Rice Krispie Treats: Can you get even lazier with the laziest dessert ever?

Oh, yes. Yes you can.

I've been having a craving for rice krispie treats lately (or, rather, crispy rice treats, since I'm cheap and I buy the generic cereal). A short discussion with my vegetarian daughter revealed that she doesn't mind marshmallows, and she'll eat things that contain them. Armed with this knowledge, I stopped by the store & picked up the necessary ingredients.

Now, I was even less in the mood to stand over my stove & stir than normally, so, I wondered: can I nuke these? Indeed you can. The Kellogg's website says to microwave for 3 minutes, but I found that was far too long. I did mine 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between, and discovered that they were done after two short jaunts in the microwave. Stir in cereal, pat it in a pan, and, you're done!

RECIPE

3 tablespoons butter
1 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows
enough cereal for it to stick together.

Melt the marshmallows & butter together. When it's smooth, start stirring in cereal. Yeah, the official recipe has a measurement for the cereal, but, why bother? This is mixing, not baking. There's no chemistry involved here. Save your time & eyeball it. I promise, no one will die.

Fudge for the Lazy

I love homemade fudge, but, until recently, I rarely made it. I have a tendency to either burn the sugar or undercook the fudge, leading to less than optimum taste or texture. Plus, I live in Florida, so, the idea of standing over the stove stirring sticky candy is not always appealing.

However, I started making fudge more once I found a super easy recipe to make it. The magic lies with sweetened condensed milk. This is not to be confused with evaporated milk, by the way. Sweetened condensed milk is sweetened, while evaporated milk is just milk. Sweetened condensed milk gives foods a smooth and pleasant texture that is great for fudge and other desserts.

I usually make this in the microwave. You can vary the flavor by using different kinds of chips, or even subbing some peanut butter or almond butter for part of the chocolate chips.

Try adding nuts, crushed mint candies or other add-ins to mix it up.

Stupid Easy Fudge

• one pound (3 cups) chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter
• 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Cook at medium heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at the end of each interval. The fudge is done when all ingredients can be combined. Pour into a parchment or plastic wrap lined 8 in by 8 in pan. Cool in the fridge.

If you do not want to use the microwave for this, you can also heat the items in a double boiler over medium heat until melted.

Lazy Peanut Butter Cookies

My husband is a peanut butter fanatic. I love easy recipes with very few ingredients. When I stumbled across a recipe for peanut butter cookies made with only three ingredients, I knew it was something I had to try. And no, the lack of flour is not a typo. These come out exactly like traditional peanut butter cookies.


Stupid Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg

Mix all ingredients until combined. Preheat oven to 350. Drop walnut sized blobs of cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes. They should be lightly browned. Don't worry if they seem really soft. They will firm up as they cool.