I’m not talking about the kind of wreath you hang on your door, but rather the kind that you eat! Christmas wreaths are my kids’ all-time favorite thing to eat during the holiday; well, that and fudge! These are very similar to the Rice Krispie treats that we all love, but for some reason, we think these are even better! I’m not sure why we only make them at Christmas.
First of all, there’s no point making one batch because they will be gone quickly. I always double the recipe and we’re good. That gives you some to eat and some to include with your holiday cookie plates.
Recipe (single batch):
- 30 big marshmallows
- 1 stick butter
- 1 1/2 tsp. green food coloring
- 3 cups Corn Flakes (or similar)
- Red hots, sprinkles, decorations
Melt the butter and marshmallows in a double boiler (or in pot over very low heat) until melted. Add food coloring until you get to the desired shade of green. Either add the cereal to the pot or pour the marshmallow mixture over cereal in a bowl. Stir to cover. If too thin, add more cereal (I usually add more anyway because I want it to make more). Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or wax paper.
Shape into wreaths and decorate with red hot candies, red sprinkles, or anything else that you like!
Couple of things here: I have found that shaping them into wreaths is a skill that requires extreme patience (which apparently nobody in my family has). We basically just drop them by spoonfuls onto waxed paper and leave them or scrape into a ball. We will throw some sprinkles on top but definitely don’t shape them into wreaths. If you can do it, I’m sure they’ll be beautiful! They taste just fine either way.
Also, you will find that your fingers will get very sticky very quickly. When they get real sticky and you can’t do anything anymore, if you wash your hands and get the marshmallows all off, you can start over and get through a bunch more.
On a complaining note, I can no longer enjoy these as I’m gluten-free and Corn Flakes and similar cereals are not. I refuse to pay the going price for small boxes of gluten-free cereals and almost all of them have sugar on them, which don’t taste the same. I have discovered that my regular Rice Krispie treat recipe works perfectly with my Rice Chex cereal. In fact, I made three batches of these within a month. Thank you, Chex cereal!
Oh, one more note! When you add your green food coloring, make sure you move your recipe out of the way or it will look like this.
Enjoy your holiday and your Christmas wreaths!