When I was seventeen years old, my sister taught me how to make those famous marshmallow puffs that most
Girl Scouts learn to make. Years later, I wanted to make them again and picked myself up the ingredients. Who knew my young memory was so faulty. I ended up getting the order of the dipping and rolling all mixed up and instead of marshmallow puffs, I ended up with something quite different and even tastier than the original. At least, I think so. So, grab your tots, wash everyone's hands and roll those sleeves up for some sticky sweet fun cooking that really, you shold only have once in a lifetime because I am quite certain none of this is good for you and you just may push your kidlet into sugar addiction territory. I'm just saying.
What you need:
*large marshmallows, at least 10
*2 tablespoons melted butter
*3 tablespoons granulated sugar
*2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
*1 container of pre-cut biscuits
*sprinkles, jimmies, etc.
*muffin pan, greased
scrumdilly-do it!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Wipe a small bit of butter onto a piece of wax paper and have your wee one grease up the muffin pan. My mom always had me use the wax paper wrapper from the butter itself to do this. Set up your ingredients in an easy to reach formation and sit your tots down. This could get messy.
Hand your kidlet a biscuit round from the container. If you are using a super sort of biscuits with layers, you can pull apart one biscuit to make two. The biscuits I used contained 10 so I pulled apart two of them to round 'em out to 12 to fit my muffin pan. Once they have their round of dough in hand, have them squash it flat. Squashing sound effects are optional.
Next up, flip that flattened round into the melted butter. I kept my butter on a semi-deep plate so that I could butter up each side of the biscuit without drenching it.
Once the round is all gooey with butter, toss it into the sugar mixture and smoosh it into the muffin pan. Instead of sugar, you can also use any happy cake decorating bit of sweetness. I had some sprinkles on hand so once my cinnamon was used up, I tossed the remainder of rounds into the sprinkles.
Grab a large marshmallow and center it on your smooshed dough pushing it down just a bit. Repeat until you pan is full. Add more sprinkles if you feel your pan is lacking and pop it into the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes and remove.
The marshmallows will have puffed up a bit along with the biscuits. Some may have even slid around and moved in with their neighbor. Use a wide spoon to guide the marshmallow back to it's own home and scoop the whole thing out onto a happy serving plate. You may want to keep them all to yourself once you try them but make sure your kidlet gets at least one on his or her very own plate. Allow to cool for about five minutes before diving in. And remember, I warned ya!
**these are best eaten fresh from the oven. if you find yourself with leftover, keep then in an airtight container and reheat in the microwave (on a plate) for smidge when yer ready, otherwise the marshmallow may pull out teeth!
Here's a fun and slightly messy fireworks painting project for your kidlets. This one is definitely for the outdoors. Beware of fits and giggles!
Set up your work area by filling your containers with paint and water. I used a little too much water for mine so the colors are quite muted. Liquid watercolor or tempera is fine for this. You could even use food color and water if you wanted to.
Have your kidlet cut the legs off the tights near the top where the legs meet.
Pop a ball, I used large super balls, into each leg and shake it down to the toe. Add a knot just above the ball to ensure it stays in place.
Toss your new paintbrushes into your pain mixture and let them soak up a bit of paint.
When your tot is ready, pull out a "brush" and WHACK it onto the paper. It will make satisfying THWACK and splatter as it hits. Make sure your kidlet knows to only bounce their new brush onto the paper and NOT at their sibling or friend. Have your kidlet try different techniques. Try dropping the ball directly onto the paper or dragging it across for lines. Whatever you do, the more colors your tots use, the more fireworks-y their pictures will appear.
Have fun and don't say I didn't warn ya!
