Strawberry Rice Crispie Treats

So, I'm cruising down the aisles of my local Wal-Mart, checking out the Valentine's Day treats and other displays, and my eye catches a bag of strawberry-flavored heart marshmallows. I'd been having an obsession lately with Indoor S'Mores (awesome barpan treat version of the campfire classic), and I thought, "Hey, I bet those would make great Rice Crispie treats for Valentine's Day!" And sure enough, they were awesome! So, here's a tricked-out version of an old classic treat.

Strawberry Rice Crispie Treats

~6oz. butter (yep, use butter... and yep, this is double the butter in the original Rice Crispie treat recipe. Ever wonder why your rice crispie treats are hard as a rock and not chewie? It's because you need to use more butter!)
~1 10oz. bag of marshmallows, strawberry-flavored (if these are only seasonal and you can't get them later on in the year, you could probably just add a few drops of red food coloring and 1/2 tsp. of strawberry extract flavoring)
~6 cups of crispy rice cereal (any brand will do)
~about 1 cup of white chocolate baking chips
~non-stick baking spray

A Wilton heart pan, great for molding these goodies! I found it at Walmart. Each heart is approximately 1 cup.

Spray each heart with non-stick baking spray, then sprinkle white baking chips in the bottom of the pan.

Put the butter in a microwave-safe bowl, then pour in the whole bag of marshmallows. (Yep, those two bowls are Tupperware, I used to sell it years and years ago. If you don't have a set of the special microwave cooking bowls called Stack Cooker, get one, it's been 15 years and I still use mine. Find a set on eBay or see a Tupperware dealer.)

Nuke the butter and marshmallows for about 1 minute, the marshmallows are now big and puffy. Stir the marshmallows and butter, then nuke one more time for about 45 seconds.

Pour in the 6 cups of cereal and stir.

Everything mixed together. Spoon the mixture into each heart, pressing down with your fingers (grease them first with the non-stick spray.)

Wah-lah! Heart-shaped Rice Crispie Treats. You can get 8 of them out of the recipe, but only if you work fast to shape the last 2 hearts while the mixture is still warm. Put the pan in the freezer or fridge for a minute or two, then flip the 6 hearts out onto a baking rack. Hurry and mold 2 more hearts. All that sticky marshmallow mix will come off your bowls and spoons with warm/hot water.

Per 1oz. serving of the rice crispies only, w/o the chips:
120 calories, 3.5g fat, 21g carbs. 0.9g protein

For the 2oz. heart treat, with 12g or 1-1/2 Tbsp. of the white chips, it is:
304 calories, 10.1g fat, 50.1g carbs, 2.5g protein