Cinnamon Toast Crunch Smores

Somehow we managed to have Hershey bars and marshmallows in the house but no graham crackers, which meant no smores. Then my lovely, intelligent husband suggested using the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal in place of the graham cracker. Brilliant idea! The extra sugar and cinnamon bring a whole new level to smores. These may not be ideal for the campfire but for the oven, they are perfect!

Ingredients:
1 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch
2 Hershey chocolate bars
8 large marshmallows

Directions:
Set oven to broil.

Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Create four 1/4 cup mounts on the cookie sheet and slightly spread them out. Place half a chocolate bar on top of each pile. Add two marshmallows on top of the chocolate bar.

Place under the broiler until marshmallows reach desired golden brown color. Keep an eye on your smores because the marshmallows can go from brown to burnt quickly under the broiler.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Smores Recipes:
Smores Wontons 
Smores Cookies!
Smores Pie
Peep Smores  

Two Fall Rice Krispie Treats: Brown Butter and Pumpkin Pie

I love injecting fall flavor into food--like pumpkin hot cocoa or apple cider cupcakes. While I love regular rice krispie treats, it's nice to change up flavors sometimes. So that's exactly what I did. The brown butter gives the treats a nice nutty flavor. And the pumpkin and spices make the treats tastes like a crunchy piece of pumpkin pie.

Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
7 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 stick butter
5 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:
Grease a 9x13-inch pan with butter of cooking spray.

First make the brown butter. Place the butter in a stock pot or large pan and melt it over medium heat. Continue to cook it, occasionally stirring it until the butter boils and turns a golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma--approximately 10 minutes. Careful not to burn the butter.

Add the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are melted then remove from heat. Pour in cereal and mix until the rice krispies are well coated. Transfer to your greased dish. With greased hands or spatula, press the treats into the pan.

Allow to cool completely then cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispies
Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
4 cups mini marshmallows
1/8 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal

Directions:
Grease a 9x13-inch pan with butter or cooking spray. 

In a large pan melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in marshmallows. Once they are melted, remove from heat and add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Stir until well combined.

Important: Unlike other rice krispie treats, you need to let the marshmallow mixture cool for 15 to 20 minutes. If you get impatient (like I did the first time) and don't let it cool and thicken, your treats will turn out too moist. They'll still taste yummy, but they don't have that nice crunch.

Pour in the cereal and coat well. Transfer to grease pan and press the treats into the pan with greased hands or spatula.

Allow to cool completely and cut into bars.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Fall Recipes
Baked Apple Chips
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Savory Apples with Stuffed with Sage and Sausage
Pumpkin Butter 
Pumpkin Caramels!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
An Apple Cider Birthday Cake
Delicious Apple Pie 
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip

Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Your basic Rice Krispies Ingredients

Is there anyone out there that doesn't like rice krispie treats? If there is, I haven't met them. Eric is a huge fan (and that's why he got a rice krispie cake for his last birthday). He had a bad day at work so instead of mopping the floors like I planned (seriously would you rather mop floors or bake?), I made rice krispie treats to surprise him with when he got home. But me being me, I couldn't make ordinary treats or even just one kind. So I made these brown butter rice krispie treats and pumpkin pie rice krispie treats (okay, the pumpkin ones are more for me than him since Eric is all pumpkined out).

The brown butter seems to be all the rage on Pinterest right now. I keep seeing brown butter this, brown butter that. I've even made a couple of brown butter dishes--brown sugar cookies and pasta and veggies in a brown butter sauce. Both were amazing. Brown butter adds a nice nutty flavor to any dish.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
7 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 stick butter
5 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:
Grease a 9x13-inch pan with butter of cooking spray.

First make the brown butter. Place the butter in a stock pot or large pan and melt it over medium heat. Continue to cook it, occasionally stirring it until the butter boils and turns a golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma--approximately 10 minutes. Careful not to burn the butter.

Add the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are melted then remove from heat. Pour in cereal and mix until the rice krispies are well coated. Transfer to your greased dish. With greased hands or spatula, press the treats into the pan.

Allow to cool completely then cut into bars.

Because I was making two types of rice krispies, I halved each recipe. 

Enjoy!

~Krissy

No-Bake Marshmallow Cornflake Wreaths

If you love rice crispy treats, you will love these no-bake Christmas cookies. My mom used to make these for me and my brother and we always loved them. I don't make them every year--there are just too many delicious cookies recipes out there--but the years I don't, I always miss them.

Now I usually decorate these with cinnamon candies. But not this year. I had a big bag of them. But a certain someone (ahem, Eric) ate them all. This is why I usually hide my baking goodies. In his defense, though, I didn't tell him not to eat them all. I just didn't think he could/would eat so many in less than a week. So I just used sprinkles to decorate them instead.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3 cups mini marshmallows
4 cups plain cornflakes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-8 drops green food coloring
cinnamon candies

Directions:
In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add marshmallows, stirring until the marshmallows are melted. Add vanilla and food coloring. Mix until the mixture is smooth. Carefully stir in cornflakes, making sure they are well-coated. Remove from heat. On waxed paper, form the mixture into wreaths. You can make them as large or small as you'd like. Decorate with cinnamon candies. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

2012 Christmas Baking List
Christmas Kiss Cookies
Tea Cookies
Candied Citrus Peels
Christmas Candy Corn: Peppermint and Cinnamon
Homemade Chocolate-Covered Cherries
Sea Salt Nutella Fudge
Peanut Butter Fudge
Spiced Cranberry Juice

Check out last year's baking list!

Homemade Marshmallows

Big marshmallows, mini-marshmallows, marshmallow fluff, roasted marshmallows, marshmallows in hot chocolate, any which way, I love marshmallows. Eric likes to work his marshmallows with his hands and turn them into taffy before eating them (he is still such a little kid). So it was only a matter of time before I decided to make my very own marshmallows. And when I discovered that I already had all the ingredients in my pantry, I knew the time was now.

Twice I have broken hand mixers during my holiday baking. I almost did it again making these marshmallows. I strongly recommend using a standing mixer when making these.

Marshmallow Swirls

Ingredients:
3 packets of unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
red food coloring, optional

Special equipment: candy thermometer

Directions:
Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish and dust with confectioners' sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer), combine gelatin and 1/2 cold water and allow to soak.

In a saucepan, add sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water and cook over medium-high heat. When the sugar dissolves, increase heat to high and cook the syrup until the temperature reaches 240 degrees on the candy thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat.

Attach the whisk attachment to your mixer. Slowly pour the syrup into the gelatin while whisking on low speed. Increase speed to high and whip the mixture until it becomes very thick, approximately 15 minutes.  Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.

Pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Since I was making these marshmallows for Christmas, I decided to give them a red swirl with food coloring. Drop a few drops of food coloring across the surface of marshmallows and swirl the food coloring using a toothpick. Dust with more confectioners' sugar. Leave out uncovered overnight so the marshmallows dry out.

Remove the marshmallow from the pan (I found it easiest to just lift the marshmallow from the pan versus turning the pan over) and cut them into squares. Dust them with confectioners' sugar one last time. Store in an airtight containers.

 Enjoy!

~Krissy

2011 Christmas Baking List:
Mint-Chocolate Truffles
Starlight Mint Cake
Sea Salt Caramels
Rocky Road Chocolate Log
Candied Citrus Peels
Easy Rum Balls
Homemade Marshmallows
Christmas Kiss Cookies
Tea Cookies

Other Holiday Cooking Ideas:
Snowflake Tortillas
Gingerbread House Decoration Ideas
Christmas Peep S'mores