I've decided that my first post in my new kitchen will be an homage to the staple of my dinner diet while my kitchen was being remodeled: cereal. The obvious choice is the classic rice crispy treat. The problem--I don't like rice crispy treats, mostly due to the marshmallows involved. However, I do love holly wreaths and they are basically the same thing but with corn flakes. So I found this fancy recipe online and followed it to the letter, except that I used corn flakes.

Crispy Chocolate Marshmallow Squares
From Epicurious.com

For ganache:

• 5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), chopped
• 3 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Tía Maria, Kahlúa, or other coffee–flavored liqueur
• 1 tablespoon instant-espresso powder or instant-coffee granules

For marshmallow squares:

• 1/4 lb marshmallows (15 individual large marshmallows or 2 cups small)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups puffed-rice cereal such as Rice Krispies
  

Directions:

Make ganache:

• Melt chocolates with cream, liqueur, and espresso powder in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, whisking occasionally, until smooth, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let stand at room temperature until thickened, about 2 hours.

Make marshmallow squares:

• Line a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with a long sheet of foil, leaving a 1-inch overhang on each end.
• Melt marshmallows and butter with sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and gently stir in puffed-rice cereal.
• Transfer to lined baking pan, pressing mixture evenly onto bottom with dampened fingertips.
• Cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes, then carefully lift from pan by grasping both ends of foil.
• Peel off and discard foil, then cut into 1-inch squares.
• Spread some of ganache on half of squares, using about 1/2 teaspoon ganache each, then top with remaining squares.
• Reheat remaining ganache in metal bowl over barely simmering water, whisking occasionally, until loosened, then drizzle over tops of squares.
• Let squares stand until set, about 15 minutes.

About this recipe: Okay, I lied when I said I followed this recipe to the letter. I hardly followed it at all. I used a good 60% cocoa bitter sweet chocolate and Kahlua for the liqueur. If you want to go through all the trouble to mix a 60% with a 70% go right ahead. I made the ganache first and used a double boiler as instructed to heat the cream, chocolate, liqueur, and espresso powder (instant coffee grounds in my case) until the chocolate melted into a shiny and smooth delight. I set it aside and made the crispy part.

You can heat the marshmallows and butter on the stove if you want to but I suggest a quick 1 to 1 minute 30 second trip in the microwave to melt the butter and heat the marshmallows. It's really fun to watch because the marshmallows puff up really big before they collapse. Remove and quickly stir in the cocoa powder, sugar, etc. so that it incorporates smoothly, then stir in your rice crispies until they are evenly coated. I didn't do it in exactly this order so my corn flakes turned out rather dirty looking from the uneven way the cocoa powder stuck to everything. Ah well, nothing a coating of ganache won't cure.

I spread the mixture out into a 1 inch thick layer in a greased baking sheet and got a roughly 8 X 11 inch sheet which isn't a lot especially if you decide to make the sandwiches. 2 hours is too long to wait for the ganache to set up so I simply drizzled a thin layer of it over the top and will cut them into bite sized squares. Yay for impatience!

I have about a cup of ganache left over and now have the difficult task of decided what to do with it.

The result: well my ode to cereal was a bust. My roomie put it well when he said it was almost really satisfying. There were a couple problems but the biggest was that it wasn't sweet enough, neither the ganache nor the crispy part. It was a very big surprise. In addition, it was too salty. I guess the bitter sweet chocolate chips I chose were not sweet enough and the marshmallows and additional sugar didn't quite cut it. In spite of this failure, I think this could be really good. I suggest at least a tablespoon more sugar to the crispy part and no more than 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Taste your ganache and if it's too bitter, stir in a bit of sugar to taste. Since I've got more than 1/2 a bag of marshmallows left I may give this another shot. I need to get more cornflakes, though.