It’s BBQ season and it is HOT outside. I can’t say cereal treats are a unique idea of mine, but they are always a favorite. Cereal treats at the perfect 4th of july dessert, because they’re quick, everyone loves them, and you don’t need to turn the oven on. I was a little over enthusiastic and made four kinds, but the methodology remains the same no matter how many kinds of treats you make.

Ingredients (per batch):

4 tablespoons butter

6 cups cereal

12 oz marshmallows

Parchment paper

I use 4 tablespoons butter for a softer treat - use 3 for the standard cereal treat recipe

When using cereal with big pieces like cocoa puffs, or captain crunch, add an extra cup of cereal.

Collect your ingredients and measure out your cereal

Melt your butter in a heavy bottom pan over low heat. Dump in the marshmallows and let them melt in the buttery goodness, stirring often.

Keep stirring until the marshmallows and butter form a delicious goo. Turn off the heat slightly before they finish melting, and keep on stirring until its fully smooth. Add in the cereal and stir and stir and stir until the cereal is evenly coated.

Dump the still warm cereal onto the parchment paper. Run cold water onto your hands so they’re damp, this will keep the cereal from sticking to your hands. Shape the gooey treats into a large rectangle (or any shape really) and let them set. I like to pop them into the fridge to firm up, but they can set at room temperature as well. They usually need at least an hour at room temp - but they firm up faster in the fridge.

Cut the cereal into squares and DIG IN. Make sure you have travel containers on hand for all the people who want to take extras home.

To make a salted brown butter variant: When you melt the butter, brown it on low until the sizzling stops and the milk solids turn deep golden amber, add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt when you add the marshmallows. Proceed with the rest as usual.