I wanted to mention these cute little treats I made for my daughter’s birthday. I have a (now) 5 year old and I wanted to bring something to her class that would be a treat that was bright and fun but portable. Since they are little people I wanted something that they could take to go if they didn’t want to finish it in one sitting.
I decided against cupcakes because they can often be so big and a little messy for preschoolers. Plus we were having cupcakes at her birthday party anyway so something easy to make for 25 little ones was in order.
My little girl loves Rice Krispie treats- she would pick these over ice cream, cake, cookies- so I knew those would be perfect but I wanted to make them extra special for her birthday.
So I decided to use Fruity Pebbles cereal to give them a rainbow look. I think you can also use rainbow sprinkles or food coloring to make fun colors but I had a great result with the Fruity Pebbles.
The recipe is so simple- I discovered Fruity Pebbles are extremely sweet so I think I would have had more vibrant colors just using that but I decided to mix it with regular Rice Krispies to cut the sweetness factor just a bit.
Also one other note- I have started using Marshmallow Fluff in my Krispies instead of marshmallows. This recipe works either way but I like the fluff because your treat will retain a softness and it mixes together faster then standard marshmallows. I got my fluff at World Market but you can use any brand you like.
Here is the recipe I used:
- 3 cups Fruity Pebbles Cereal
- 3 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 Jar Marshmallow Fluff (about 7oz)
- Start by buttering a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Add the butter to a pan over medium low heat and start to let it melt.
- Add your marshmallow fluff- I used just under one jar (roughly 6oz)- and stir until both are incorporated and melted.
- Add 2 cups of Fruity Pebbles cereal and stir gently.
- Next add 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal and stir gently.
- Taste and add one more cup of each or adjust to suit your tastes. (More Fruity Pebbles for extra sweetness or more Krispies for less sweetness.)
- Add more cereal as needed to get the right consistency.
- Pour contents of pan into your buttered casserole dish.
- Press down gently with your fingers or a spatula.
- Let cool at room temperature and they should harden enough to cut. If not pop in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the process.
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The kids loved these treats! The one caution I have if you use marshmallow fluff is that you want to go just a tiny bit heavy on cereal because the fluff won’t give you that super hard consistency. You want them firm enough to pick up and carry around. I made these on a crazy hot day and they were slightly falling apart. That is easily remedied by popping them in the freezer for a few minutes. My girls took ages to eat their treats and it was probably 100 degrees that day so I suspect that was why they were not holding together as well. I also used the entire container of fluff so the second batch I just added about 1 extra cup of cereal and they were perfect.
I just tucked these into little baggies with a piece of wax paper and then tied with assorted color ribbons.
They were a big hit with the preschoolers :).
And if you are looking for another fun idea for healthy kid food- check out these adorable rainbow fruit cups:
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