Clover Rice Crispy Bars

Third week of March. Spring is leaning in. The crocuses are everywhere. The daffodils are up. The early peas went in Saturday. The lettuce went in Sunday. The morels could come at any time now if we get rain.

The cohort is at week eight of the spring semester. They're at full pace now. The 58-year-old's art-metalwork project — a wall sculpture of a tree — is taking shape. The new students are finishing flat-stock practice and moving to small projects. The class is humming.

Tuesday Lily came over for lunch. She brought a curriculum sample — a picture book in Cherokee with English on the facing pages, designed for early elementary. She said: this is for kids Tommy's age. She said: I want him to have one. She said: I want you to send it to him. I said: I will. She said: Mama is the same. She said: she's holding. Some weeks worse, some weeks better. She said: the visit will be good for her. I said: yes. She said: thank you for doing it. I said: I should have done it last year. She said: you did it this year. That's what matters.

Caleb and Miriam Saturday. Wedding is two months out. Miriam has had her dress fittings. The food is on track. The musicians — Miriam's nephew's band, a Cherokee gospel-bluegrass fusion group — are confirmed. The minister is confirmed. Caleb is calm. He said: I thought I'd be more nervous. I said: you have a year of being calm in the bank. He said: yeah. He said: with Miriam I'm mostly calm. I said: that's how you know. He said: that's how I know.

When Lily left Tuesday I stood at the table holding that picture book for a long minute — the Cherokee syllabary on one side, English on the other, illustrations sized exactly right for a kid Tommy’s age. I wanted to send more than just the book. These Clover Rice Crispy Bars felt like the right thing to pack alongside it: green for the crocuses and the peas and the whole leaning-in feeling of March, sweet enough for a boy, simple enough that making them settled me down a little.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 16 bars

Ingredients

6 cups crispy rice cereal
4 cups mini marshmallows
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6–8 drops green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Green sprinkles or clover-shaped candy decorations, optional
Non-stick cooking spray

Instructions

Prep the pan. Lightly coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Melt butter and marshmallows. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the mini marshmallows and stir continuously until fully melted and smooth, about 4–5 minutes. Do not rush with high heat or the mixture will stiffen too quickly.
Color and flavor. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract, sea salt, and green food coloring. Mix until the color is uniform throughout.
Add cereal. Pour in the crispy rice cereal all at once. Fold gently with a spatula until every piece is evenly coated. Work quickly before the marshmallow mixture begins to set.
Press into pan. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. Using lightly greased hands or a sheet of wax paper, press the mixture evenly into the pan. Press firmly so the bars hold together when cut, but do not compact so hard that they become dense.
Decorate. While the surface is still slightly tacky, scatter green sprinkles or press clover-shaped decorations across the top if using.
Cool and cut. Allow to cool at room temperature for at least 20 minutes. Once set, lift out of the pan if desired and cut into 16 bars using a sharp knife. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Clover Rice Crispy Bars — Something Sweet to Send Along with Spring