Cookies N' Cream Rice Krispy Treats

Since it's a new year  today's post is about being grateful for the things we have in life.

Oatmeal Cookie Rice Krispy Treats

It being a new year and all that I have something to admit today: I am a bad mom.

Have you ever seen What to Expect When You're Expecting? (if you haven't just go watch the 2 min trailer and save yourself an hour and a half) Anyways in it there's this boys club of dads who get together and share all their fatherly mishaps of the week. I feel like I need a club like that. Somewhere to confess all my motherhood mistakes and turn a new leaf. Enter my blog.

Here's my list of recent Confessions:

1.) I feed my daughter Peanut Butter Cheerios despite the fact that kids are not supposed to have peanut butter until they are 1. If she becomes allergic I'll never live it down.

2.) When my daughter started learning to roll she rolled right off my bed once. Luckily she landed on a pile of pillows but I'm pretty sure this still qualifies me as the worst mom ever. I have only just recently got up the guts to tell my husband about it... 4 months later.

3.) I let my daughter chew on my keys. Yes, the who-knows-where-they've-been keys. I can't help it, it's a guaranteed 15 minutes of peace.

4.) I'm pretty sure the first real food she ever tasted was ice cream, courtesy of one of mom's late night snacks. And it may have been peanut butter flavored at that. (#doublefail)

5.) Spit up on the floor? I'd have to say about 75% of the time I end up just rubbing it into the carpet. Terrible? Yes.

6.) Speaking of things on the floor… I'm a firm believer in the 10 15 60 second rule.

7.) Finally, I eat my daughter's treats. Currently I'm digging the yogurt drops but I won't say no to a Peach or Strawberry flavored puff either.

Whew. Glad I got all that off my shoulders. There's probably more, but I'll spare you for now.

So since I am trying to change my image in 2013 and become a good mom, I am bringing you a healthy rice krispy treat. (well, relatively - I mean you can only make a rice krispy treat so healthy) The Oatmeal Cookie Rice Krispy Treat! You'll get some hearty fiber from the oats...? Moving past the question of whether this is actually healthy or not they are very delicious. You get that brown sugar oatmealyness right in the treats themselves, then the addition of actual oatmeal cookies just tips it over the top! Go make these. And just assume they are healthy as you give them to your kids have seconds and thirds yourself...

Oatmeal Cookie Rice Krispy Treats

4 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
6 1/2 cups marshmallows
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups rice krispies
1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
6-8 chopped oatmeal cookies (homemade or store bought... I won't judge. But if you buy them make sure they are soft)

In a large mixing bowl combine the rice krispies, oats, and cookie pieces. Set aside.

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and add the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are mostly all melted (this will take a few minutes--low and slow is key for perfect texture) then stir in the cinnamon and vanilla.

Once fully melted, take them off heat and pour over the rice krispy mixture. Stir lightly to combine. Dump the mixture into a greased 9x9 pan. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then with greased hands go in and flatten the top. Allow them to cool 20 minutes or so before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Rice Krispy Treats

Holidays. They are supposed to be the season of love, kindness, charity etc, etc.. right? I had an experience the other day that really tested my goodwill towards man.

So I'm at the grocery store (surprise!) and it's a madhouse. The lines are terrible. For some reason everyone's inner Betty Crocker comes out during the holidays. People that haven't turned on the oven in a year are all of a sudden whipping out things like stuffed goose, cheese souffles, gingerbread trifles... meaning twice the normal grocery store traffic.

Coal Rice Krispy Treats

So I don't know who designed my house but whoever it was did not have children in mind. It is a death trap as far as ledges, edges, and corners goes.

Cookie Dough Rice Krispies

Cookie Dough, I mean lets get real, can life get better? My husband and I were recently discussing what our last meals would be if we were in prison on death row (you don't discuss these types of things? I swear we are law abiding citizens, this was purely hypothetical) My husband was listing out a big top grade steak with mashed potatoes and the works... meanwhile my mind was tracking somewhere along the lines of a gigantic bowl of cookie dough or brownie batter... or both.  With a side of ice cream.  Just to wash things down you know. I think this gives you a good idea of where I stand on my love of cookie dough.

I will take 2 of these please...

So what else could I do but have one of my first recipe posts be my cookie dough rice krispy treat I ask you? But of course.

So here we go. As much as I'd like you to think I am a flawless chef I have to admit this one took me a couple of tries. (I feel like I can't technically call myself a "baker" since these aren't baked, but a "chef" sounds too professional. How about a "No-bake baker"? I'll have to ponder this one) First time I made the mistake of just using cookie dough straight from the bowl. What I ended up with was a gooey krispy mess because the dough literally melted into the warm marshmallow mixture (albeit a delicious mess). Hmm so after I managed to eat dispose of the pan of gooeyness I attempted round 2. This time I froze the cookie dough in chunks first. What did we end up with? Wha-la! A rice krispy reincarnation of your favorite chocolate chip cookie. A must make for any cookie dough lover. Ah, now if I only had some more of that dough left over...

Cookie Dough Rice Krispies

4 Tbsp butter
5 cup marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cookie dough powder mix (I used a Betty Crocker mix)
6 cup rice krispies
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cookie dough chunks frozen for about 30 min**

In a large mixing bowl combine the rice krispies and salt. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and add the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are mostly all melted (this will take a few minutes--low and slow is key for perfect texture) then stir in the cookie dough mix and vanilla.

Once fully melted, take them off heat and pour over the rice krispy mixture. Stir lightly to combine. Dump half the mixture into a greased 9x9 pan. Then litter the top of that with the frozen cookie dough. Top with remaining rice krispy mixture. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then with greased hands go in and flatten the top. Allow them to cool at least an hour before serving. Enjoy!


**So I used the Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie dough mix to make my cookie dough. I admit that I think my normal cookie dough recipe would have been better. So I might recommend making your favorite batch of cookie dough and just leaving out the eggs... But you can totally do what I did, they were still good, just not as good as they might have been :)