This little blog of mine has officially lasted one month on the Internet. I’m not saying I have a good following or even many visitors at all, but I’ve stuck with this for a month and I say that’s worth celebrating! But my one month blogiversary isn’t the only thing worth celebrating this past week—last Saturday marked my one-year anniversary as a college graduate.
Exactly one year ago I left my comfortable world as a college student and ventured out into the real world. As I think most graduates will attest to, being just out of college is one of the hardest stages of life we’ve experienced. It’s so different from anything we’ve ever known. You no longer have school as a way to forcefully meet people, you have to apply for entry-level jobs that require three years of experience that you don’t have because you are entering the field and in several cases, once you land the job you have to move far away from everything you’ve ever known and there’s also a lot of paperwork, insurance, savings plans and acronyms that you need to figure out. Someone get me an Excedrin. I guess what I’m saying is, this year has been anything but easy, and even though I know it’s not going to magically get easier, it’s just a good feeling to have that one year of experience and know I’m doing a pretty good job at this real-world thing, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
A good enough feeling to make a special treat, package it in a special bag only to rip off the special bag and surprise myself with the special treat that I already knew was inside because I made them for myself? Yeah, duh.
OK, but seriously, how cute are these things? Thick, chewy, homemade rice crispy treats on a stick, dipped in melted peanut butter chips and finished with a favorite emoji face piped in chocolate. They’re adorable and delicious.
I’ve had peanut butter rice crispy treats, chocolate-covered rice crispy treats and of course, scotcheroos. But the flavor sensation of the peanut butter chip coating is beyond anything I could have imagined it to be.
Toss these little guys into a mini brown paper bag (I got mine at Michael’s) adorned with a gold-Sharpie rendition of your favorite emoji and tied off with a piece of twine for the perfect food gift. Use them for birthdays, thank yous, congratulations, holidays and even the occasional hey-I-need-you-to-do-me-a-huge-favor gift. Because how is anyone going to say no to you while taking a big, sweet, gooey, peanut buttery bite of such a happy treat?
- 1 12 ounce box crisped rice cereal
- 2 10 ounce bags mini marshmallows
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 10 ounce bag peanut butter chips
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup chocolate chips
- Lollipop or popsicle sticks
- Place one bag of the marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large microwavable bowl. Microwave for one minute on high, stir. If not fully melted, continue to microwave in 20 second increments.
- Once melted, stir in half of the rice cereal until evenly mixed.
- Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Press the mixture down to pack it in tight, using parchment paper.
- Repeat steps 1–3. Pour the mixture on top of the first batch and press it in (I like my crispy treats to be very dense, so I leave a stack of cookbooks on it for a little while).
- Cut into desired size bars and push either a lollipop or popsicle stick into the top of each one.
- Put peanut butter chips and oil in a deep bowl. Microwave for one minute on high, stir. If not fully melted, continue to microwave in 20 second increments.
- Dip each bar into the melted peanut butter chips to the halfway point. Place in the fridge to harden.
- Once the coating is set, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then in 10 second increments until fully melted.
- Put the melted chocolate into a plastic bag, cut the corner and pipe your favorite faces onto the peanut butter coating of each bar. Place in the fridge to harden.
- Once the chocolate is set, put each crispy treat into a clear cellophane or mini brown paper bag decorated to your liking. Tie closed with twine and share the love!
A year ago when I started conceptualizing this blog with my friend Melissa* over at Design Eat Repeat, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to blog about. I knew food would have to be a large focus, but I didn’t want that to be all I covered. If You Give a Girl a Degree came to life to be a place to talk about every girl issues post grad—food, travel, work life—you name it, I wanted to blog about it. However, in the last month I’ve started slow, posting just once a week (Tuesdays, if you didn’t notice) and just about food, the topic I’m the most comfortable with. But this, my first Thursday post, will hopefully lead the way into posting twice a week from here on out and I want to attempt topics outside of eating. I plan on including many “adventure” posts detailing my travels—what I see, eat, do, eat and eat. I very nervous part of me has other ideas to dabble in, such as DIY, rental decor and budgeting. So for those of you already following along (hi, Dad!) what interests you most? What are you most likely to come to my site for? Would you prefer I keep it to food? Or would you also like to see topics around travel/DIY/decor/budgeting/other work and real-world related things?
I value you’re opinion, so thank you in advance for sharing it with me. Your kindness may even grace you with on of these smiley treats, who knows!
*Melissa deserves a bigger shout out than I can give her. BUT the girl has crazy amounts of talent. She has the most adorable design/baking blog, designed this very site and is even opening up her own print shop (the products of which will pretty much just be wallpaper in my apartment). Check her out!
Omg, how did I miss this post!!! So cute. We shall also make these when I come. In every existing emoji.
Also, I vote you dabble into all those topics because you are just too smart not to. K thanks.