Red Hots – Blessings Multiplied

As a kid I remember my Aunt Becky making mini Christmas Wreaths with Rice Krispy treats around the Holidays (which were a huge hit at the family potlucks). Since I had the ingredients on hand and people coming to visit I decided to make a festive dessert for dinner. Instead of making mini wreaths I decided to make one big one that everyone could share. I made a batch of rice krispy treats, put in a few drops of green food coloring in the marshmallow mixture, formed a Christmas wreath on a plate and decorated with red licorice, red hots, and pearls. The girls thought these rice krispies were extra special and it really didn’t take me that much longer to put the wreath together. You can make your wreath as light or dark green as you like, each one of mine (as you can see from the two pictures) are a little different. I have included the rice krispy recipe in case you do not have it on hand.

Rice Krispy Recipe:

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine
10 oz Marshmallows (usually 1 bag)
6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal
Few drops Green Food Coloring

Melt butter in microwavable bowl. Add marshmallows and microwave until completely melted. Stir the marshmallows and butter together until melted and smooth. Mix in a few drops of green food coloring. Add cereal and mix until evenly coated. Put spoonfuls of rice krispies on a platter in a circle. Butter your hands and form the rice krispies into a wreath. Garnish with red licorice, red hots, m&ms, skittles, pearls or anything else you want.

The girls requested that I make the “Christmas Wreath” again for another Christmas party and for their school party. The only problem was I didn’t have any more red hots or pearls to decorate the wreath, but we did have Skittles! The girls thought the Skittles were a beautiful and tasty addition to the Christmas wreath! Plus this is an easy recipe that the kids can put together with your kids.

If you have an upcoming Christmas party this would be another easy recipe to bring and share. Enjoy! 🙂

We made these little Christmas Trees on our Christmas Baking Day. These were super fun but a little more difficult than I first anticipated. The trees were a little hard to make into the correct shapes and it took a little extra time to decorate. I had to keep reforming the trees but they did end up pretty neat once we figured out what we were suppose to do. I don’t think they looked as amazing as the ones from Betty Crocker but they looked cute and the kids thought they tasted great.

Cheerios Christmas Trees

6 cups Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal
6 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
4 1/2 cups Miniature Marshmallows
Green Food coloring
Red Cinnamon Candies, Decorative Pearls, Sprinkles, Icing, and String Licorice

1. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. (May want to lightly grease because our stuck a little when pulling them off)

2. Pour the cereal into a 4 quart bowl. Set the bowl aside,

3. Place the butter and marshmallows in a 3 quart saucepan (I used the microwave instead). Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

4. Stir in the food coloring until mixture is evenly colored. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is evenly coated.

5. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray. For each tree, shape about 1/4 cup of the cereal mixture into a Christmas tree shape on the cookie sheet.

6. Press the candies into the trees to decorate. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store the trees in a a loosely covered container.

Makes about 18 trees. I did the whole box of cereal which was about 1 1/2 of the recipe. Our recipe made about 25 trees. Thankfully I had someone around to keep spraying my hands with spray because it was really sticky and I had to keep reforming the trees. They ended up looking pretty cute and seemed to be holding up okay but would probably be better if you ate it the same day. The Honey Nut Cheerios flavor really comes out in this recipe so if you like the cereal you’ll probably enjoy this too. You could do with any flavor of Cheerios, I think next time we’ll try the Multi-Grain Cheerios for different flavor and color. It was fun to do something a little more unique!