Halloween Crispy Rice Treats Food

HALLOWEEN CRISPY RICE TREATS

Steps:

• Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with foil to overhang by an inch or two. Spray with cooking spray.
• Remove half the marshmallows from one bag and set aside. Divide the remaining 1 1/2 bags of marshmallows evenly between 2 large microwave-safe bowls. Divide the butter between the two bowls.
• Microwave one bowl until the marshmallows begin to melt, about 45 seconds. Stir well and microwave again until completely melted, about 30 seconds more. Add green gel food coloring and stir to turn the marshmallow mixture an even, vibrant green (see Cook's Note). Add half the rice cereal (4 1/2 cups), stirring well to coat the cereal completely and evenly. Repeat the melting process with the second bowl of marshmallows and butter, tint with purple gel food coloring and mix in the remaining 4 1/2 cups rice cereal.
• Grease your hands with cooking spray (or use disposable gloves). Using one hand for each color, dollop blobs of the cereal mixture in the prepared pan, randomly distributing it to make several mottled layers. Once you have used all of the cereal, press the mixture into the pan to even it out and smooth the top. Let cool and set completely, at least 1 hour.
• Use the foil overhang to lift the treats from the pan. Peel back the edges, flattening the foil to create a work surface for decorating. Trim the treat edges with a serrated knife to neaten if desired and cut into 9 rectangles. Separate the treats on the foil so there is a little space between each.
• Put the remaining half bag of marshmallows in a large microwave-safe large bowl. Microwave until the marshmallows begin to melt, about 45 seconds. Stir and microwave again until completely melted, about 30 seconds more. Stir until smooth. Set aside until the marshmallows are just cool enough to touch.
• Wearing disposable gloves, pull out a handful of the marshmallows and rub between your hands until you can pull long web-like strings when you separate them. Pull the strings and let them drape over the treats, scooping up more marshmallows as needed. Pull from different directions over the treats to create a web-like pattern.
• Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave at 50-percent power in 30-second intervals, stirring well with a rubber spatula between each, until completely melted and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small, plain tip. Pipe 8 spider legs together on a treat and place a chocolate-covered peanut or jellybean, cut side down, on top of the legs to create a spider body. Make a spider on each treat.

CLASSIC CRISPY RICE TREATS

Steps:

• Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each of the longer sides. Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray.
• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the marshmallows and cook, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
• Working quickly, add the rice cereal to the pot and stir with a rubber spatula until evenly coated. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and press into an even, compact layer. (Spray your hands with a little cooking spray to keep them from sticking when pressing the cereal mixture into the pan). Decorate with toppings if using (see Cook's Note).
• Let sit at room temperature until firm, about 30 minutes. Cut into 24 squares. Store the cereal treats at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

HALLOWEEN TOMBSTONE TREATS

Steps:

• In large saucepan over low heat, melt butter.
• Stir in marshmallows until completely melted. Remove from heat.
• Stir in cereal til well-coated. (*Iused 6 1/2 cups because I think they come out less dry.And they hold up better if they have to sit out for awhile). The original recipe called for 7 1/2, but what i used worked out really well!).
• Press into a greased 13x9x2 pan with a buttered spatula. Cool.
• In large mixing bowl, beat cookie dough and flour til well mixed.(*You do have to add the flour, otherwise that store-bought dough is really awful -- very sticky!).
• On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough into a 6" x 16" rectangle.
• Cut into 16 small rectangles. 2 rows of 8. Each one being 3" x 2".
• You can trim tops (2" side)with a paring knife to resemble the top of a tombstone cutting an arch if desired.
• Place each tombstone onto ugreased baking sheets 2" apart.
• *Optional, along bottom edge (bottom 2" side)of each cookie, insert 2 toothpicks halfway into the dough. **If these will be for small children, I recommend not doing this. (My owm alternative directions to follow.).
• Bake cookies at 350º for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.(*Mine took 13-14 minutes.)But mine were probably a little thicker than the original recipe. It had said to roll out and hand-cut each cookie with a paring knife around a waxed paper pattern -- (Cutting them into rectangles from a large rectangle was MUCH easier! And made more sense to me.)Then just simply trim the tops to whatever shape/style you want.
• Remove to wire racks to cool.
• In large plastic ziploc bag, combine water and green food coloring.
• Add coconut, seal bag shut, and shake to coat.
• Toast coconut, set aside. (Optional.)I didn't, it was fine.
• Using black gel, tint frosting gray. (*I used one whole small tube and it was barely gray, but ok.).
• Frost cookies, decorate tombstones with more black gel. (*The black gel for writing didn't work for me! I had to scrape it off, refrost the ones I wrecked, and just used chocolate frosting instead for the writing part. That worked perfectly for me.).
• Cut cereal bars into 3"x2" rectangles.
• Spread with melted chocolate chips. (*I didn't do this, I used frosting instead.)BUT! See further instructions!
• Insert cookies into rice crispy treats sticking the toothpicks down in to hold up the cookie.
• Do this on the edge of one long side.
• *If you aren't using toothpicks, pipe a thick bead of melted chocolate chips on wide edge and hold in place til set. Or do on waxed paper, which is how i ended up doing this, and lay them down with the cookie pressed against it so you don't have to hold it. Refrigerate til set.(30 minutes was all it took.) Remove from waxed paper carefully.
• (*I then opted to use the rest of the chocolate frosting to frost the tops of the exposed rice crispy treats part. Pressed the pumpkin into the frosting, then sprinkled with coconut.).
• Decorate with coconut for "grass", and candy pumpkins.
• Makes 16 "Tombstones".