Milk and Cereal Bars

When General Mills first came out with their assorted Milk & Cereal Bars, I was an instant fan. (And if I still had the metabolism of my early 20's, I'm sure I'd still eat them all the time...) I love the idea, and I decided to come up with a quick and easy way to make a homemade version for Abby. These are no substitute for breakfast, but they do make a tasty dessert!

Milk and Cereal Bars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cereal Bars:
1 Tbsp butter
1 1/3 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups of your cereal of choice (I used Cheerios)

Milk filling:
4 Tbsp butter, softened*
1/4 cup dry nonfat milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Lightly spray an 8x8" baking pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, microwave the 1 Tbsp butter and the marshmallows together on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave for an additional 1 minute as needed to melt the butter and marshmallow together. Immediately stir in the 2 cups of cereal. Transfer the mixture to the 8x8" pan and spread in a very thin layer (using a strip of wax paper to tamp down the cereal will help this process). Set aside to cool.

Once the cereal has cooled, beat together the 4 Tbsp softened butter, nonfat dry milk, and powdered sugar until creamy and fluffy. Remove the cereal block and cut in half. Spread the milk frosting on the bottom (flatter) side of one half of the bars; top with the other half. Set in the refrigerator to cool for about an hour. When cool, cut into bars.

This makes a fairly small batch, but you could easily double the recipe (using a 9x13" pan). I didn't want too much temptation hanging around the house!

* edited: my husband felt the filling was a bit too buttery. If you feel the same way, some or all of the butter could be replaced with shortening. I quite liked the intense, buttery milky flavor. To each his own!