3 Musketeers rice krispies treats

I'm proud of my 3 year-old daughter. She has shown some interest in baking with me, and she always likes to push the buttons on the food processor or mixer when I'm using those appliances. This summer, her daycare has offered various clubs that the kids can join during the school day. Each club meets once a week for about 4 weeks to learn about their respective activity. And of course, I signed Addison up for the cooking club. To date, she's learned how to make pancakes, cinnamon-sugar pretzels and rice krispies treats.

The item she's been most proud of are the rice krispies treats. The kids covered theirs in melted candy bark so they were more fun to eat. I wanted to make some at home but wanted to shy away from the traditional rice krispies treats. I happened to find a recipe for 3 Musketeers rice krispies treats and made that instead.

When I looked in my pantry, I had a full-sized 3 Musketeers bar and a package of 8 fun-sized mint flavored ones. I decided to include all of these for a subtle mint flavor, but if you are not a fan of mint, then you could substitute it with 8 regular flavored fun-sized or 4 full-sized candy bars.

While Addison loved the idea of chocolatey rice krispies treats, she was not a fan of the mint flavor. She only ate half of her bar, but my husband and I gobbled these up. If you're a fan of mint, you can dial up the mint flavor by adding a 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract and adding a chocolate mint drizzle on top (this would be a fabulous holiday treat idea). Otherwise, you can just keep these chocolate and dress it up or down to your tastes.

3 Musketeers rice krispies treats

• About 10 fun-sized 3 Musketeers candy bars (I used a package of 8 mint flavored, fun-sized 3 Musketeers and one full-sized plain 3 Musketeers bars)
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
• 3 TBSP butter
• 4 cups crispy rice cereal

Directions
Generously grease or line an 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan (with parchment paper or aluminum foil prepared with baking spray). Set aside.

In a large, microwavable bowl, microwave the unwrapped candy bars, marshmallows and butter on high for 1 minute.

Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon until it is smooth. You may need to microwave in additional 10 second increments to make sure all the marshmallows and candy bars are completely melted.

Mix in half of the rice cereal and stir until the cereal is fully incorporated. If needed, you can add more rice cereal.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and press down with your spoon or spatula. Allow the treats to set for at least an hour (I prefer overnight).

If desired, you can drizzle the tops with melted chocolate for a festive look. Remove the bars from the pan and cut into 16 squares.


Yield: One 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking dish; about 16 generous-sized bars

Source: Slightly adapted from Something Swanky