So a while back I had procured for myself a box of Fruit Loops and a box of Captain Crunch (accidentally vegan, huzzah!) for some baking goodness. Unfortunately, I’d opted not to use the Fruit Loops at all, and I really only needed like a half cup of the Captain Crunch. So, what to do with two (almost) full boxes of cereal? I mean, sure, I could’ve eaten them as cereal I suppose. But I’ll admit that cold cereal in the morning just isn’t really my thing. I was totally cool with it as a kid, so I don’t really know what happened there, but it is what it is, why fight it?
Anyways, when I think of “desserts requiring ridiculously excessive amounts of cereal”, the first thing that came to mind were Rice Krispie Squares/ Treats (fun factoid – “Kellogg’s began to commercially produce plain and chocolate-based treats under the trademark brand-names of “Rice Krispies Treats” (in the U.S. and Mexico), “Squares” (in Canada and the U.K.) and “LCMs” (in Australia and New Zealand). In case you were wondering what “LCMs” stands for, I sadly fell down the rabbit hole for that as well and did the research for you. So what does it stand for? Some sites said it didn’t stand for anything. I found one place that said it stands for “Little Child’s Munchies”. So really, I have no idea).
Now obviously, I had absolutely no intention of buying yet another box of cereal that wouldn’t be completely used (I don’t want to become known as the crazy cereal lady for one thing and, for another, I would then be required to hire a cereal killer, and I just have no idea what their going rates are these days…who can afford the modern world? 😉 ). Why must I be forced to use Rice Krispies though right? Think outside of the (cereal) box here people and the possibilities are endless!
I don’t think I had had a marshmallow cereal square in literally decades. It’s not really one of those things I was missing all that much or jonesing for, so it’s not like I couldn’t have rectified the situation sooner, it just never really crossed my mind. I’d clearly “squared” them away to the dark recesses of my brain where they were gathering cobwebs. Now though? Love. How was I not making these before? I mean, maybe if I’d just left them mostly alone, tossed in my 2 cereals, marshmallows and butter and called it a day, I might’ve just thought “Yeah, way to use up some cereal Amber!” and then moved on with my life. As per my yewj (how would you spell that anyway? I even went so far as to look this up because I’m lame like that, and no general consensus seemed to be reached. Feel free to remedy this situation for me though if you have superior knowledge on the subject), I had to amp these up at least a little. Toss in some cacao butter for that white chocolate-esqueness, as well as some cashew butter for added creaminess, throw in some rum soaked fruit because…well, do we really need a reason? 😉 Top it all off with a chocolate peanut butter ganache and some peanuts for crunch, and now you have yourself a serious business, grown up and fancified version of a marshmallow cereal square. In fact, these babies now need some new branding since they are most definitely not square in the beatnik/ hippie sense of the word.
Marshmallow cereal bombs perhaps? Because they will Blow. Your. Mind 😉
Yield: approx. 2 dozen bars depending how large you slice them
Ingredients
- 1 package of mini vegan marshmallows (I used Dandies ’cause they have them at a store near me, so just use whatever you can find)
- 1/4 cup vegan butter
- 1/4 cup cashew butter
- 1/4 cup cacao butter
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 cups Fruit Loops cereal
- 4 cups Captain Crunch cereal
- 3/4 cups rum soaked (or apple juice soaked) dried fruit
- 1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup peanuts (chopped or unchopped, up to you)
- sprinkling of sea salt (optional)
Directions
- Lightly grease an 9×13 glass dish and set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine marshmallows,butter, cashew butter, cacao butter and maple syrup. Stir constantly until everything melts together. Stir in cinnamon. The marshmallows might not fully melt, but that’s fine, when it’s close enough remove from heat.
- Pour in both cereals and soaked fruit and stir until everything is fully combined.
- Press into prepared glass dish and refrigerate while making topping.
- Place chocolate chips, coconut oil and peanut butter in a small microwaveable bowl and microwave for one minute. Stir until everything is fully melted together (return to microwave for 10-15 second intervals if after a bit of stirring everything doesn’t melt together).
- Remove cereal bars from the fridge and spread topping over the top with a spatula.
- Sprinkle with peanuts and sea salt if desired.
- Store in the refrigerator.
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