Christmas Crispies

The holiday season is one of the best times of the year to get a bit of culinary inspiration.  The stores are filled with foods that aren't available any other time of the year.  Folks get creative in the kitchen!  Magazines are filled with holiday recipes and even store flyers have tips and recipes.  Sometimes the inspiration comes from within.  That happened to me recently as soon as I saw a new (one I had not seen before)  product at the grocery store. 

Peppermint is one of the prominent flavours of the holiday season.  Kraft has responded by making Jet-Puffed peppermint mallows and other holiday themed marshmallows.  These mini marshmallows are naturally flavoured with other natural flavours.  They are pink and white swirled.  The package suggests using these marshmallows in your favourite fudge recipe, sprinkling into hot cocoa and using them to frost cookies or cupcakes.  As soon as I saw them, visions of a Christmas version of the familiar rice krispie squares came to mind.  I use one 12 oz box of Kellogg's rice krispies cereal, on 10 oz bag of Kraft Jet-Puffed peppermint mallows, one 10 oz bag of Nestle Toll House premier which morsels, one SweetNature candy cane (100% natural flavours, no artificial colours) and a little butter to make my Christmas Crispies. 

I don't make rice krispie squares exactly according to the original recipe.  My husband likes them a bit gooey rather than dry so I've made them that way ever since our newlywed days.  I used a little butter to lightly grease a non-stick baking pan and parchment paper.  I poured the rice krispie cereal into a large bowl then melted the marshmallows in the microwave oven, stirring to a smooth consistency.  I poured the melted marshmallows over the cereal then mixed well.  I filled the baking pan with the mixture and patted down with lightly buttered fingers.  I formed the remainder of the mixture into a rectangle on the parchment paper.  I left the prepared base on the counter to cool and firm up before moving to the next steps.

I cut the rectangular portion of the base into plain squares.  I melted the white chocolate morsels in the microwave, stirring until smooth then spread over the base mixture in the baking pan.  While the white chocolate was still warm, I sprinkled crushed candy cane over it.  I only used about a tablespoon of the crushed candy cane.  Then I used a flipper to carefully remove the topped base from the baking pan.  At this point, the Christmas Crispies were quite malleable so the flipper provided the needed support to slide the base out of the pan.  I allowed the topped base to cool completely on the counter before cutting into squares.  

I initially cut the Christmas Crispies into 16 squares.  My husband did the taste test.  He declared them delicious but very sweet so I cut the remaining squares in half. The peppermint flavour is not strong, nicely enhanced with the white chocolate and touch of candy cane.  The squares have a pretty pinkish colour.  

I was pleased with the Christmas Crispies that came about simply through a vision.  It really was one of those "I'll bet that would make a tasty square!" as soon as I saw the peppermint marshmallows.  The only change I would make is make the base a bit shallower.  I think it would be easier to omit the baking pan entirely in favour of forming the base free hand the way I usually make rice krispie squares.  I'm sure the Christmas Crispies will be a holiday keeper!