Elder Care Recipes: Rice Crispy Treat Christmas Trees
Elder Care in Jenison MI
Hosting a Christmas party for your friends and family members is a fantastic way to spend quality time together during the holiday season. Preparing a large spread of complicated foods and 
desserts, however, might be too much to fit into your elder care routine. Finding simple and delicious recipes that your elderly adults can make on their own, with you, or with their elderly health care services provider simplifies preparations for the party and lets them feel more involved and engaged in the holiday celebrations, which helps to ward off feelings of depression, isolation, and lack of relevance.
This recipe gives a holiday spin to a favorite childhood treat for a dessert that is both tasty and adorable. These little Christmas trees are perfect to have already prepared for your guests to enjoy, or to put out bare so that your parents can spend time with their grandchildren decorating their own special holiday treats together.
What You Will Need
• Canned frosting or your favorite buttercream frosting
• Green food coloring
• 6 cups of puffed rice cereal
• 1 package of regular marshmallows, or four cups of miniature marshmallows
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• Assorted peppermint or other candies for decoration to put on the tree
• Piping gel
• A large saucepan
• A spatula
• Wax paper
• A 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan
• Cooking spray
• Christmas Tree shaped cookie cutters
What to Do
• Place the large saucepan on low heat
• Add butter to the saucepan and stir while melting to prevent burning
• Add the marshmallows to the saucepan and cook until completely melted
• Remove the saucepan from the heat
• Add the cereal to the saucepan
• Stir until well combined
• Butter a spatula and a sheet of wax paper
• Coat the 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan with cooking spray
• Using the spatula and wax paper, press the mix into the 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan
• Allow the mixture to cool a bit
• Spray the cookie cutters with cooking spray
• Cut the cereal with the cookie cutters
• Remove the trees and place them on a serving dish
• Use the green food coloring to tint the canned or buttercream icing to your desired shade of green
• Use the rubber spatula to spread the icing on each of the cooled Christmas trees
• Use the piping gel to create garlands on the trees
• Attach the candies to the tree pressing them into the frosting or adding a small amount of piping gel to the back and pressing them into place
• Allow to cool completely
• Best served on the same day
Special tips:
• Use chocolate or fruit-flavored puffed rice cereal for different flavors of trees
• Make preparation faster and simpler by swapping a 7 ounce jar of marshmallow cream for the marshmallows
• Use the marshmallow cream and dairy-free margarine instead of the marshmallows and butter to create a vegan version
• Use different shapes of cookie cutters such as ornaments to create more fun Christmas shapes that you can decorate
If you or someone you know needs help with elder care in Jenison, MI, contact Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services in our community. Call us at (616) 258-2300 for more information.
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