Treats for Kids | SoCal Savvy Mom

Mar 8
2015

Fun St. Patrick’s Day Treats

Rice crispy treats are a favorite in our house, yet another reason to love them is you can make them for any holiday. We have made Christmas trees, pumpkins, Easter Eggs and now four-leafed clovers! Not only are they very easy to make, they are also delicious to eat as well. My son helped with every step of making these and had a blast while doing it.

Ingredients Needed:

1 box rice crispy cereal

1 bag of marshmallows

Green food dye

Butter (we used coconut oil instead)

Melt 2 tbsp of butter and 40 marshmallows in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Mix melted ingredients together and add green food dye. Add 4 cups of rice crispy cereal, add another cup if needed. Let set for about 5 minutes and then use cookie cutter to cute out. We used a coconut oil spray and sprayed the cookie cutter a few different times so the rice didn’t stick to it. After you have cut them out set on wax paper to set. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Jan 20
2015

Easy, Fun Valentine’s Treats with kids

by Nicole Connerley

Valentine’s Day treats are so fun to make, especially with little ones, my son and his friend helped make these treats. Items needed for these treats are:

1 box Oreos (we used Trader Joe’s) Traders has a gluten-free option for these cookies as well
2 bags of Candy Melts
2 to 3 different Valentine’s sprinkles
30 Lollipop sticks
Wrappers and ties if you are giving them out

Candy melts made by Wilton are great for making tons of different types of candy. The most important part of this recipe is to not over cook the candy in the microwave, it we be ruined if you over cook or melt rather.

Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power
Remove from microwave and stir (which will be minimal at this point)
Microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power
Remove from microwave and stir
Repeat steps 3 & 4 until tit is smooth

Carefully remove one half of the cookie
Use stick to remove some of filling so stick will lay flat in the filling
Add melted chocolate over the stick and filling to reconnect cookie
Let cookies set for 10 minutes so the chocolate and cookie are reconnected completely otherwise cookie will fall apart

Dip both sides of the cookies so completely covered in chocolate
Wipe excess off of the one side (not the side you are going to use sprinkles on)
Dip into sprinkles
Set aside on wax paper for an hour or two until firm to the touch

If you are planning on passing these out in your child’s class I would recommend using the treat bags and twist ties. Very inexpensive the 50 treat bags cost $1.99 and the twist ties $.99 both from Michael’s. The chocolates were on sale from $3.99 to $1.99 this week also at Michael’s, the sprinkles I got at Target for a few dollars.

The finished treats! Since it is before Valentine’s Day I brought these into my mom’s chemo nurses’ today and they loved them, I plan on making them again and bringing to my son’s class. Something to note Traders has a gluten-free option for these cookies, which is great because my son’s class has a couple of children who need this option. I love that Trader’s has made it that much easier to make these treats for everyone in his class.

Oct 30
2014

No Bake Halloween Treats – mini pumpkins

by Nicole Connerley

Fun and easy Halloween treats to make with kids! Last night my 8-year-old and I made these adorable mini pumpkins for Halloween. The pumpkins are very simple and a blast to make. This was our first time making these and they didn’t turn out too bad considering my 8-year-old did most of them!

Ingredients needed:

1 box Rice Crispy Cereal
1 bag of marshmallows
1 bag of tootsie rolls
Orange food coloring (we used Color Garden because it is 100% plant-based)
Black sparkle gel
Green decorating icing

To make:

In a microwave safe bowl add 40 marshmallows, melt for 1 min, then 30 seconds until it is melted
Add orange dye to melted marshmallows

4 cups of rice crispy cereal, add more if needed
Roll into balls, about the size of a tennis ball
Set on a cookie sheet and allow the little pumpkins to set (20 min)

Use black sparkle gel to draw on eyes and mouth
Use green decorating icing to add leaves
Roll out tootsie rolls to use as stump and add-on top

The mini pumpkins have been a HUGE hit! I gave them to the his teacher, school nurse, the wonderful women who help at the office in his school and everyone on our street. I just got back from lunch with my brother and just walking through the restaurant everyone was telling me how cute they were. I hope your friends and family love them too, Happy Halloween!

Jul 10
2014

Summer Fun – Make Ice Cream in a bag

by Nicole Connerley

A couple of years ago on the last day of school we made ice cream in a bag with my son’s class. The kids loved it, and it was surprisingly very simple to make. If you have younger kids like we did (they were in kindergarten) you may need to help with the shaking. I would recommend wearing a pair of gloves to avoid frostbite! We loved making ice cream in a bag, it is so easy and delicious!

1/2 cup half & half
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 ziplock sandwich size bag (use a freezer bag)
1 ziplock gallon size bag (freezer bag works best)
3 cups crushed ice
1/3 cup rock salt

Put first 3 ingredients in the smaller Ziplock bag and seal bag (Make sure it is closed). Put ice and rock salt in the larger bag and then add the filled small bag. Seal the large bag.
Shake and squeeze bag until ice cream is thickened, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove small bag, unseal, and eat out of the bag, poor into a bowl, or put on a cone.
Add any toppings if you wish and enjoy!

ice cream cones

Apr 17
2014

Fun easy Easter treats to make with kids

by Nicole Connerley

This is a fun, and easy Easter treat to make with your kids, even toddlers! As you can probably tell because my child made the ones below! Simply dip into icing (put in microwave for about 15 seconds) then dip into sprinkles and set aside to dry. It really is that easy! The only items needed are:

Peeps (multiple colors)
Sprinkles (the more the merrier)
Icing (any color you choose)

No baking required, no chopping, no prep, just dip and let dry. You may choose to use melting chocolates instead of icing, I have done both ways and feel the icing is easier than the melting chocolates. There are tons of things you can do with your peeps once decorated. Put on a stick and hand out to friends, which is what we will be doing for my son’s class tomorrow. It is hard to find something for my son’s class… one child is gluten-free, another nut allergy, another no dairy, and another child who doesn’t celebrate holidays. Usually if I can’t make all 4 happen I will bring something else for those kids so they don’t feel left out.

Happy Easter!

Mar 7
2013

Easter Egg Nests – Fun Treat Ideas

by Nicole Hughes

It is a cloudy day here in SoCal today, so I figured what better to do than make treats! I am hosting Easter brunch for my family and friends on Easter Sunday and I wanted to try out a few recipes and I thought I would share. I love-making Easter Egg Nests, not only are they adorable but they are ridiculously delicious as well. Items needed to make these are marshmallows, butter, vanilla, and dry chow mein noodles, and small candies for the eggs.

4 Cups Dry Chow Mein Noodles
3 Cups Mini Marshmallows
3 Tbsp Butter
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
Candy Eggs, Mini Robin’s Eggs, M & M’s, or Jelly Beans

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Over low heat, melt the marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan, once melted stir in the vanilla. Pour the noodles into a large bowl. Pour the marshmallow and butter mixture over the noodles, stir until well coated. Rub some butter on your hands, this is important as it will all stick to your hands and not together. Then take the noodle mixture and form it into small round bowls in-between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball. Place the balls on the cookie sheet, with the back of a spoon, press the center of each ball to make a hollow indentation. Next let the nests set until they are hard and then fill each nest with candy eggs.