Chocolate-dipped Dinosaur Rice Krispy Treat Pops

My 4 year old has been out of  "school" for 2 weeks now and so far he has:  asked for 10 million snacks, made a coral reef out of marshmallows and licorice, corrected his grandmother's grammar (further and farther are NOT the same word),  and eaten every single meal in his treehouse.

I'm thinking it's going to be a long summer.

I have some fun science/social studies "units" planned for him to keep us from rotting of boredom, so I'll have some themed foods coming all summer, but there will also be plenty of the usual.

This week we are starting a dinosaur unit.  If I had realized this would entail long conversations about carrion and how carnivores shred their meat I probably wouldn't have been so eager to start with this one.  At any rate we had a great time making these pops and I have some super cute dino-themed cookies to share with you later.

Happy Summer to all!

Dinosaur Rice Krispy Treat Pops

adapted from Rice Krispy Treats by Rice Krispies

-4 Tbsp butter
-1 10 oz bag marshmallows (I like mini)
-6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

-Candy melts (color of your choice, or use white melts and candy coloring to tint them.  Do NOT use regular food coloring or your chocolate will seize.)
-Sprinkles


Melt butter in a saucepan.  Add marshmallows and stir until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in Rice Krispies until evenly coated.

Spray hands with Pam and press mixture into a foil-lined 9x13 pan.  (When you do pops, you want to press them together pretty tightly so they will hold up on a stick.)

Allow to cool for about an hour.

Remove foil from pan and peel down from all sides.

Grease a cookie cutter and cut out shapes.  (After cutting out, I run a toothpick along the outside of the cookie cutter to get all the little excess pieces off.  This gives you a nice clean shape.)

 

Insert sticks.

Melt candy melts at 50% power for 30 second intervals until completely melted.  Do not overheat. Color chocolate if desired.

Hold each pop over the bowl of chocolate, by the stick, and quickly spoon chocolate over the pop covering Rice Krispy treat completely.  Tap gently on the side of the bowl and allow excess to drip off.  Place pop on a piece of parchment paper and add sprinkles if desired.  Allow to set completely before serving.