Candy Corn Rice Krispies

I love all treats related to Halloween.  Not necessarily the holiday itself, but the treats.  It wasn't until I discovered all of the cute Halloween themed treats out there that I even had any inkling of enjoying the holiday.  Now I look forward to October baking every year!

One of my absolute favorites is candy corn.  A couple years ago I made it a point to make all things candy corn - candy corn mousse, candy corn sugar cookies, candy corn rice krispie treats... the list could go on and on.  The last in that list has become a family tradition.  Turns out rice krispies taste the best in candy corn colors and shape!

A coworker of mine asked me to make the treats for her daughter's school class.  I immediately thought of these gems and knew they were just the thing.  Read on for the tale of me making 40 candy corn rice krispies for 40 4th graders.  

Because I work full time (in addition to Elephant and Chick) and the treats needed to be made fresh for the school class, I needed to make these on a week night.  Also, because I live in a studio apartment with a baby, I needed to make them at my sister's apartment so as not to wake baby boy after he'd gone down for the night.  As I was prepping my workspace her husband offered some advice: "Double the marshmallows."  Double what amount of marshmallows, I asked?  "Doesn't matter - just double the marshmallows."  Point taken.  So, before we begin, remember: however many marshmallows you were planning to use, the key to a good treat is doubling the marshmallows.  That, and butter.  And not cooking the mallows.  

Ingredients:

Butter

Marshmallows

Rice Krispie Cereal

Food Coloring

Supplies:

Pot

Bread pans

Spoon

Knife

I know you probably already have a favorite rice krispie treat recipe, but I'm going to go ahead an share mine (advice about the mallow proportion is taken in to consideration in my recipe, but feel free to add to it).  It's proportioned to fill four bread pans, which equated to about 50-60 candy corn treats.  Scale yours accordingly.  

1/2 stick butter

3/4 bag of marshmallows

3 1/2 cups cereal

You'll make this three times over, each time dying it with the either yellow, orange, or no food coloring, depending on which layer you're setting.  

Note: the other important thing is not leaving the mallows on the heat for too long.  You're not trying to cook them.  At all.  Merely melting.  Throw the 1/2 stick of butter in the pot along with the marshmallows and stir constantly.  I pull mine off the heat about when they look like the picture below.  They'll continue to melt even when they're off the heat, so there will still be lumps when you pull them off.  Never fear.  They will melt.  

Begin by buttering your bread pans.  Plan to use approximately and additional 1/2 stick for buttering the pans and pressing layers into the pans.  Next, pressing a layer of white in to the base of your bread pans.  Make it about an inch thick.  Make another batch, dye it orange, and press it on top of the white.  Do the same for yellow.