* with a surprise marshmallow center!

I wanted to make a "pop" dessert and was inspired by a friend who is gluten sensitive and likes to eat chocolate and rice crispy treats.

I made a variety of choices (but all covered with chocolate of course!):

small bite size plain rice crispy
rice crispy with a mini marshmallow center
rice crispy with a chocolate covered mini marshmallow center
rice crispy with a jumbo marshmallow center
one dusted with chocolate powder and one covered with coconut

(all this is because my husband kept coming up with different ideas and I stopped with this many!)

Step 1: To Start

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
10 oz (1 package) mini marshmallows - separate out about 12 for the mini marshmallow centers
6 cups rice crispy cereal
1 ¼ oz almond paste (optional)
jumbo marshmallows (optional - for the large surprise center)

Toppings:

21 oz good quality chocolate (six 3.5 oz bars)
coconut flakes (optional)
chocolate powder (optional)

Special Tools:

Lollipop sticks
Non stick aluminium foil
Spray cooking oil (for your hands)
Styrofoam for sticking pops into
I re-purposed a pasta drying stand with binder clips to hang the pops to set
a double boiler to melt the chocolate in (or a metal bowl that can fit atop a small pot)

I made 3 different sizes and got 22 pops from this recipe.
(2 jumbo pops, 8 small plain bite size, 12 with marshmallow centers)

Step 2: Make Rice Crispy Treats & Melt the Chocolate

In a large pot over medium/low heat:
melt 3 tablespoons butter
add 10 ounces mini marshmallows
add 1.25 ounces almond paste (optional) - the almond taste was barely noticeable next time I may add more.
stir until melted and smooth
stir in 6 cups rice crispy cereal

Pour out onto a a cookie sheet lined with non-stick aluminium foil.

Let cool for a few minutes before forming into balls.

Meanwhile heat up a small amount of water in your double boiler or pot. The higher quality chocolate you use the easier it melts so the water should not be boiling hot. When the water is steamy hot remove it from the stove and place the metal bowl atop the pot and break your chocolate into small pieces into the bowl. The chocolate will melt and the stay liquid for quite a long time without having to be put back onto the stove. If your chocolate does start to harden just heat up the water more without the bowl on top. If the chocolate gets too hot it may seize up and you'll have to start over with new chocolate.

Now you can chocolate cover some mini marshmallows for the center of the pops.
I stuck the marshmallow onto a toothpick to dip it into the chocolate and another toothpick to remove it. Put them into the freezer for a few minutes so they set up quickly and can be handled when forming the rice crispy balls.

Step 3: Form Your Balls!

Once the treats have cooled enough to be handled (a few minutes) spray your hands lightly with cooking oil. Just a little bit. This will help so much and your hands will be so soft afterwards.

Form the rice crispy treats into balls.

Just form the rice cereal like a bowl around a marshmallow to make a surprise center.

Let the balls sit for a few minutes to firm up.

Once they feel firm push the lollipop stick in and then remove it and fill the hole with a bit of chocolate to "glue" the stick in.

Place in the freezer for a few minutes to set up quickly.

Note: I used different colors of pen to mark the bottoms of the sticks so I knew which ones had which centers.

Step 4: Cover With Chocolate (four Coats!)

Coat each pop with chocolate and let the excess drip off.

I used binder clips on the bowl to hold the pops so the excess could drain back into the bowl.
The picture shows only one binder clip set but I made three sets so by the time I covered the third pop with chocolate the first could be taken out and hung from the pasta dryer to set for a few minutes.
This was done to keep the excess chocolate from dripping down the stick. If you use candy coating instead of real chocolate then I think you can just skip this and place them into the styrofoam sheet.

After 8 pops were done they were placed into a styrofoam sheet and put into the freezer for a few minutes to set up quickly.

I repeated this four times for each pop so they have a THICK coating of chocolate (I love chocolate).

Before the last coat dries completely add any additional toppings: coconut flakes, chocolate powder, etc.
I used a chocolate mocha hot chocolate powder to coat one of the pops. Sweet chocolate with coffee flavor - yum!

Step 5: Done!

As I added each coat of chocolate I lost the perfect roundness of my rice crispy balls, especially the one with the jumbo marshmallow center. It's heavy & lopsided so I had to eat it myself :)

Since I used real chocolate and used a freezer to set the chocolate quickly and not candy coating melts I suggest keeping these in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate from blooming - which isn't pretty but still tasty.

Take them out of the fridge and come to room temperature before serving for the rice crispy treat to soften up to eat.