Not-So-Crispy Cereal Treats

It was just one of those days.

Rainy and cold and (it is Boston, after all) windy. My body had decided to cease functioning altogether, presumably in protest to my withholding sleep. Learning new skills on the overnight shift at work is great. Trying to defy all circadian logic and get myself to sleep during Boston's sparse daylight hours is not. There are few things more frustrating than being impossibly cranky and exhausted but unable to sleep. Just ask my husband.

Then there was the fact that I had neglected my book club book and was about to enter into our first ever meeting without even completing our first assignment. Nice. Oh, did I mention the dentist? How many crowns did you say? How many kilos of Valrhona could that amount of money buy? How many trips to Italy? How many Vespas?

To top it all off, when I arrived home at the end of a long day--soggy and pooped and seriously debating whether or not I need a full jaw of teeth--I was startled to pass a mirror and find Rod Blagojevich looking back at me. Thank you, humidity, for inflating my untrimmed bangs to disgraced gubernatorial proportions.

All I wanted, all I wanted was some junk food. Something innocent and delicious and completely frivolous. Like Rice Krispy treats. Ghost-shaped marshmallows in the cupboard? Check. Puffed rice cereal? Eh, sort of. I learned the hard way, people, that Kashi 7 Grain Puffed Cereal does NOT a crispy treat make. It's soggy and chewy and every bite is a disappointment. Just goes to show you: you can make healthy food taste good, but you can't make good junk food taste healthy.

Nevertheless, I wanted to record the proportions for a successful downsized batch of Krispie treats, should I ever find myself in possession of the elf-graced blue box sometime soon. Maybe you've got some now.

Marshmallow Cereal Treats

2 cups cereal

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 Tbsp butter

Melt mallow and butter. Stir in cereal. Wait.

Choco-Peanut Butter S'mores!

Got a few homemade marshmallows leftover? Only a few days before they start tasting like store-bought? Well now is the time to toast them! But you're all Hersheys-and-Honeymaided out. I know, I know. So I got to thinking: instead of smearing chocolate on a cracker, why not start with a chocolate cracker? Kill two birds, eh? Besides, somewhere down the line, my palette stopped craving milk chocolate, preferring instead its darker, sexier cousin.

Let's make a thin, dark chocolate cookie then, shall we? We'll spread just a layer of melted chocolate over it, and maybe a little peanut butter too--for good measure. Our mallows will never know what hit 'em.

Here's what's great about this dough, what's great about any cookie dough, really--SECRET ALERT--anything butter based does beautifully in the fridge and/or freezer. So make this already downsized recipe, roll it up in plastic, throw it in the icebox, and just slice off a little as needed. You can play this game with almost any cookie recipe.

Thin Chocolate Cookies

(c/o Bon Appetit, Dec '07; makes 10-15 super thin cookies; start-to-finish, about 3 hours: must chill!)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/8 tsp each baking powder, soda, and salt

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

4 Tbsp butter, soft

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp beaten egg (or egg sub)

1/8 tsp vanilla

1. Stir together dry ingredients and set aside. Slowly melt chopped chocolate, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Go slow and be gentle with the chocolate, it can burn easily.
2. Next, beat butter in a medium bowl until creamy, about a minute. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, 1-2 min more. Add egg and beat again. What next? Vanilla and chocolate (beat). Then dry mix, beat on low--just until combined.
3. Press the dough into a cube as best you can (this makes for good cracker slicing later) and wrap tightly with plastic. You may want to let it sit in the fridge for a bit, then press again into cube shape--it will hold better chilled. Stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or the freezer for 1.
4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350º. You have two options here: either roll thin and cut into squares, or take a big knife and slice off very thin (1/8 inch) cookies. Place them on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet. Cook about 7-8 minutes.
5. If you want to get fancy, melt a little more dark chocolate with a touch of butter, shortening, or corn syrup in a small bowl. Brush undersides of warm cookies with a thin layer of chocolate and let cool together.

To eat some s'mores:

Get out those marshmallows and toast them up. Slather a layer of peanut butter (preferably natural) on your cooled cookies. Squeeze perfectly browned mallow between.

Thanks to Max for hand modeling!

Homemade Marshmallows

Why make your own marshmallows? Well, I happen to have a few reasons:

1. Because it's cool to make your own food.
2. Because you like to learn new things.
3. Because they're friggin delicious.
4. Because marshmallows are squishy and fun.
5. Because you will not even recognize the store-bought chew-fests after you're done here.
6. Because sometimes you forget that things you can buy at the store don't actually have to be made in a factory somewhere.
7. Because s'mores will never taste the same.
8. Because you CAN.

This recipe definitely requires equipment (hand-held or stand mixer and candy thermometer), but in execution it is SO EASY. These mallows come together in about 10 minutes, then you just have to hang out until they set up. I packed them into a 8x4 loaf pan, then sliced them into oversize cubes for fantastical s'mores.

Homemade Marshmallows

c/o Epicurious; takes about 2 hours (including set-up time)

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

2 Tbsp + 2 1/2 Tbsp cold water (divided)

2/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp corn syrup

pinch salt

*1 medium egg white

1/2 tsp vanilla

powdered sugar

*About that egg white: there is a real difference in volume between med-large-and-XL eggs. You only want a medium egg's-worth of white, so if all you have is large or XL, just don't use the whole thing.

• Place 2T cold water in a mixer bowl and sprinkle gelatin over top to soften. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 2 1/2 T water in a small pot and set over medium heat. Bring to 240º (watch carefully! it can happen fast!) and remove from heat. Pour into gelatin mixture and whisk to combine. Then hit it with the whisk attachment. Beat on high for 6 minutes (may take longer with hand-held, as many as 10)
• In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg white on high until it holds stiff peaks. Add beaten white and vanilla, then whisk again until well mixed.
• Grab a pan that will allow you to make the size marshmallows you want -- i.e. if you want little mallows, spread them thin into a large pan; if you want biggies, go with a smaller receptacle. Grease it well, then scoop mixture in and spread (cooking spray on the spatula goes a long way here). Sprinkle with 2-3 Tbsp powdered sugar and toss in the fridge for a couple of hours.

• When they're ready, dump them out and have the powdered sugar ready. Cut with a greased knife or pair of shears into desired sizes. Toss in plenty of powdered sugar to coat and store in an airtight container for a couple of weeks--if they last!

P.S. You can, in fact, make s'mores on a gas stove. Despite what the fire department might say. Just be aware: without jet-puffed stabilizers, these guys will cook fast, so keep the heat low and be prepared to catch the melting mallow with your handy graham.