My girls were on Spring Break last week so it was fun for them to get involved and help me in the kitchen. They were super excited to share some of our homemade treats with their friends at a playdate too. We had to get rid of some of our goodies because there is no way that we could have (or should have) eaten them all!
First up were the M&M pretzel snacks - sooooooo easy and yummy! The perfect combination of sweet and salty and so cute too. Beware: these are addictive! I gave this recipe to lots of people and they all said so! We used an entire 1 pound bag of pretzels and they were gone way too fast.
These are beyond easy to make:
Pre-heat oven to 350, then line a baking sheet with pretzels and top each one with a candy melt. I used Wilton white melts but there are several flavors and colors to choose from. Place baking sheet in the oven for 2-3 min. to allow melts to soften. Remove from oven and immediately press an M&M gently on top of each pretzel. Refrigerate for 10-15 min. to allow candy to set. Now enjoy! These are also great b/c they can be varied in so many ways. For Christmas I'm planning to use Hershey's kisses in the center with green and red M&M's!
Next were the rice krispie treat Peep pops. The kids loved helping with this one! I saw this fun kid-friendly treat on Love from the Oven and knew that we had to make them because Peeps are one of my all time favorite candies! I was smitten with Love from the Oven from the start because they dedicated an entire week to Peeps recipes. Why didn't I think of that? Next year for sure!
This is not the best photo but the rest were uploading sideways for some reason.
We used the already-made version of rice krispie treats because I cannot for the life of me make homemade ones. Spread a little frosting on top of each rice krispie treat, top with a Peep and add sprinkles. Insert a lollipop stick and you're done. Kids love things that come on a stick! We wrapped ours in plastic to help keep them fresh and make them look cute cuter when we gave them to friends.
And finally - cupcakes! We made 2 dozen of the Pillsbury funfetti cupcakes and I offered the kids 3 different decorating options - bunnies, Easter baskets or Peeps. The bunnies were an idea that I saw in a magazine (I can't recall which one now b/c I saw so many cute ideas) and on Facebook, the baskets were an updated version of of the ones my Grandma used to make, and the Peeps were from (where else?) Love from the Oven's Peeps Week.
These were easy too!
Bake your favorite brand/flavor cupcakes and allow to cool completely. Add white frosting and use jelly beans (or other candies of that size) for the eyes and nose. Use black tube frosting to draw whiskers. For the ears cut a marshmallow in half (I actually found a really cool new variety called Stackers that were square and flat so they were easier to work with than the super puffy ones). Dip the sticky side of the marshmallow in pink sugar or sprinkles and stick them on to the top of the cupcake.
These remind me of my Grandma b/c she used to make something very similar but without the licorice handles. Start with your favorite cupcakes again and add white frosting. Place shredded coconut in a plastic bag with a few drops of green food coloring and shake until coconut is covered with food coloring. Place a small amount on top of each cupcake followed by a few jelly beans in the center. For the licorice handle (I found rainbow colored Twizzlers and choose to use yellow but any color will do) cut the licorice in half and place a toothpick in each end, then gently press the toothpicks into opposite sides of the cupcake. Just don't forget to remove the toothpicks before eating! Last year I made these without the coconut "grass" but I colored the frosting green to give a similar affect.
And last but not least, the Peeps version and probably the easiest one!
Bake any variety of cupcakes and top with any color/flavor frosting, then decorate with sprinkles and top with a Peep. I actually stuck a toothpick in the bottom of each Peep and then pushed the toothpick into the cupcake to help them stand better but that is optional b/c the frosting will harden a bit and work as glue to hold the Peep in place.
So in addition to all of the candy that the Easter Bunny was kind enough to bring for the kids we had all of these goodies just hanging out in our kitchen and I think it's safe to say that we were all on sugar overload!
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