Cereal Fest- Frosted Flake Sugar Cookies, Fruity Pebble Whoopie Pies, & Reese's Puff Treats

It's time to bring forth some wonderful childhood/college nostalgia!

~Makes about 30 sugar cookies and definitely more than 10 of the others depending on your sizing ;)~

Ingedients:

Sugar Cookies:

1/2 c whole milk

1/3 c frosted flakes, whole

2 c frosted flakes, crumbs, plus more for garnish

1/4 c all purpose flour

1/4 c sugar

2 T brown sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

6 T unsalted butter, melted

1 egg, beated

1 T vanilla

1 c powdered sugar

sprinkles

Whoopie pies:

2 c whole milk

1 1/2 c fruity pebbles, plus more for garnish

1 c sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, soft

1 egg

1 t vanilla extract

1 t lemon extract

Red food coloring

2 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

4 oz cream cheese, soft

3 T unsalted butter, soft

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 t lemon extract

red + blue food coloring

1/4 c fruity pebbles

Reese's Puff Treats:

3 T unsalted butter

10 oz marshmallows

6 c reese's puffs

1/4 c chocolate chips

Method:

Sugar Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, add the frosted flakes and cover with milk. Stir and let steep for 30 minutes. You can also toast the flakes for 15 minutes at 300 degrees if you would like a stronger flavor.

For the cookie dough, combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the butter, milk, egg, and vanilla. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes. Now, test a cookie! Drop one ball of dough on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes. How does it look and taste? Too dry? Add a couple of tablespoons of milk. Too flat? Add a few tablespoons of flour. Baking is science and all of our ovens, ingredients, and tastes are different. Take the lead and go on baking. You should be able to fit at least 8 balls of cookie dough on each baking sheet.

To make the icing, strain your cereal milk. make sure you press down on the cereal to extract as much milk as possible. Combine 2 T of the cereal milk with the powdered sugar until smooth. Dip the cookies in icing or spread it over the top of them. Add sprinkles and frosted flake crumbs and enjoy. Best enjoyed dipped in frosted flake-infused milk if you make extra :)

Fruity Pebble Whoopie Pies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, add the fruity pebbles and cover with milk. Stir and let steep for 30 minutes before straining (press down the cereal to obtain as much milk as possible when straining).

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and butter until well creamy. Stir in the egg, extracts, and some drops of red food coloring to reach your desired shade of pink (if you want red, gel coloring is much better to reach that level of intensity). In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Alternating with 3/4 cup of the cereal milk (beginning and ending with flour mix), add the flour mixture to the batter. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drop the cookie dough using your large cookie dough scoop. Bake for 11-14 minutes. If the bottoms seem to be getting too dark, lower your oven temperature. Let the cookie cool on a wire rack while making the filling.

For the filling, mix together the softened cream cheese and butter. Very slowly add in the powdered sugar and any remaining cereal milk. Mix in the lemon extract and food colorings (I did 5 drops of red and 3 blue). If you would like the frosting to be thicker, add more powdered sugar. Pipe the filling on the flat side of the cookie and add another cookie. Roll the sides in fruity pebbles.

Reese's Puff Marshmallow Treats:

In a large pot, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the marshmallows and continue to stir until the marshmallows have nearly all melted, then immediately remove from heat to prevent burning. Stir in the Reese's puffs and be sure to scrape up all of the marshmallow from the bottom of the pot to well incorporate. Add the mix to a well-greased 9x13 glass pan. Spray a spatula with baking spray to spread out the mixture evenly in the pan without it sticking. Set aside to harden. Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave at 30-second intervals and drizzle over the cereal treats. Cut into desired shapes once set. Enjoy!