Mr. Luca had so much fun baking cookies last year that he was practically begging me to guest post again this year. He’s been practicing all year in his test kitchen and he has come up with quite a treat to start off this year’s virtual cookie swap!
Rice Krispies Treat Christmas Tree
3 tbsp butter
4 cups of mini marshmallows
6 cups of rice krispy cereal
Hello! My name is Luca, although some of you might think it’s “Uca.” I’m also not plugging any Kellogg’s products though my parents would certainly welcome anything to offset the looming private school tuition.
Today, I’m putting together something called Rice Krispies Treat Christmas Tree. It begins, as all things savoureux and sacré, with a big chunk of butter. But if you want to be all technical about it then let’s just say something like 3 tablespoons.
Next, we throw in as much marshmallows as your heart desires. As it turns out, marshmallow means desires of the heart in French. It’s true! I found that out on the internet. Again, if you want to get all precise then go ahead and use 4 cups of the mini variety. It’s all just sugar and the big variety just means more sugar, which is probably not a good idea.
Then, you reduce the whole thing into an emulsified concoction with the consistency of a very sticky glob of Joël Robuchon’s purée de pommes de terre. If it’s more like good old American mashed potatoes then I’m afraid you’ll have to start over.
After that, we add the secret namesake ingredient. There is only about 6 cups left in my cereal box so I’m going to go with that. You probably can’t go wrong with half a dozen.
Now, we mix it all up. How long? Try doing it with your right hand until it tires and then switching over to your left hand until it tires. Then, you know you’re done. What about if you happen to have really strong hands? I don’t know. I have two-year-old hands.
After everything is fully mixed, transfer just the right amount to a mold, something like, say, a Christmas tree. In the best of all worlds, the mixture would drip nicely into the mold. This isn’t the best of all worlds so things are going to get sticky. In the best of all worlds, a kid my age probably shouldn’t be allowed to handle knives.
To spice things up a bit, let’s add colors! A Monet fetches millions because it has like a million colors. Actually, there’s more to it than that but let’s not get all art history major about it, d’accord? Go with something like M&Ms because the color dyes are pleasing to the discerning eyes.
If we were on Top Chef, this is when they would scream, “utensils down, hands up!” But we’re not on some silly cooking contest so it must only mean Mom’s caught me snacking on the M&Ms.
Oh, I almost forgot. M&Ms are round so they will just fall off your round Christmas tree. You need to use something sticky to hold them in place. You could go with old, boring frosting but some of Joël Robuchon’s purée de pommes de terre would also do the trick.
Et, voilà! Our edible pièce de résistance. Monet probably couldn’t get it to look much better and have you ever heard of anyone eating his Nymphéas? Go ahead, take a big bite. You know you can’t resist.
Lest you think it’s all play and no work in our East Harlem test kitchen, someone has to clean up all of the rice krispies that fell onto the floor. “Mom,” I said, “ shouldn’t I get like immunity for making that Rice Krispies Treat Christmas Tree or something?”
