There were two possible starting sentences to this post and I couldn’t decide between them. Every so often my inner Gemini gets the best of me. They also lead to very different musings, so rather than choose one I’m including both. You should probably read the post twice, too. Then you’ll get the full effect.

The first:

I feel like I’m playing with fire. The weathermen are saying snow, and lots of it, Monday night and all day Tuesday. Do I believe them and factor that into my lesson plans? Do I pretend they’re lying and then get mad when I miss a day and am thrown off schedule? It’s a hard call. It’s also giving me terrible flashbacks to being in school until June 30 last year, so though present-Meg would love a snow day to catch up with herself, past/future-Meg is praying that the European model (you know you’ve been watching too many weather reports when you know what model is being used) is in fact wrong after all. Regardless, we will have school tomorrow, and these treats are for students, so let’s get to it.

The second:

I blame Cold Stone. Prior to walking in and having the ability to mix and match candy and flavors to my heart’s content, I was perfectly happy with cookie dough ice cream and M&Ms from FarFars. But then I found cake batter, and the ice cream game (especially frappes – or shakes for those of you not from Massachusetts) was changed forever. It can be blended and slurped through a straw. It can be mixed with any variety of chocolate candy (I recommend KitKat and Butterfinger). It can even be mixed with cookie dough to get the best of all worlds. However, until very recently, I compartmentalized cake batter flavor exclusively to ice cream. Until I came across this recipe. And again, I had found a game changer.

This works very much like a traditional rice krispie treat, simply with the addition of boxed cake mix, so it’s easy to put together, say, when one of your classes wins a homework competition and you promised bake goods.

First, melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.

Then, add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted as well. Over low heat, this takes an exceptional amount of patience for a sticky spoon.

Then, add the dry cake mix and stir it in, still over heat, until completely combined. This will leave you with leftover cake mix, which hopefully I’ll be able to find future uses of for you.

Remove the pan from heat and stir in the rice krispies to coat.

Add about half of the sprinkles and stir them in, too. At this point I had to switch to a wooden spoon for the extra muscle. I think the cake batter addition thickens the marshmallow mixture more than in a normal rice krispie treat, so stirring is no easy task.

As a side note, I didn’t want to have leftover sprinkles and happened across this cute little container! I figured it was about half a cup.

Anyways, press the rice krispie mixture into the bottom of a 12×9 inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle the remaining sprinkles on top and use a spatula sprayed with cooking spray to distribute evenly in the pan.

Chill in the fridge, covered, for about half an hour before cutting into bars. I left it in overnight because I got lazy, but I wouldn’t recommend that because then you are essentially cutting through stone.

Anyways, store at room temperature, covered, and they should stay fresh for about a week.

Enjoy!

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows
• 2/3 cup boxed yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Supreme)
• 6 cups rice krispies cereal
• 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
2. Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
3. Add the dry cake mix and stir to combine.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the rice krispies to coat.
5. Stir in half of the rainbow sprinkles.
6. Spread the mixture in a 12×9 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the remaining sprinkles on top and press to fill the pan.
7. Chill for 30 minutes before cutting into bars to serve.