Cereal Treats for Molding

Cereal treats are a delicious snack anytime. They are great for get-togethers and parties not only for kids but adults love them too. They are fun and easy to make for kid parties as well. If you try to find treats or have special treats made to match your party theme you could spend a lot of money. Cereal treats are one of the cheapest treats you could make and you can easily make them to match your party theme. Plan ahead...the main ingredients in cereal treats are cereal and marshmallows and these both have a pretty good shelf life so buy these items when they go on sale or when you get coupons for them. Also if you plan on buying icing and candy to decorate do the same for these items as well. You could buy these items weeks or months in advance when you find deals on them and have them ready to go when your party comes up.

Let's say you are having a tea party or princess themed party. You can mold or use cookie cutters to make cereal treats in the shape of flowers, crowns, teacups, etc. Or maybe you are having a sports themed party. Cut out footballs, baseballs and basketballs out of the treats. Then decorate them with icing and candies.

A really adorable idea is to cut 3 different sized circles out of the treats with each size being slightly smaller than the previous. (Instead of circles you could cut squares or triangles.) Then stack the three circles on top of each other to make them into a 3-tiered cereal treat cake. Make a few batches of different colored icing. Place a few dollops of icing in resealable plastic sandwich bags and seal them up. Each color placed in its own plastic sandwich bag. Then set out bowls of different types of candies.

Each party guest will get a 3-tiered cereal cake and bags of different colored icing. Set the bowls of candy in the middle of the table. Snip off a little bit of the end of the plastic sandwich bags. Then the guests can pipe their icing onto their cereal treat cake and decorate them anyway they like. They can also add candies to the cakes as decoration and use the icing to hold the candy pieces in place. This is a fun, edible craft the kids can do.

Some Other Ideas Are:

- Use green food coloring and make Christmas tree shapes. Place candies on the trees to look like ornaments.

- Use red food coloring and make hearts. Great treat for Valentine's Day. Also dip heart shapes into chocolate.

- Use pastel food coloring and shape cereal into egg shapes. Decorate for Easter. Also make bunny and baby chick shapes.

- Use red and blue food coloring and make star shapes for the 4^th of July.

Cereal Treat Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 6 cups cereal (if using a rice cereal like Rice Crispy Treats, Fruity Pebbles) or 4 cups cereal (if using larger cereal such as Cheerios or Fruit Loops)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 package (10 oz or about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups of mini marshmallows
- ½ teaspoon vanilla

Optional:
- Food Coloring
- Candies (i.e. gum drops, red hots, M&M's, sprinkles, etc.)
- Melted chocolate
- Icing

Melt butter and marshmallows in a 3-quart saucepan or Dutch oven and stir constantly. A once mixture is smooth remove from heat. Add vanilla and food coloring. The amount of food coloring depends on how dark you want the color to be. Stir until food coloring is evenly distributed. (Start with a little food coloring, a drop or two and then slowly add more as you stir to get the right color you are going for.) Next add the cereal and coat evenly.

If you want to cut out shapes using cookie cutters (metal are the best for this project), poor mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray and evenly press the cereal onto the sheet. Let cool for about an hour and then cut out shapes and decorate with candy or icing. You can also dip all or part of the cereal treat into melted chocolate and let cool before eating.

If you want to mold the cereal into shapes then after you have the cereal evenly coated with the marshmallow mixture. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray and mold the cereal into shapes. Decorate with candy, icing or chocolate.