.  I swapped out the sugar and used a less amount of coconut sugar and some honey.  I also used coconut instead of butter and I used organic brown rice crispy cereal. 

These were a perfect treat for me for a good week or two when I’d just need a little something sweet.  I rolled some of them in chopped walnuts, some in unsweetened coconut and then of course, I had to add chocolate to the mix with some of them.

Candied Date Crispies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Shelby, The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

1/2 lb. (8 ounces) dates, pitted and finely chopped

scant 1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tablespoons raw honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 cups organic brown rice crispy cereal (or crisp rice cereal of your choice)

finely chopped walnuts

shredded unsweetened coconut

2-4 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (optional)

Simmer coconut oil, sugar, honey and dates in a saucepan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until dates have softened.  Remove from heat and stir in the cereal. Roll in to walnut sized balls.  Roll balls in finely chopped walnuts or coconut.  If desired, added some chocolate chips to some of the date mixture.  Since it is still warm, the chocolate melts and that is okay.  Then roll in nuts or coconut.  Set on baking sheet lined with waxed paper to firm and cool.  This made 6 walnut balls, 6 coconut balls and 5 with chocolate. 

Thank you to Shelby’s Aunt Helga for these yummy treats.

Chess Board Game Rice Krispies Treat “Cake”—Happy Birthday, Parker!

Here’s the “cake” I made for Parker’s 12th birthday yesterday.  It is actually Rice Krispies Treats.  Pretty much out of nowhere, Parker announced he wanted a chess board game cake.  I don’t think he’s even played the game much in his life.  I really wasn’t even going to try to do this.  Part of the reason is because I didn’t want to slave away making a cake when no one here really likes cake.  Then as I thought about it more, I decided to just go for it.  I’ve NEVER made or worked with fondant before.  (What was I thinking?)

I got on Amazon and ordered the chess pieces candy molds.  Parker sort of helped me make those.  It took three hours to make all the pieces.  As if you couldn’t tell, they are made in halves, then “glued” together with melted chocolate.  They are actually quite easy, but time consuming.  Mostly because there are a total of 16 pawns and we had two molds.  Each one had to set in the fridge for 10 minutes.  It was a melty mess, but we got it done the day before his birthday.

Yesterday, Parker’s birthday, while kids were at school, I made the “cake”.  After thinking how much I didn’t want to make cake and worry about it sinking and trying to cover it with fondant, I got the bright idea to make the cake out of Rice Krispies Treats.  Perfect.  Parker likes those.  Everyone does.  Love how easy it is to make Rice Krispies Treats!  Fondant—also really easy to make.

I used this recipes for Homemade Marshmallow Fondant found on About.com.  My blogging friend, Liz, does all the candy posts for them.  I knew it would be a good recipe, since it was from Liz.  Fondant really couldn’t be easier to make—it only has three ingredients and that’s if you count the water as one of them.  You melt marshmallows with a little water, then you add powdered sugar and stir until you can’t stir anymore, at which point you put it on a powder sugar covered counter and knead it until it is just right.  I didn’t taste it, but word is homemade tastes much better than the premade stuff.  I did taste some fondant on a baby shower cake years ago and did not care for it.  I made two batches of it and now have a lot leftover.  I wanted to make sure it was enough to cover a 12x12 inch surface.  I forgot to take pictures of the fondant alone, but go check out Liz’s post on About.com.  You’ll never have to buy the expensive, premade kind again.  Though I did buy a package of brown, chocolate fondant for the squares on the checker board and I now have more than half of it left.  I see more fondant covered treats in our future.  Any ideas?

I had the treats cake ready to cover, rolled out the fondant, kept making sure it wasn’t stuck to the counter (with enough sugar, but it’s not too much, it was totally doable) then carefully lifted it on to the cake.  That all went pretty smoothly.  Then I set out to make 32 chocolate squares.  I decided not to also make white ones and just checkered the brown ones over the board.  A little time consuming and making sure to cut them precisely each 1  1/2 inches, but I got it done.  Here they are just laying on the cake and are ready to “glue” on, which I did by just brushing each with a little water on the bottom.

No, it was not perfect and exact in the end.  The corners were not squared and a few were cut to fit the edges a bit, but all in all I was happy with how it turned out and even more importantly, Parker was happy, too!

Yes, I was schooled on the queen in the wrong place after I took pictures.  I now know she is always supposed to be on her own color.  Who knew?  I don’t know the slightest thing about chess.  But can now say I’ve made my first fondant covered cake and I’ve made a chess board game!  I have a new found love, admiration and appreciation for fondant cake decorators!  I have no patience and love for that much detail.  The “cake” took about 5 hours.  Eight hours for a cake is just not my thing.  Amazing to think of all the huge, wondrous, shaped cakes that are made on Food Network cake challenges and in bakeries all over the world!

Parker was a happy birthday kid!

We opened family gifts before his friends came to spend the night.  This lucky kids got a Batman fedora he wanted, a wooden sword with a video that teaches you how to use a sword, he got tons of candy and all wrapped individually he received a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, $1, $5, $10, $20, $50—$86.41!

Parker and his friends played game after game of chess.

Mmm, the fingers that were all over those chocolate chess pieces…..

After Parker sliced the first piece of cake, he decided to stab the knife into it.  Sure is much easier to cut and serve this kind of cake—and no forks are even needed for eating it!

Everyone ate the treats and all, including the fondant.

This post has been added to April’s Saturday Spotlight #33 at Angel's Homestead.  Check out all the other wonderful posts from crafts and decorating and DIY and recipes!

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats

Wow—Now THAT’S a recipe title.  I didn’t want to shorten it or leave anything out.  They could easily just be called Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats or Candy Cane Rice Krispies Treats, but they deserve all the recognition from each addition.  Finish reading this and drooling a little, then run (or drive, I’ll allow that) to your nearest Target and find the new, limited edition Candy Cane Oreos and White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s, grab a box of Rice Krispies Cereal and some Kraft marshmallows (although if you’re like me, those are things I always have in the pantry).  Better yet, look to see if Target has the new Kraft Peppermint Mallows, which is what I used.  These treats are super kicked up for the holidays and are so good!

The Candy Cane Oreos are one of their best limited editions yet.  They have that Girl Scouts’ Thin Mints taste, but in Oreo form.  They are good.  My kids really like them.  And they are somewhat picky and often don’t like the “new” flavors of things.   One wouldn’t even try them at first, but after doing so, is hooked.

I really like the White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s, too.  They are strong, but not as much as a candy cane and have that great hint of white chocolate.  The peppermint flavor is the dominate flavor.  I kind of wish it wasn’t quite so strong, but I still love these!  They are easy to snitch a few here and there when they are hiding in your baking closet in an open bag.  (So I’ve heard.)  I don’t have as much of a problem doing that with cookies, but I’m glad I bought two bags of the cookies, because my kids keep snitching those.  And I’ll be back to Target soon for more of the M&M’s before they’re gone!  Run!  How many agree that M&M’s should come permanently in “plain” White Chocolate M&M’s flavor?  Maybe we should all start a petition on their Facebook page or something.  My only wish would be that they just come in regular “plain” M&M’s size.  I kind of think all the new, limited edition, different flavors should just be the regular “plain” size, but they make them a little bigger, I guess so you aren’t confused. ;)

Anyway, these Rice Krispies Treats were delicious!  I made some and took them to a baby shower I attended.  Felt a little bad that it was a shower for a baby boy, but I think they made up for that in flavor and were accepted just fine.  These treats definitely put me in more of a holiday mood. 

Perfect for the 8th week of The 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.  So nice of her to head up the group and keep it running smoothly each week!

Candy Cane Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s Rice Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10 ounce bag of Kraft Jet Puffed Peppermint Mallows (regular mini marshmallows would work, too)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

15 Candy Cane Oreo Cookies, chopped

about 1 cup White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil (nonstick is my favorite!), spray lightly with cooking spray.  Chop the Oreo Cookies, set aside.  Put the marshmallows and butter in a large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for about 40 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave again for 30 seconds.  Stir until butter is mixed in with the melted marshmallows.  (You CAN also do this in a large saucepan, but it takes longer.)

Stir the cereal in to the marshmallow mixture.  When it is all combined, fold in the cookies, then the M&M’s.   Spread the mixture evenly into the baking pan.  I like to tamp it down with a potato masher sprayed lightly with cooking spray to get it even, then I don’t have to have sticky hands. ;)  Let sit on the counter for about an hour to firm up.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges and peel off the foil.  Set on a cutting board and cut into desired sized bars. 

While I think, “Hey, at least wait for Thanksgiving to come and let’s enjoy that before Christmas is here.”  I also know it will be here (and gone) before we know it.  Start making treats—it will get you right in the spirit of it all, at least it has for me.

Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispies Treats

Yes, you read that right—Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispies Treats and I’ll be darned if they don’t taste just like a cinnamon roll—but in Rice Krispies treats fashion. 

A couple months ago I found Kraft Cinnamon Bun Marshmallows at the store and grabbed a bag.  (They are since hard to find and I’m not sure you could find them, but try your local Super Target—they seem to have all the good limited edition stuff!)  You could totally make these treats with regular marshmallows because it’s really the added cinnamon/brown sugar/butter mixture that is spread over them before rolling them up and the drizzled icing on top that makes them so cinnamon roll-like. 

Simple as can be.  I just made Rice Krispies Treats and pressed them onto a 15 x 10 inch baking sheet.  I then removed them from the sheet and laid them on a cutting board.  After spreading the cinnamon mixture over them, I rolled the thin Krispies up just as I’d do cinnamon rolls.

Ready to roll!

Rolled and ready to slice!

All lined up and ready to be drizzled!

Yeah, they’re good just like this—but a cinnamon roll isn’t a cinnamon roll without the icing on top!

Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

8 ounce bag of Cinnamon Bun Marshmallows**

2 ounces regular miniature marshmallows**

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter

6 cups (165 grams) Rice Krispies cereal

For the cinnamon filling--

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup (110 grams) packed brown sugar

1  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or to taste)

For the icing--

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoons corn syrup

1-2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spray an 15 x 10 inch baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the marshmallows (**The Cinnamon Bun mallows come in 8 ounce bags, you want a total of 10 ounces of marshmallows, which is what size the bag of regular miniature marshmallows come in**, so if you can’t get the Cinnamon Bun mallows, just use regular!) and the butter.  Microwave the marshmallows and butter in 30 second intervals until (it only takes about 1 1/2 minutes).  Add the cereal and stir to combine.  Press the cereal mixture evenly in the baking sheet.  It will spread out prefectly!

In a medium sized bowl, combine the brown sugar, softened butter and cinnamon and stir with a fork to mix well.  Remove the Rice Krispies Treats from the baking sheet and set them on a cutting board.  (They should be sturdy enough to pick up and lay the whole thing on the board without breaking.)  Spread the cinnamon/butter mixture evenly over the treats.  Roll the treat up starting from the long end.  Slice into 16 (about 1 inch each) rolls.  Set each one down on the baking sheet.

In another medium sized bowl, combine the powdered sugar, corn syrup and vanilla.  Add one tablespoon of the milk and whisk together (you can also do this in an electric mixer, but I did it all by hand and it was easy enough).  Until the icing is the desired consistency, add a little more milk at a time until it is the thickness you’d like.  Put the icing in a plastic zip top bag  and snip of a corner.  Drizzle the icing over the “cinnamon rolls”.  Let sit until the icing is set—about 30 minutes.

These are being eating quickly at our house!  Since I know I’ll have a hard time finding the Cinnamon Bun Marshmallows again, I plan to make these again and use the regular ones.  I think they’ll be just as good!

Spring Marshmallow Rice Krispies Treats and Gummy Bear Rice Krispies Treats

You know of my love for making all kinds of delicious RICE KrISpIeS TREATS, I have now over 15 fun Rice Krispies Treats recipes on my blog.

Having bought a bag of the Easter bunnies Kraft Marshmallows recently, I decided to throw some of those in some good ol’ “plain” Rice Krispies Treats.  They easily became fun, festive, colorful and even more ooey, gooey and marshmallow-y.  (Add the colored marshmallows after you’ve melted the other marshmallows with butter, mixed in the cereal and it starts to cool a bit so they don’t melt too much!)

I really started thinking of what I could do after Kevin recently bought a giant bag of gummy bears for an out of town trip he was going on---and then forgot to take them with him.  After he returned from his trip, he challenged me to make something with the gummy bears.  Challenge on!

Well, did you know that even if you make chocolate covered gummy bears, they will still melt all over when they are baked into a cookie?  Yep, they do.  I kind of knew they would, but tried it anyway.  I was hoping that maybe chocolate covering them would protect them a little.  No—pools of melted colors all over my parchment paper covered baking sheet, oozing out of the cookies.  Not too big of a loss, since I wasn’t thinking it would work, I only made a few cookies with gummy bears, but at least I tried.

That was when I decided the gummy bears needed to be put in some kind of no-bake treat, so of course I decided it needed to be Rice Krispies Treats.  When I made the Easter bunny mallow treats, I put half of it in a 9x9 inch pan with just the extra marshmallows, then with the other half, I stirred in some gummy bears, too and put that in an 8x8 inch pan.

These are a big hit with the boys as they like anything with candy.  I prefer just the ones with the Easter bunny marshmallows.  Is there a better, easier treat out there than Rice Krispies Treats.  Just follow the recipe on the box (or there is also one on the bag of marshmallows) and add other things to it—easy, fun, and yummy! 

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats

Almost have nothing to say about these latest Rice Krispies Treats creation of mine—because the pictures do all the talking.  If you like Oreo cookies and particularly the Mint Filled Oreos, you’ll really like these Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treat!

I was inspired by a couple of things in my pantry.  One was a bag of yet another Kraft marshmallows I’d found recently—chocolate mint.

I like them.  They aren’t too chocolate minty, but were perfect for making these treats.  My family must have liked the mallows, too—as I only had half a bag left because they thought they’d be perfect in their chocolate mint hot cocoa recently.  So I made these Rice Krispies Treats with only half a bag of the chocolate mint ones and a whole bag of regular mini marshmallows.  I also had some Cocoa Krispies cereal, so I used those, but regular Rice Krispies would be great, too!

So, besides having the chocolate mint marshmallows, I also just happened to have some Cool Mint Oreo cookies, too.  I’m working on using things in my pantry!  (Oh, I’ve still got lots of sweet goodies in my baking pantry, so stay tuned!)  I’d bought the Oreos for just such a treat as these—and then, once again, my family started eating the cookies.  So these treats actually don’t have as many cookies as I would have liked to put in them, but still plenty and if you make these—put as many Oreos as you’d like!

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10.5 ounce bag of regular mini marshmallows

4 ounces (1/2 a bag) Chocolate Mint Marshmallows (if you can’t find them, just use more mini marshmallows)

7  1/2 cups, (310 grams) Cocoa Krispies cereal (regular Rice Krispies would be fine, too)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

16 Cool Mint Oreo cookies (or more, if desired), roughly chopped

Line a 9x9 inch pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine all the marshmallows and the butter.  Microwave in 30 second intervals until all melted.  (It only takes a minute to a minute and a half.)  Stir with a wooden spoon.  Add the cereal and stir together until combined.   Fold in the cookies.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan and press down evenly.  (I use a flat potato masher that is lightly sprayed with cooking spray—it works perfectly!)  Let set at room temperature for an hour or two.  Remove from pan with foil edges.  Peel off foil and cut into desired size pieces on a cutting board.

 If you like chocolate mint things, you’re really like these.  The mint flavor isn’t too strong and perfectly sweet!

Gingerbread Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies (Attune Foods Product Review, too)

It’s no secret that I really like Rice Krispies Treats.  When I saw in the store recently a new flavor of marshmallows, I had to get them.  Besides the flavor gingerbread sounded great in marshmallows, aren’t they also just so cute!

A flavor combo that I really like is ginger and chocolate.  So I knew in my playing around that these would ultimately have chocolate.

I was lucky enough recently to be given a bunch of coupons for Attune Foods.  Have you heard of them or seen these?  (Thanks to Anne-Marie from This Mama Cooks for the coupons for Attune Foods!)

There are some other products, too.  But these are the ones I got when I redeemed my coupons (plus a second box of Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice not pictured).  I actually have been buying the Uncle Sam Toasted Whole Wheat Berry Flakes for a while now.  I spotted them in the store (Walmart) in the cereal aisle a few months ago and have been putting them in my homemade granola since.  I love the little flakes and they also have added flaxseed with them. 

I eat granola everyday for breakfast and nonfat Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit.

I can’t wait to try the New Morning Graham Crackers!  But I must tell you—I made these fabulous Gingerbread Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats and used the Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice and they taste great!  I’m always happy to make a treat just a little bit more healthy with certain ingredients and I would totally make rice crispy treats again and use this cereal from Attune Foods.  So lets get back to those Gingerbread Chocolate Treats!

Great mallows, great Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice Cereal, all set.  I did want to bump up the chocolate and ginger flavor so I added lots of chocolate melted in with the marshmallow and with mini chocolate chips throughout and on top as well.  I added more ginger and a couple other spices as well.  Then while I was at Whole Foods (where I found the Attune Foods products), I also found a bunch of different flavored candy canes all with natural coloring and flavorings and lo and behold one was gingerbread flavored.  HAD to get one!

The candy cane tastes great.  I like that it has a little kick from using tumeric and paprika for the coloring.  Check out all the flavors of candy canes at Hammond's Candies, like cranberry, pear, sugar plum and much more!  Each one is 2 ounces! 

I crushed the gingerbread candy cane and sprinkled it over the top of the rice crispy treats.  It adds some great flavor and crunch—but don’t think that is necessary to make these treats.  I’m sure they are still great without the crushed candy cane, so don’t let that stop you. ;)

Gingerbread Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10 ounces Gingerbread Mallows (you could probably use regular marshmallows and up the ginger and spices if you can’t find these)

6 cups Erehon Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (Kelloggs’s Cocoa Krispies would work, too)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped

1  1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

2/3 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

2 ounces gingerbread flavored candy cane, crushed

In a large, microwave safe bowl, combine the marshmallows and butter and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted.  Add the chopped chocolate and spices to the hot melted marshmallow and stir until all the chocolate is pretty much melted. 

Stir in the Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice Cereal until all combined.  Spread into a 9 inch square pan that is lined with nonstick foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Push it all down evenly with a potato masher.  Sprinkle the top with the crushed candy cane and the mini chocolate chips.  Let set for an hour or so.  Remove from pan holding the foil edges and cut into bars.

     These are perfect for the holidays, so they are my choice for the 11th week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.

Hop around the blog hop and check out all the other treats for the second to last week of all this cookie and candy madness!

Chocolate Caramel Chews—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I’m not sure if these should be called candy or a no-bake cookie, but they are good and are my choice for this week’s 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  They were super simple to make and really would be something perfect to add to your holiday goodies.  The original recipe are just called Caramel Chews and as written, don’t have chocolate, but while I was rolling them into balls, I couldn’t help but think they should be dipped in chocolate, so they are Chocolate Caramel Chews.  I actually made some of them “plain” (no chocolate) and I covered some of them completely in chocolate and just drizzled some with chocolate as well.

I have a two sided sheet of paper with a bunch of no-bake cookie recipes on it, it looks older, like it was from years ago (70’s/80’s?) and says “Dorothy Dean’s No-Bake Cookies”, recipes from Dorothy Dean’s Taste Testing Kitchen, from The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington).  I have no idea where I got this sheet of paper.  I looked online for information about Dorothy Dean and found an obituary (just from this past April) for someone who was dubbed “Dorothy Dean” as she was the head of the Homemaker’s Services for the Spokesman-Review.  The thing that sort of baffles me about this paper full of recipes is that I really have no idea where it came from and even why it just showed up here.  Did my mother give it to me years ago?  Hmmm.  Whatever the case, it’s got a number of fun recipes on it and I do like that it is a good no-bake go-to page.  Some of the recipes are Chinese Ting-a-lings, Skillet Date Cookies, No-bake Brownies, Porcupine Cookies and the Caramel Chews were among them and some others as well.

Here’s the recipe and my only adaption was just adding the chocolate to some of them

Chocolate Caramel Chews

36 caramels, unwrapped

3 tablespoons cream

1 cup crushed corn flakes

1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

4 ounces chocolate, melted (I used almond bark, but any chocolate would be good)

Melt the caramels and cream in the top of a double boiler, stirring frequently until smooth.  Put the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.  Pour the caramel over the mixture and stir well until everything is coated in the caramel.  Shape into 1 inch balls and set on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Melt the chocolate in 20 second intervals in the microwave in a glass dish, stirring in between each time.   Dip the chews one at a time in the chocolate and spoon it over to completely cover them.  Set on a lined baking sheet until chocolate is hardened.   Put a small amount of the melted chocolate in a plastic zip top bag and snip off a little corner and drizzle chocolate over some of the chews.  Optional—set each in a mini muffin paper liner to serve them.  Makes about 3 dozen.

I love the combination of flavors in these and the texture with the crunch from the corn flakes, Rice Krispies and nuts and the chewiness from the caramel and coconut.  If you don’t like coconut, you could leave it out and just add an extra cup of Rice Krispies.  I think it would even be good to just use all Rice Krispies.  These make a great 1-2-3 bite treat!

Try them with your upcoming holiday goodies!  This is Week 6 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!