Not just for Easter 03

    'Not just for Easter 01',was about the pink bunnie sandwich cookies I had made as Easter treats this year. 'Not just for Easter 02', was about the yellow duckie sandwich cookies. And yes, the two are made from two totally different recipes.

    I had said that I fully realized that Easter, Valentines and Christmas are when most people usually bake sugar cookies. How-ever, these cookies can be made for ever so many other occasions / events!  Change your cookie cutter, and sometimes even your food coloring, and wa-la! You'll have a whole new type of cookie ;-) I had shared a couple of ideas for other occasions in the '01' posting.
    Today, in 'Not just for Easter 03', I am showing you the Rice Krispie(TM) eggs I make. And this year, I took them up an additional notch. ;-)
    I have been making Rice Krispie (TM) treats into eggs at Easter time and wreaths at Christmas time, for y-e-a-r-s!!!  HONEST!  I use to make them back when our sons were all in elementary school.  So I found in highly amusing to see commercials on TV this year about making Rice Krispie (TM) eggs, as well as seeing umteen links to other Easter treats people had made out of them this year.
     For the record, well actually, four records - First, I did get my ideas from a news paper / magazine ad / promo all those years ago. Secondly, the style eggs I make, are not the type they were doing the commercials about this year. Thirdly, I know that in the past, I already did a posting about Rice Krispie (TM) treats. (You can find that one HERE) So why then am I doing another one about them? Because I had told a couple of 'my girls' I would.   ;-). And fourthly, no, I do not plan on making this blog only a cooking blog. You know I could not give up sharing stories about my kids or their pets with you. Or about 'treasures' I find. Or... life. ;-)

    I didn't remember to start taking pictures until w-a-y in to the process. Sorry. I am seriously thinking about making myself a sign to hang in the kitchen, reminding myself to take pictures. o;-p

    The first step is to HEAVILY spray a stainless steel pan (or whatever type you have) with pan coating spray. Put it on the stove burner, turn the burner on, and heat until all of the spray melts. Doing so will then get the spray absorbed into the pan and make clean up ever so much easier! (<-- Bonus tip there ;-) )
   
    As soon as all of the spray looks melted, add your butter to the pan and turn the heat down a bit. Once the butter is melted enough that the bottom of the pan has a light coating of butter, add your marshmallows. Wait a minute or two, then stir. The stirring will help lightly coat the marshmallows with the hot butter and help them to melt faster. Wait another minute or two, then start stirring in earnest.
    For what it is or isn't worth - I recommend using either a heavily sprayed wooden spoon, or a thick plastic spoon for this. For a reason unbeknownest to me, metal spoons, even when sprayed well, just don't seem to work out as well.
    When your stirring, make SURE that you keep the spoon attached to the bottom of the pan. Around the outside, around the middle, cover all areas of the bottom of your pan! Only rarely do you pick the spoon up and use it to scrape the actual sides of the pan.
    When all of the marshmallows are completely melted, and you have thourally blended them with the melted butter; with the burner still on very low, start adding your Rice Krispies (TM). Once all of the cereal has been added, and your ready to really go at the mixing everything together, turn your burner off.

    After everything is well mixed, set the pan aside for about four to five minutes. During this time, get out a piece of parchment or waxed paper, and lay it either on your counter, or on a cookie sheet pan.

    After the four to five minutes are up, spray your hands with the pan coating spray, then rub your hands together as though your rubbing in lotion.
    Scoop out a handful of the rice krispie (TM) mixture and squeeze it together, while forming it into your desired shape. YES, the mixture very well could still be really warm. Work fast ;->.  I have found that I need to again spray my hands, after every fourth or fifth egg/wreath. (You don't need to wash them first, just add another coating of spray.)
    As each creation is formed, set it onto the parchment or waxed paper to allow to set up. Occasionally you will find that you didn't get one adhered quite enough together, it will start cracking apart. Don't fret! Just use your fingers to squeeze it together again!

  [ Let the eggs 'set up' for a good twenty minutes before decorating them, or doing anything else with them. ]

   Like I said earlier, this year, I took them (the eggs) up an additional notch. ;-)  I had been trying to figure out which type of a chocolate treat I wanted to make. Come on, ya gotta have something chocolate in Eater baskets or bags (more on the latter one coming later ;->)!!! Then the Lord brought to my mind how I sometimes melt chocolate chips on top of a pan of Rice Krispie (TM) treats. Hummm....

    Get out a double boiler. Put water in the bottom pan, but not enough for the water to actually touch the bottom of the upper pan when it's set in place. Place the pan of water on the stove. Place the second pan on top and dump in l-o-t-s of chocolate chips. 
    [Back in the posting about the Chocolate Covered Strawberries, I mentioned about trying different ways of melting my chocolate, as well as trying different types of chocolate; but our favorite is via using Nestle (TM) semi-sweet choc. chips. Remember, lots of store brand choc. chips contain wax, and thus we have found them to not melt as smoothly or be quite as tasty.]

      Wait a couple of minutes until you can see by looking that some of the chips are turning darker due to getting warm. Start stirring them, making sure to scrape the bottom of your pan as you do so. No, you do not have to stand there and stir them the whole time.

    Once the water in the bottom pan comes to a high boil, turn it w-a-y down. By now, all of the chips will be melting and you'll be able to stir them into a nice smooth sauce like substance. Keep your burner just barely on while you dunk your treats.

    I hold onto the stem of strawberries to dunk them, what was I going to use to dunk the Rice Krispie (TM) treats?  Just using my fingers would be like looking for burns. I thought of using tongs, but then dismissed them. Then the idea of using a meat fork came to mind. :->  Bingo!

    Occasionally an egg would slide off the fork, but it was really quite easy to put the tongs back in the same holes and pick the egg back up. That also sometimes meant that I then had to use the spoon to smooth the chocolate over. But it was easy to do!

    After you dunk one, place it back on the paper. You CAN place them quite close together. Just preferable not touching.

    Don't these just look ever so yummy?!?!!!!

    If you run out of dip-able chocolate, just add more chips to your pan, turn the burner back up for a bit, and soon you'll have enough again.

    I use to decorate my Rice Krispie (TM) eggs with little pink flowers made via tube frosting accompanied by leafs made from green paste tube frosting. I had planned to again this year, so I had put tube frosting's on the shopping list for Brian. The thing is, I didn't specify which type of tube frosting I wanted. He bought the gel type.

      Aw well. He DID try :-)

     Besides, they didn't look half bad with out the flowers on top. And man did they taste wonderful!!!

     This is what we took with us to Brian's side of the family Easter dinner.

    Now for the recipe -
    'Shape-able Rice Krispie (TM) Treats'
       recipe adapted by Cheryl B.

        Pan Coating Spray
       1 stick (1/2 cup) Butter
       1 bag (10.5 ounces) mini marshmallows
                (they melt down better than the large ones do)
       8 cups Rice Krispie (TM) cereal

      optional - Nestle (TM) semi-sweet chocolate chips

      Spray and then pre-heat your pan before adding the butter. Once there is some butter covering the bottom of your pan, add the marshmallows. Wait a couple of minutes and then stir, coating the marshmallows with the butter. Wait another couple of minutes and then stir the mixture till smooth, making sure to continually scrape the bottom of the pan.  turn the heat way down, and start mixing in the cereal. Once all of it is added, turn your burner off and completely mix everything.
    Set pan aside and wait four to five minutes, mean while setting out your parchment or waxed paper.
    Spray your hand heavily with pan coating spray, and then rub in as you would lotion. Scoop out a handful of the cereal mixture, and work quickly to form it, squeezing it together as you go.  Set your creation on the paper to set and dip out another handful.  When you have made all of them, let them set up for a good twenty minutes before decorating or dunking them.
   
    To dunk them in chocolate, melt the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler. Use a meat fork to dunk your shapes, then place them back on the paper to set up again.

    Recipe makes twenty (20) 2" wide (at the back) 3" long eggs.

    Are you drooling yet? Benson sure took tempting looking pictures for me, didn't he? (Thanks Benson!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
  I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:

~ "Sweet Tooth Friday('s)", hosted by Alli, at 'Alli 'n Son' (Parenting and Life with a side of Chocolate) (http://alli-n-son.com/) 
~ "Foodie Friday('s)" (#1), are hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum' (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)
~ "Foodie Friday('s)" (#2), are hosted by Bianca, at 'Little Brick Ranch' (http://www.littlebrickranch.com/)
~ "Friday Potluck('s)", are hosted by Erin, at 'EKat's Kitchen' (http://www.ekatskitchen.com/)
~ "Fat Camp Friday('s)" are hosted by Miranda, at 'Mangoes and Chutney' (http://www.mangoesandchutney.com)

LATE ADD -
~ "Sweets For A Saturday", hosted by Lisa, at 'Sweet As Sugar Cookies' (http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com)