Rice Pum'kin Treats

So we just moved into a new house and all of my time the past week has been spent trying to get our new home together, so I didn’t have much time for crafting. BUT, I had an idea that I could not get out of my head so I decided I had to execute – and I have to say, the results were adorable and delicious!

I have a deep love of all things pumpkin, and will eat and drink pretty much anything with “pumpkin flavor”. However, I recently (for several reasons) decided to go gluten free for a time so I was having a hard time figuring out how to fill the void of pumpkin flavored baked goods. And then I remembered – of course! Rice Krispy Treats! Simple and easy and something that H can help with! Imagine my surprise to learn that Rice Krispies are NOT gluten free – but I was pleased to discover that Kellogg’s actually just came out with a gluten free brown rice version, so I was all set there.

Now I had to tackle the pumpkin flavor. I had originally been trying to track down Kraft’s pumpkin flavored marshmallows, and I am embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realize that I could just use pumpkin pie seasoning with regular marshmallows. The idea pretty much snowballed from there – they should be shaped like pumpkins! And dipped in orange chocolate! With leaves!

Here is the recipe:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine (I used Smart Balance)

1 bag of regular marshmallows or 4 cups of minis (I used the minis because I think they melt better)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

6 cups of regular or gluten free rice Krispies

To make the pumpkins you’ll need:

Sticks

Chocolate and orange chocolate candy melts

Green frosting

Leaf tip for frosting

You just follow the basic recipe from the back of the box (with the addition of the spice): Melt the butter in a pan over low head. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Add the pumpkin pie spice and stir. Add the rice krispies and mix.

I then sprayed a large mixing bowl with PAM and transferred the treat mix to the bowl. Then I buttered up my hands and got to work making balls. I put finished balls on a sheet of wax paper.

I then stuck them in the freezer for 5 minutes to harden them up.

I had decided to use sticks, like candied apples, both for ease of dipping and ease of eating. Using the directions on the packaging I melted a few of the brown chocolates. I pulled out the treats and used a stick to poke a hole into each one on the top. I then dipped the end of each stick in chocolate and stuck them into the pre-made holes. Then it was back into the freezer to harden.

I melted half the bag of the orange chocolates in the microwave and then dipped each pum’kin treat in, twirling the stick to get the chocolate all the way around. The first one I did I dipped the entire ball in the chocolate, but I actually like the way they looked with some of the rice krispy treat peeking out of the top.

Into the refrigerator for 5 minutes to harden (the chocolate hardens really quickly). Then I brought them back out to finish up with the leaves. I had purchased a leaf tip for the frosting for $1 and figured I could just wing it. Which is what I did. But I think you can tell that they’re leaves, so mission accomplished!

I took a couple to my husband and H for a taste test and got rave reviews. Even if you don’t want to tackle the pumpkin making, I would definitely recommend making just the pumpkin flavored treats themselves if you like pumpkin flavoring – they are SO yummy!

And lastly, because I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I packaged them for individual giving:

UPDATE:

So while my daughter and husband are in love with the chocolate dipped treats, my almost non-existant sweet tooth found them to be TOO sweet. So I decided to make another batch without dipping. To try to play up the "pumpkin", I used food coloring to dye the treat mix orange and then decorated them with a the frosting leaves.

They're not as cute as the chocolate dipped ones, but they are still fun and yummy!