Andes Treats

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Last night I made a dessert for game night in honor of my friend Andy.  His birthday was last week and I asked him what he’d like.  I try to remember to do this for all of our friends that come to game night.  It’s a fun way to make someone feel special and a chance for me to learn about their tastes.

Andy’s only request was that the dessert I make be something minty.  Of course I wanted to mix that with chocolate and I was reminded of Andes mints (You know those little after dinner mints some restaurants give with the check). I don’t know about you but I could eat a meal of those!  I also liked the idea of using Andes mints, since the dessert was for Andy. 🙂  I’ve been hankering to make another batch of marshmallows, so I knew I wanted those in this dessert as well.  What I came up with is essentially Rice Krispies Treats, but even better because they are made with Cocoa Krispies! This dessert also uses candy canes and that makes it an excellent holiday treat.  I’ve often wondered how peppermint came to be a flavor we associate with the holidays, have you?  It also reminds me of something snow-covered with the contrast between the white marshmallow and the Cocoa Krispies.  Needless to say, this treat is just the ticket for December!

Let’s get to the treats!

You’ll start by crushing your candy canes. You can do this with a food processor or just by smashing them in a freezer bag with a mallet or rolling pin.  You may want to double bag them, as the candy canes start to poke little holes in the plastic (I learned).  This crushed candy cane will be sprinkled on the top of the treats.  Now put parchment paper in a 9×13 inch pan.

Next melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat.

Once the butter is almost completely melted, add the marshmallows.  I used homemade ones, but store-bought ones will also work just fine. Just make sure you use the same amount in weight. Now stir the marshmallows into the butter and continue cooking until the marshmallows are almost completely liquid.  This can take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, depending on the size of your marshmallows ( I really should’ve cut mine smaller to save time, ugh).

Then turn the heat off and pour in the Cocoa Krispies.  Stir until the cereal is completely coated in marshmallow goodness.

Let that cool about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, chop your Andes mints.  I chopped mine into quarters, but you can certainly chop them into larger pieces if you want more solid chunks of the mints in  your treats.  It was a bit tedious (although kind of meditative) to unwrap all of those mints, so you could also use chocolate mint chips if you’d prefer.  You should be able to find them in the baking aisle.  You’ll want to use 2/3 cup of those in place of the chopped Andes mints.

Now pour your chopped mints into the pot and stir to combine them with everything else.  Some of them will melt and that’s ok.

Then spoon the mixture into the 9×13 pan.  If you’d prefer to use your hands for this, coat them in cooking spray or a little oil to prevent the whole mass from sticking (just trust me on this).  Coat your hands (again if you did in the previous step) and press the mixture to the edge of the pan, evening out the height.

Sprinkle with the crushed candy canes and press so that they are embedded into the mixtures.

Pop the pan in the fridge for about an hour to firm up and then cut into squares and serve.

Enjoy!