When General Mills put out the call for bloggers to create some cereal-based treats for Halloween I noticed Cheerios were on the list. CHEERIOS! The foundation of Kiddo’s nutrition. I’m in! These were so much fun to put together, and Kiddo is thrilled with them. The inside is based on an old favorite recipe, and the peanut butter candy coating is from a classic Betty Crocker recipe.
Cheerio Peanut Butter Pumpkins
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 10 ounces marshmallows
- 6 cups Cheerios
- Orange paste food coloring, or red and yellow gel food coloring (not liquid!)
- 1 bag peanut butter chips
- 1 can white frosting
- Green jelly beans
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl melt the butter in the microwave and carefully swirl it around to coat the bottom half or so of the bowl; add the marshmallows and microwave at 50% power till marshmallows are melted; stir in Cheerios
- Grease up your hands or some disposable gloves with butter or oil spray and carefully (it’s hot!) shape Cheerio mixture into pumpkins, squeezing them pretty firmly so they don’t fall apart. Let them cool on wax or parchment paper while you mix the peanut butter coating
- Put a two-quart saucepan over low heat and melt peanut butter chips, stirring constantly, until just barely melted and thoroughly smooth; remove from heat and stir in frosting and coloring. Have fun with the color! Add a little at a time till it looks just right to you (I put mine in the stand mixer to mix the color in; the mixture is pretty stiff). If the mixture is cool enough to handle after all that mixing, proceed to step 4; if it’s not then set it in the fridge till it’s safe to work with
- It’s play time! Take small amounts of the peanut butter mixture and pat it onto the Cheerio pumpkins till the Cheerios are fully coated, then use the edge of a rubber scraper to make lines in each pumpkin. Finally press one green jelly bean in the top of the pumpkin for a stem. All done!
- Keep covered in the refrigerator for storage; chill for at least one hour before servin
Happy Halloween!
One Particular Kitchen 
I totally LOVE these!!! Oh my gosh, they are so cute! And I love the cake plate too (and orange ribbon)!!
Oh my gosh, those are so adorable! And look so yummy!!
So cute! Great job!
Darling!!
seriously creative and perfect for Autumn. i’d definitely opt for my favorite Multi Grain Cheerios on these!
cheers,
*heather*
These look fantastic! We’ll have to try them.
Wow, I would have never guessed cheerios is one of the ingredients from the picture! Looks good to eat NOW!
I admit I’m mourning the ending of summer. But when I see cute tributes to fall like those pumpkin-shaped treats, I am ready to welcome the new season with open arms.
These Cheerio pumpkins are so cute & very creative! I bet your kiddo loves them, I know mine would go crazy for them 🙂
This look fab-u-lous! We have been thinking of hosting a pumpkin party, and now I’m ready to start inviting people so I can make these!
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Tweeted now. Translated in french this week!
These little pumpkins are so cute!
Really CUTE! loved seeing it on Betty Crocker’s website, I have a recipe on there too 🙂
Happy Baking!
About how many pumpkins does the above recipe make? I’m thinking of making them for our office Halloween party, but I think I might cut the recipe in half.
K, I think I got about 14 out of this? You’re so nice to do that!
ok, OPK. Where do I find paste food coloring. Everywhere I’ve checked (Target and Acme) don’t have it. I’ve got some baking to do!
Michael’s or Joann? I used gel which I got at Publix. 🙂 You just don’t want liquid.
i tried it with my kids and they loved it!