But the main event: cookie making! Specifically, a recipe my grandma used to make back in the day for Christmas. There is a Don Rockwell picnic tomorrow and this is my contribution. Now, to the picto-recipe after the cut!

First things first, this is a messy recipe, so have an apron standing by. I imagine it’s also a great recipe for kids. Up until the end, it’s just mixing messy, gooey ingredients and forming messy, gooey balls. I imagine some kids would just love that.

First, 16 oz of Marshmallow Fluff (or other marshmallow cream):

Then, 16 oz (2 cups) of chunky peanut butter:

Finally, 4 cups of Rice Krispies (or equivalent puffed rice cereal):

Yep. Those are the three main ingredients before coating. Now you mix them…and don’t even think about using a spoon. Use your hand(s) and go to town. It’s gooey and all that, but it’s by far the best way:

After you’ve mixed it all thoroughly, it’s time to roll them into balls, say the size of small walnuts.  You’ll be rolling a lot of balls, around 70-80 depending on the size. Here you see two of three sheet pans with the balls.

Also note the wax paper.  It just makes life easier because we are now going to coat the cookies with a confectionery coating.  The type I use, because my grandma used it, is the semi-ubiquitous Candiquik which is also known as Almond Bark and many other things. In NoVA, Walmart’s about the only place I’ve seen it and at mine it’s called “Almond Bark, Vanilla Flavor“. It’s essentially Candiquik (bad-for-you shelf-stable fat with sugar and flavor), both are made by Log House Foods and they have the same directions.

Now I know, I know, I should be using real white chocolate or some such. Screw that. Candiquik is easy to use and, dammit, it’s what my grandma used. The artificial vanilla taste is part of the memory. (It also means you don’t use the “chocolate” Candiquik either).

Following the directions, melt the coating and then coat the balls.  Yes, melt which means small kids really shouldn’t be around for this. If you follow the directions, the coating really won’t be that hot, but if you overheat it, well, molten sugar and kids DO NOT MIX.

Back to the recipe, I melted my coating the microwave and then used two forks to help coat it. You could use your fingers if you have asbestos fingers, but it’s also less messy to use the forks:

I suppose you could use chopsticks if you are agile enough with them. I am not.

Finally, when all is said and done, you end up with 70-80 coated balls of peanut butter-marshmallowy-krispie goodness:

Let them rest until hard, then refrigerate them. You don’t really have to cool them in the fridge, but I find they can still start to melt by finger-heat if you leave them in a 75-80 degree room.

Of course, there is all the cleaning involved as well. Boo! In all, it takes about 1-1.5 hours of not-very-difficult work. But the end result is well worth it!

Yours in cookies,

Matt