Rice Krispie Treats (and Fun Easter Egg Suprise Version)

I love rice krispie treats! I always use the recipe from the back of the box but they always say to use 6 cups of cereal and I never use that much. If you use about 5 cups of cereal to the big bag of marshmallows you can a much softer chewier treat!

So with Easter and Spring coming you have to make these little hidden suprise eggs with your kids. We filled ours with jelly beans since the original calls for m&ms. Here's both recipes just incase you don't know how to make the regular kind.

Rice Krispie Treats
Recipe adapted from Kelloggs

3 Tbsp dairy free margarine/butter, or butter
1 package (about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini
5 cups rice krispie cereal

In a large saucepan melt the margarine/butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add the rice krispies cereal and stir until well coated. Using greased hands press firmly into a greased 9X13 pan and cool completely before cutting. You can add sprinkles ontop before they cool for a fun twist.

Hidden Suprise Easter Egg Treats
Recipe adapted from Kelloggs

1 batch Rice Krispie Treats above
12 plastic snap apart 3 x 2 or bigger easter eggs (I only had 3 which is fine, just takes longer)
bag of jelly beans or any dairy free candy
frosting, decorating gel or sprinkles, optional for outside

*My Notes*
 Because the treats are hot I went ahead and filled each half with the mixture and then once it was cooled a bit my kids got to form the hole in the center, pop them out and add the candy, etc. I found that if you take them out of the mold too early it will loose the egg shape, so let them cool a bit more on the wax paper before you take them out.

Make a batch of Rice Krispie treats as directed above.
Clean, then coat the inside of plastic eggs with cooking spray. Using greased hands, firmly press about 1/4 cup of the mixture into each plastic egg half. Use your fingers to make hollow center in each half. Remove from molds. Place on wax paper and cool slightly. Place jelly beans in one half of the egg and then gently press two halves of each egg together until they stick. Cool completley. If you want you can decorate the outside with frosting, decorating gel or more candy or sprinkles (the sprinkles will stick better if you do it while they are warm). Have fun!

Stained Glass Cookies

(The plan was to have these up for Valentine's Day, sorry! You can use them for anything though, so here it goes.)

The original recipe I found this from was on Kraft, but I thought the cookies were yucky...so now I just use my favorite sugar cookie recipe and follow these directions. You can use any sugar cookie recipe, or I listed my favorite one too. Super fun for any occasion and the kids love em.

For the Cookies:

2/3 cup dairy free margarine, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 Tbsp soy milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

In a large bowl beat margarine on high 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder and salt and beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. Beat in the flour. Chill for at least 1 hour so it's not too sticky.

For the Cutouts:

2-3 rolls of lifesavers candy

Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly floured surface roll out to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes and then trace smaller versions of each cookie shape on the dough (or use tiny cookie cutters or pie cutter shapes) leaving at least a 1/2 inch border of dough from the inside shape. Cut out and remove dough from the center of each shape; set aside. Place all the cookie cutouts on baking sheets covered with tinfoil. Now crush each color of candy seperately between 2 layers of wax paper with a mallet (you can use a plastic baggie but it will most likely rip from the sharp candy pieces). Spoon crushed candy inside centers of cutouts. Bake 6-8 minutes or until candy is melted and cookies are lightly browned. Cool cookies completely before removing from foil.

*Note: This last time I made them they didn't have the "stained glass" look because I overfilled the candy thinking that would be better, but it wasn't because the candies were all gummy. When you fill the holes in the centers of your cookies just fill to the same thickness as your cookies. They will shrink down when they melt but that's okay!

Original Chex Party Mix

Chex mix is such a great snack, especially for the kids. The orginal chex mix bag that you buy does have dairy warnings on the label, so a while back I found this recipe and was so excited to make my own dairy free. When I was living in Utah I actually borrowed the equipment from the cannery, made huge batches of this stuff and canned them in #10 size cans. Just in time for the super bowl- enjoy!

The Original Chex Party Mix
Recipe from Chex
Makes 24 1/2 cup servings (or 12 1 cup servings)

3 cups corn chex cereal
3 cups rice chex cereal
3 cups wheat chex cereal
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup bite-size pretzels
1 cup garlic-flavor bit size bagel chips or regular ones broken up
6 Tbsp dairy free butter or margarine
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter/margarine uncovered on high about 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in seasonings. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated.
Microwave uncovered on high 5-6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.

Hotdog Mummies

I'm sure you've seen this idea before because it's been around a long time, but I just had to share anyways. I started making these when I was student teaching a high school cooking class. The high school students loved them just as much as my little kids do. I made them tonight with refrigerated bread sticks, but they didn't taste as good as when I make them with crescents. You can also just use your favorite roll or bread stick recipe as well if you are worried about different allergens in the prepared stuff.

Mummy Hotdogs

package of hot dogs

refrigerated crescent rolls

ketchup and mustard

If you are using the crescent rolls take them out of the package (they will be in the triangles but still together) and press the seams so you have one big sheet. Take a pizza cutter or a knife and cut strips about 1/2-1 inch wide. Take one strip at a time and wrap around each hot dog leaving a little spot for the head and eyes to stand out. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until the dough starts to brown. Once you take them out of the oven you can make little eyes with some mustard. (I used a toothpick)

Spider Snack

Here's a fun little snack for Halloween! Stick one of these in your kids lunch box and put a big smile on their face :)

The options are endless- Use an oreo type cookie, (regular, double stuffed or mint) or 2 round ritz type cookies with peanut butter in the middle. Use pretzel sticks (either halved like mine or whole for long legs) or red or black licorice rope strands. Make the eyes with m&ms, raisins, craisins, smarties, etc. and make 'em stick with some extra peanut butter, some cream from the cookie or some frosting. Fun!

Hamburger Buns

 These buns are amazing (like most homemade bread is) and the best part is you can make them to suit you whether you want them to be whole wheat (much cheaper than at the stores), green for St. Patricks Day, or any other if you want to show off your support for a favorite sports team.

Last year when I made these on St. Pattys day we had perfect bright green buns. My kids laughed until their plates were clean. This year I wanted to get pictures of the original and the green, so I tried to add the food coloring after they rose, and it just didn't work. So if you want to color yours make sure you add the coloring into the batter before you let the dough rise.

Hamburger Buns

Recipe adapted from Rosa's Yum Yums

1 c lukewarm water
2 Tbsp unsalted butter or dairy free margarine, room temperature
1 Egg

3 1/4 c flour

1/4 c fine granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Instant yeast

1 Egg yolk + 1 Tsp water (for tops)

Sesame seeds (for tops)

Sprinkle the yeast into the water and leave for 5 to 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir to dissolve. In a big bowl, combine yeast/water, egg, butter/margarine, sugar, salt and flour. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured working surface or use mixer and knead for about 10 minutes until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a clean and lightly greased bowl and cover it with a towel and let rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a flattened ball. Place the buns on greased baking sheets, cover and let rise 30 to 40 minutes, until they're quite puffy and doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Glaze the buns with the egg yolk and water mixture, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake the buns for 12 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oven, cool them on a wire rack and cut in half.

Sugar Cookies

I love making sugar cookies! I don't mean to brag, but my neighbors know me for my really moist sugar cookies. My tried and true recipe uses butter and sour cream (if you are interested in that recipe you can email me and I'll be happy to share), so I've been on a long search for a good dairy free sugar cookie recipe. As most of you who have experimented already know, you just don't get the same results when you substitute dairy free margarine for butter with baking. That's why I'm happy to share this recipe I just tried. I couldn't find any reason anyone would ever suspect these to be dairy free-they turned out great! I'm excited I found a recipe before the big holiday season hits!

A few good things to know:

When you substitute margarine for butter you will get a stickier product, so chill the dough in the fridge as long as you can- at least an hour (I did mine about 3) just to make them easier to work with. I always use Nucoa margarine when I bake, but I'm sure there are a ton of great products out there.

Also take them out of the oven BEFORE they start to brown on top. They can still be white on top and starting to get golden on the bottoms. Otherwise they won't be chewy.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Makes around 28 (2 1/2 inch) cookies

2/3 cup dairy free margarine, softened (I use Nucoa)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 Tbsp regular soy milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

In a large bowl beat margarine on high for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder and salt and beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. Beat in the flour. Divide dough in half, cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

On a lightly floured surface roll half the dough at a time to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Cut dough into shapes and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake @ 375 for 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Cool before frosting.

Frost with dairy free frosting- you can substitute soy milk and dairy free margarine for any frosting recipe, or do like I do and add some fun food coloring to Duncan Hines Vanilla Frosting

Halloween Phantom

Halloween Treat Phantom So two nights ago I had a hard pound at my door at about 9:30 pm. It wasn't a friendly knock and when I saw that nobody was there out the peep hole, I called my husband to tell him that we were getting door-ditched. He said he was on his way home. Well after I knew for certain there was nobody out there to grab me, I opened up the door and sighed. It was the Halloween Phantom. My husband was with a group and when he told the rest of the guys who that it was just the Halloween Phantom, they were all hysterical and told me not to worry, they wouldn't tell anyone. So what is the Halloween Phantom? Well every year in October my quaint little neighborhood does something called the "Halloween Phantom" or "Halloween Ghost". I know not everyone is lucky enough to trust treats left at your doorstep, but such is my neighborhood.

You get a hard knock or ring late at night and when you peek out to your dark doorstep you'll find treats with a little note. I think this is a fun tradition and so I thought I'd pass it along. Don't worry, I'll also post the treats I made for my night as the "Halloween Phantom!"

Make sure you attach a ghost to the poem as well (the one above is the one I got with my poem this year) This year's note was different, so here's two to choose from. Have fun and Happy Halloween!

"Since this is the time for goblins and bats,
For Halloween spirits, for ghosts and cats,
For weird happenings and witches’ brew,
These are the things that I wish for you…..
May the only spirit you chance to meet
Be the spirit of love and friends warm and sweet
May the only goblin that comes your way
Be this Neighborhood Phantom you must give away
'Tis much better to give than to receive' goes the old verse
And something this easy won’t empty your purse
It’s your turn to pass along a treat and a BOO
Because now the Neighborhood Phantom is little old YOU!
So by this time tomorrow, pick two friends sweet,
And give them each a Halloween treat.
You have only one day-so you’ll need to hurry-
Leave a treat on the doorstep, ring the bell and then scury!"

or

"Late last night, we left you a treat.

The tradition is fun, one we hope you'll repeat.

Take the ghost and pin it on your door,

To let others know, you need ghosted no more.

Now it's your duty to pass on the surprise

To two more families, we must advise.

Gather some treats and deliver them soon,

Within two nights, under the light of the moon.

Include a ghost with each package you give,

Along with this poem for the tradition to live."