Easy Easter Treats

Somehow, when I wasn’t looking, Easter week popped up on the calendar. And this year, more than most, I want to make sure the holiday feels a little special. So over the next couple of days, I’ll be posting little things to help make Easter stand out from our new norm of family days at home.

Rice Krispie Nests

I am NO Martha Stewart, but Easter has the cutest sweet treats that even I can even pull off. And back in the day, my children would have loved to help with these too.

What You Need

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 10 oz. bag of marshmallows
• 6 cups of crisp rice (or Rice Krispies)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• A couple drops of green food coloring
• 1 bag of Cadbury chocolate Easter eggs

What to Do

1. Melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the marshmallows. Continue stirring until completely melted. Pour the mixture over the crisp rice cereal and stir until well combined.
2. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and shape the nests (this recipe makes 12 muffin-sized nests). Spray a spoon and use it to form the nests in the muffin tin. (While you’re making the nests, soak your sauce pan in soap and water. This will make clean-up a little easier.)
3. Let the nests set and cool. Make Easter grass by putting some of the shredded coconut in a plastic bag with a few drops of green food coloring. Close the bag and smoosh it together until the coconut absorbs the food coloring.
4. Remove the nests from the muffin tins and decorate with the coconut grass and a few chocolate eggs.

Pretzel Flower Bites

By now you know I’m a sucker for a pretzel-M&M combo, so when I saw that you could make these into an Easter flower, I was all in. But unlike my favorite Christmas Belly Buttons, these are a little more work intensive. It does take a steady hand to balance these five or six M&Ms on a square pretzel, but I think little hands will be great at making these.

What You Need

• Butter Snap Square Pretzels
• White Candy Melts (Ghirardelli ones are great and available at Jewel)
• Pastel M&Ms

What You Do

• Preheat oven to 225.
• Line baking sheet with parchment paper, tin foil, or baking liner.
• Place the butter snap pretzels in rows on the baking sheet.
• Put one candy melt on top of each pretzel.

• Warm in over 2-3 minutes. You don’t want them completely melted, just softened.
• Quickly place one M&M in the center and surround it by five to six other M&Ms (I put the “M” side down to keep these cute). Gently press them down to “secure” them in the candy.
• Let cool and serve (you can speed up cooling time by placing them in the refrigerator).
• Store in an airtight container and enjoy all week!

Let’s have a great week!

xo,