Cat in the Hat Treats

When my daughter started Kindergarten, I felt like I needed a starter-mom course in the new parental expectations department. When I was in elementary school, nobody brought in treats on their birthdays and we didn't celebrate "school" holidays like Teacher Appreciation Week and Dr. Seuss's Birthday. Don't get me wrong, it's all well and good; I just wish I had KNOWN some of this stuff -although I still think the whole bringing goodies on your birthday thing is disruptive, exclusionary and encourages too many "sweets days", but for now, I'll consider it a necessary thing- especially since my daughter SHARES a birthday with the aforementioned Dr. Seuss. Can you believe that? I felt under DOUBLE pressure to come up with a treat that celebrated both. I remembered seeing a marshmallow-on-cookie pilgrim hat in an old FamilyFun magazine and had an idea: What if we doubled the marshmallows to make a tall Cat-in-the-Hat type had treat? It was super-easy although a bit time-consuming.

Ingredients:
1 bag Large Marshmallows
1 package White Almond Bark (or bag of White Candy Melts)
1 box Ritz Crackers

Stack two large marshmallows and secure them with a toothpick although I might try pretzel sticks next time so I don't have to warn the kids before they eat them. Next, melt the candy/bark. Place a dollop on a Ritz Cracker and place the marshmallow stack on top. Wait until secure (about 5 minutes) and dip the whole concoction in the melted white goodness. Be sure to scrape the bottom so there's not too much and place on wax paper to harden.
When the "hat" is dry, take a tube of red decorator's icing and pipe on stripes and a red top. Note: Although the effect was appropriately topsy-turvy, this technique was way sloppier than I had hoped plus it tasted just like pure food coloring. I think next time, I will make the stripes with red Fruit Roll-ups so I can make them neater. Any ideas?
In the end, you just can't go wrong with white chocolate, icing (even the gross store-bought kind), Ritz crackers and marshmallows (toothpick optional). They were a big hit with the kids- even thought they weren't the standard cupcake, and the teacher appreciated the fact that they fit the theme of the day.


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