The best thing to happen to Cheerios in a while

Cheerios have been around for about eternity and, since I have a small child, they are ubiquitous - in the car seat, in between the couch cushions, on the floor, etc. However, this is a fun little snack that one of my co-workers turned me on to. I will warn you: these are not esthically pleasing to look at. In fact, they are somewhat offensive. But they taste delicious and, I dare say, aside from an apple or another fruit or some carrot sticks, they are not too terribly bad for you either. And the recipe is rather interpretive, so feel free to make these your own.

I call them Those Cheerios Things and here's what they look like (prepare yourself: they are hideous):


Take a quantity of high-quality dark chocolate (rule of thumb here: the higher the cacao content, the better the chocolate for you in terms of anti-oxidents) - I think this time around I used about 8 oz - and melt in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. When you notice it has started to melt, start to stir and keep stirring until it's almost all melted. To facilitate and expedite the melting process, you can chop it up into small pieces. I didn't want to get my cutting board and knife dirty, so I didn't do that this time. When it looks like almost all the chocolate has melted, take it off the heat and keep stirring until it has all melted. Stir a couple more times for good measure.

While the chocolate is still hot, stir in a bunch of Cheerios or other toasted oat cereal (I sure hope General Mills doesn't come after me for not putting a TM or R after that word up there). I think I used about 4 cups. Stir until all the toasted oat cereal has been uniformly coated with the chocolate. You might want to add a little more, depending on how drippy the mixture is. Stir in your choice of other things: I used sliced almonds and dried cranberries this time around. You could use any other kind of dried fruit, or nut, whatever sounds good. I like the dark chocolate combined with the almonds and the cranberries because you're getting all kinds of antioxidents and fiber, along with the toasted oat cereal. G asked me to put some cayenne pepper on some of them, so I did - lightly -, and he seems to be happy. This adds a fabulous heat kick at the finish of the mouthful, it's fantastic. Chocolate and pepper go wonderfully together.

Drop them in rounded, generous tablespoons onto parchment, silpat or waxed paper that is on a cookie pan, and put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to get firmed up.


These are not only scrumptious, they satisfy all kinds of taste cravings, and they are also filling so you can't eat a ton of them.

Let me know what you think of these recipes.... I welcome your feedback! And G says: "Don't forget a cup of coffee".