O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Right now, my church is in the middle of our Christmas music. This year, I have the privilege of portraying Mary, the mother of Jesus! It's really neat, because the song I sing is from scripture; it's the song of Mary. If you did Celebrate Life (the musical), it's the one from that. Anyway, I have been doing my Christmas baking as well because I will be leaving town on Tuesday to go to an interview and then Christmas at home. Those treats will be shared here later. First off, though, I want to share a fun recipe I got from Deanna! It's kind of like rice krispie treats, except it used Honey Nut Cheerios. I took this to our Christmas party at my children's choir. I thought they were good but the kids were more interested in the Cheetos...go figure! Instead of using the jelly candies, I used skittles. No kids like those gummies anyway! This is a fun treat to make and I think kids would enjoy helping!
Cheerios Christmas Trees

Ingredients:

6 cups Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Green food color
Skittles (or whatever candy you desire)
White chocolate, melted, to secure the skittles
Directions:

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour the cereal into a 4-quart bowl. Set the bowl aside.
Place the butter and marshmallows in a 3-quart saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Stir in the food color until the mixture is evenly colored. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is evenly coated. Moisten your hands with water to shape the trees; you'll have to do this often through the process, but it works well! I tried spraying with cooking spray but that didn't work. For each tree, shape about 1/4 cup of the cereal mixture into a Christmas tree shape on the cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator. Place a dot of melted white chocolate on a skittle and strategically place on the trees - I made sure each skittle was a different color! Store the trees in a loosely covered container.