The idea for these treats came from an article for kids in National Geographic Little Kids.  The marshmallow crispy cereal part is mixed up, then pressed into a cookie cutter, in this case a lovely heart. I used leftover strawberry icing from my daughter’s birthday cake, which I have been keeping in the freezer, to make them pink. On top are dried cranberries on half and the other half dried cranberries and almonds.

They look so whimsical, but they are oh so tasty! The strawberry icing sort of seeps into the crispy part, melding all the flavours together and the cranberries and almonds give a nice textural difference. If you make these with kids, make sure the cereal part is not too hot for them to handle. It will harden up quickly as it cools and you may have to end up reheating it, especially if everyone wants to be artistic or perfect. Just give it some time and it will all come together nicely.

This is a good project to really get your hands into. My kids all loved smooshing the cereal into the cookie cutter, even the one-year-old, though he was more interested in eating it . In the end we got 23 hearts, including the ones we all ate before I took the picture.

Sweetheart Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

pink icing (You could use food colouring or ready made icing if you prefer)

dried cranberries (optional, use any decoration you like)

almonds (optional)

Melt the marshmallows and butter together in a saucepan. After it is all nice, smooth, and gooey, add the crispy rice cereal. Have a bowl of water to dip your hands in, a platter for the treats, and as many cookie cutters as you like ready on the side. For kids it is nice for each to have their own, but I had mine all share one so everyone had to take turns.

Get your hands wet, then pick up a fistful of the crispy-rice mixture and smoosh it into the cookie cutter until it fills it evenly. Gently remove the cookie cutter and place the treat on the platter. Repeat until you run out of cereal mixture.

Decorate each sweetheart with a thin layer of pink icing and a few cranberries and/or almonds. Enjoy!

It was a perfect combination. The white chocolate accentuates the taste of the marshmallow and the buttery cashews work well with the cranberries. The white chocolate helped to bind everything as well. With the amount of marshmallows I had, or perhaps how this batch turned out, they seemed less gooey. If I had added more cereal, or even more cranberries and nuts, my treats would have fallen apart.

Now, if you are making these gluten-free be careful, as I know most of you are, to read the labels on the cereal. Most crispy rice cereals, Rice Krispies included, have barley malt in them. That’s why my marshmallow crispy treats are chocolate, because the only gluten-free crispy rice cereal I could find had cocoa in it. Not that that’s necessarily a problem; more chocolate is good for you, right, all those antioxidants?

Holiday Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows (I used 32 large marshmallows, what I had left over)

120g (1 cup) cashews

120g (1 cup) dried cranberries

284g (10 ounces) white chocolate chips

Grease or line a tin with foil or paper. Use any size. The larger it is the thinner the treats. Anna recommends a smaller one for more dramatic results. I used a larger one. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in the marshmallows until they are melted. Remove from heat, then stir in crispy rice cereal, dried cranberries, cashews, then the white chocolate chips. If you don’t stir in the white chocolate chips last then they will melt all over. If that doesn’t bother you, then don’t worry.

Spread the mixture evenly into prepared tin. They will harden up as they cool. Cool completely and slice into squares. Enjoy!