Halloween Cereal Bars

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These Halloween Cereal Bars are the perfect sweet treat for all your ghosts and goblins!

These little treats are so fun to customize to your own tastes. Halloween Cereal Bars are delicious and very simple to make. The kiddos will definitely want to help out with this one.  

These treats totally take me back to my childhood. As a kid of the 70s and 80s, I lived for the time of year when the "Monster Cereals" came out. My mom always made me choose just one (so not fair, right? Wink.)...and my heart always went with Count Chocula® (with Franken Berry® being a close second...because pink cereal). But, man, Count Chocula®...who doesn't love a chocolatey cereal that even makes the milk delicious to slurp up after all the cereal is gone? (And this is from a true non-milk drinker, y'all.)

I thought it would be fun to put a Halloween twist on the classic cereal treat and use my good ol' friend the Count in some delicious bar versions of the recipe. The main ingredients are Count Chocula® cereal, butter, and mini marshmallows. Then you can embellish with additional melted chocolate and sprinkles in whichever way you choose. I grabbed all these goodies (even the Halloween sprinkles I used) at Target. Click here for even more Halloween goodie ideas.

One trick to making these Halloween Cereal Bars even easier is to line your pan with aluminum foil (dull side up). Then spray the foil with cooking spray. Once your bars are set, you can just lift the foil out of the pan (bars and all) to make cutting easier.

 After pulling the foil back, I cut my bars into three rows,
getting four bars out of each row. You can definitely go smaller, if you prefer.

Instead of a traditional popsicle stick, I found some cute Halloween straws in Target's Dollar Spot. These treats were so light that they worked beautifully. 

Then just dip the end of the bar into melted white chocolate (we use almond bark for its consistency). 

Drizzle other Halloween colors of melted chocolate on top and add sprinkles.
Use a cookie cooling rack to allow your treats to harden.  

Halloween Cereal Bars

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE VERSION

Prep Time: 10 minutes, (additional cooling time: 1-2 hours)

Makes 12 bars (serving size: 1 bar)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 7 cups Count Chocula® Cereal
• 1/2 pound Almond Bark
• Orange and Black Food Coloring
• Halloween Colored Sprinkles

Directions:

Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil, dull-side facing up. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in microwave for 45 seconds. Add marshmallows, stir, and microwave for another 1 1/2 minutes, stirring every thirty seconds. Stir thoroughly and make sure marshmallows have completely melted.

Add cereal to marshmallow mixture, folding and stirring until it’s completely coated.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Using back of a buttered spoon (or buttered fingers), press mixture flat. Allow to cool completely and cut into bars.

Insert popsicle stick or fun straw into bar. 

Melt almond bark according to package directions. If desired, color smaller portions of the melted bark orange or black. 

Dip ends of the cereal bars into melted bark and allow to set on a rack. Embellish with additional drizzled black and orange bark, if desired. Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles.

Allow to set up for an hour or so.

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE VERSION 

Do these boxes take you back to your childhood, or what? 

Target had everything I needed for this recipe (and then some). Target is one of those places I can't just "run in for one thing"...just so much fabulousness, right? These monster cereal boxes were available on an end cap next to the cereal aisle.

 These special collectible boxes of Count Chocula®, Boo Berry® and Franken Berry® have a special project on the back.

What's even more fun than these special edition cereals? Y'all, the ghosts' castle is on the back of the boxes...just waiting to be built! So fun, right? My youngest couldn't wait to get his hands on the boxes. Each of the three collectible boxes of monster cereal has a piece of the castle on the back. Collect all three to build your own castle.

Besides the castle, there are also monster figurines and accessories to be used in the castle. You'll just need to cut the pieces our on the dotted lines. Each piece has corner tabs/inserts that interlock with the coordinating pieces from the other boxes. 

The piece from the Count Chocula® box makes up the main body of the castle. The Boo Berry® has the castle's point and Franken Berry® cereal has the "wings" of the castle. 

 Isn't it fun? I had intended to display it with our Halloween candy bowl, but my kids are really having a great time playing with it and the included figures.

 I think these cereal bars would be super cute displayed at a Halloween party.
And since they're on a stick/straw, they're easy to carry around and munch on.

Check out the Betty Crocker site here for more delicious ideas.

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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