Rice Krispie Treat Snowmen

You can stay warm and cozy inside having fun building cute Rice Krispie Treat Snowmen for your Christmas celebration. Use our very best marshmallow cereal treat recipe to create these adorable wintertime treats.

Christmas is the perfect time to have some fun in the kitchen building these 3-D Rice Krispie Treat Snowmen.

It's a project the entire family can enjoy doing together.

I decorated all of my snowmen the same with a Reese's Cup hat, mini chocolate chip eyes and buttons, a fruit roll scarf, orange candy carrot noses, and pretzel arms, but you can get creative and add your own twist to these cute treats.

To make these snowman rice crispy treats you will start by adding some white candy melts into our very best Rice Krispie Treat recipe.

The white candy melts not only add a nice vanilla flavor to the treats but also make the treats a bit more sturdy so they will hold their shape well.

The recipe can be made on the stovetop or in the microwave.

Let's make the treats.

Stovetop Method

• Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a medium-large saucepan set over LOW heat.
• Stir in a 16-ounce bag of marshmallows (mini marshmallows melt more quickly!)
• Add 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) of white candy melts or white chips.
• Stir often, until about 75% of the marshmallows and white chocolate have melted.
• Then remove the pan from the heat and stir vigorously until it all melts.
  • This ensures your treats are soft and chewy.
  • If you overheat the marshmallows, the sugar in the candy crystallizes, making your treats hard to bite into.
• Pour the melted marshmallows over a large bowl filled with 7 cups Rice Krispies Cereal.
• Stir until well coated.

Microwave Method

• Combine the butter, marshmallows, and white chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl.
• Heat on high power for 1 minute.
• Remove the bowl and stir vigorously until melted.
• If needed, heat for 15-second bursts of high power, stirring after each until melted.
  • Do not overheat the marshmallows or you will have hard treats.
• Stir in the cereal.

Cool.

• Allow the cereal mixture to cool for 30-45 minutes.
• This will make forming the snowmen much easier. The marshmallows won't be quite as sticky once they cool.

Build your snowmen.

• Pinch off some of the cereal and roll it into a 2-inch ball.
• Then immediately pinch off a smaller amount of the cereal mixture and roll it into a 1 ½-inch ball.
• Stick the two together.
  • They should be sticky enough to hold together. If they do not, then you can melt some white candy melts and use it as "glue" to attach the two pieces together.
• Repeat, creating a total of 15 snowmen.

Fruit Roll Scarves

• Use a knife, pizza wheel, or scissors to cut 1-inch wide strips from Fruit Roll-Ups or you can simply use the Fruit by the Foot rolls that are already thin strips.
• Fold the strip in half lengthwise to create a ½-inch wide piece.
•  Make a few cuts on each end of the fruit roll strips to make fringe.

Alternatives.

• You can also create your scarves out of fondant or modeling chocolate (candy clay).
• AirHeads would also make good scarves. It might be best to roll out the soft taffy to make it thinner though.

Reese's Cup Snowman Hats

• Pipe a small 1-inch circle of melted light cocoa candy melts onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Immediately set a Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cup in the center of the circle.
• Repeat, creating a total of 15 hats.
• Freeze the hats for about 3 minutes until the candy melts harden.
• Pipe a tiny dot of candy melts onto the Reese's Cup and attach a snowflake sprinkle.

Mini vs. Miniature Reese's Cups

• You want to use Reese's Minis to create the hats for your snowmen.
• The mini peanut butter cups come unwrapped and are the perfect size for these snowman rice krispie treats. They are about ¾ inches in diameter across the top.
• I like how the hats made with the mini peanut butter cups look on my snowmen but you may prefer to create larger hats using the miniature peanut butter cups.
• The Reese's Miniature Cups are about twice as large as the minis. You can use them to make your hats just be sure to make your chocolate hat brims a bit larger too.

Candy Carrot Noses

• In the video, you will see that I used orange Mini Starburst Fruit Chews to make my carrot noses. I cut each mini candy square into 4 tiny pieces then shaped each piece into a carrot-shaped nose.

Alternative Candy Noses

• You can also use orange Lemonhead Breath Mints or orange chocolate candy-coated sunflower seeds. If you use either of these you will probably need to attach them to the snowman treats with a bit of melted white candy melts.
• You can also use any orange candies like gumdrops, circus peanuts, orange taffy, etc.
  • Just cut the candies and shaped them into tiny little carrot-shaped noses.
  • Most of these candies, once cut and shaped will be soft enough to stick to the cereal treat snowmen just by pressing them onto the snowman's head but if they don't then use a bit of white candy melts to attach them.

Decorate your snowman treats.

• Press the pointed ends of two mini chocolate chips into the cereal treat snowman heads to create his eyes.
• Then press a carrot nose under the eyes. If needed, you can "glue" the noses on using white candy melts.
• Insert three mini chocolate chips creating the buttons on the lower snowball.
• Wrap a fruit roll scarf around the snowman in between the two cereal treat snowballs.
• Shave off a flat area on the snowman's head then use some melted candy melts to attach a Reese's Cup hat.
• Finally, break a pretzel stick in half and insert one half on either side of the bottom snowball to create your snowman's arms.

Can I make these ahead?

• Yes. You can make these treats up to 2 weeks before you plan to serve them.
• Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

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Video

Be sure to watch the video below to see the process for making and decorating these 3-D rice crispy treat snowmen.

Printable Recipe

Rice Krispie Treat Snowmen

Beth Klosterboer

3-D marshmallow cereal treat snowmen are decorated using mini Reese's Cup hats, fruit roll scarves, mini chocolate chip eyes and buttons, and pretzel stick arms.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15

Calories 355 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 7 cups rice crispy cereal
• 6 tablespoons salted butter
• 16 ounces marshmallows
• 6 ounces white candy melts (approximately 1 cup)
• 4 ounces light cocoa candy melts (approximately ⅔ cups)
• 15 Reese's Cup Minis
• 15 snowflake sprinkles
• 3 fruit rolls
• 4 Orange Mini Starburst Fruit Chews (see post for alternatives)
• 75 mini chocolate chips
• 30 pretzel sticks

Instructions

 

Rice Krispie Treat Snowmen

• Spray a large mixing bowl with baking spray then pour in 7 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal.
• Set aside.
• Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a medium-large saucepan set over LOW heat.
• Stir in a 16-ounce bag of marshmallows and 6 ounces of white candy melts or white chips.
• Stir often, until about 75% of the marshmallows and white chocolate have melted.
• Then remove the pan from the heat and stir vigorously until it all melts.
• Pour the melted marshmallows over the cereal and stir until well coated.
• Set the marshmallow cereal treat mixture aside to cool for 30-45 minutes.
• Pinch off some of the cooled cereal and roll it into a 2-inch ball.
• Then immediately pinch off a smaller amount of the cereal mixture and roll it into a 1 ½-inch ball.
• Stick the two together.
• Repeat, creating a total of 15 snowmen.

Scarves

• Cut 1-inch wide strips from red, green, or blue fruit leather then fold the strip in half lengthwise.
• Make a few cuts on each end of the fruit roll strips to make fringe. 

Hats

• Pipe a 1-inch circle of melted light cocoa candy melts onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Immediately set a Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cup in the center of the circle.
• Repeat, creating a total of 15 hats.
• Freeze the hats for about 3 minutes until the candy melts harden.
• Pipe a tiny dot of candy melts onto the Reese's Cup and attach a snowflake sprinkle.

Candy Carrot Noses

• Cut each mini Starburst Fruit Chew into 4 tiny pieces then shape each piece into a carrot-shaped nose.

Assemble

• Press the pointed ends of two mini chocolate chips into the cereal treat snowman heads to create his eyes.
• Then press a carrot nose under the eyes.
• Insert three mini chocolate chips creating the buttons on the lower snowball.
• Wrap a fruit roll scarf around the snowman in between the two cereal treat snowballs.
• Shave off a flat area on the snowman's head then use some melted candy melts to attach a Reese's Cup hat.
• Finally, break a pretzel stick in half and insert one half on either side of the bottom snowball to create your snowman's arms.

Video

Notes

• If you prefer, you can melt the butter, marshmallows, and white candy melts in the microwave on high power for 1 minute, then stir until melted.
• If needed heat for 15-second bursts of power, stirring after each until melted. 
• Store the snowman rice crispy treats in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. 

Keyword Christmas Rice Krispie Treats, rice krispie treats, snowmen

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