A majority of the recipes I like to make often have me shaping things into balls; ergo, they usually have the word "balls" in the name. Although it always leads to a number of wonderfully inappropriate jokes, at times I feel the need to switch things up and keep you on your toes. So "bites" it is.
The ingredients (sans the chocolate bark) and the first few steps parallel your typical Rice Krispies Treats recipe, but after you stir the cereal in with the marshmallows, things get a little interesting (and irritating).
Marshmallow Cereal Bites (approx. 25 bites)
Ingredients
- 1T butter
- 5.25oz mini marshmallows (half of a regular sized bag, which is 10.5oz)
- 3c of your favorite cereal
- baking bark of your choice
Directions
1. Prep a cookie sheet with wax paper to hold your bites once shaped.
2. Melt butter in big pot over medium heat on the stove, add marshmallows and heat until melted.
3. Add cereal and mix until fully combined.
4. Pour cereal mixture into a bowl and let cool slightly until you are able to work with it easily.
5. Using buttered or oiled hands or your 2t cookie scoop, snag chunks of the cereal/mallow mixture and roll into balls, smashing the cereal together so there is minimal empty space in each treat.
6. Let the bites cool completely.
7. Melt your baking bark, coat the balls and put them in the freezer to set.
The troublesome part occurred during the shaping process. When the goo was too warm, it stuck to everything but itself. When it cooled too much, however, it was difficult to manipulate.
I started out using the cookie scoop, but once I got the general idea of the size of each bite, I eye-balled the rest. I also rolled the cereal goop between my hands to make a sort of cylinder before I smashed it into its final round shape.
I made two batches: Fruity Pebbles Bites (because I bleed Fruity Pebbles) and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bites. To coat them, I used white chocolate and regular chocolate baking bark, respectively. I thought both were ridiculously awesome and based on the numerous declarations of love I received (and a reiteration of a proposal of marriage), it's safe to say that I'm not the only one.
For more of Cupid's arrows in baked-good form, visit The Cereal Baker.
