When I was in high school, I hated Valentine’s Day. Haaaaaaated it. I think I made the effort to wear sparkly red eyeshadow my Junior year. Every other year, I wore black.

My hatred of this generally commercial and insipid holiday lasted until a few years ago, when it was suddenly surpassed by my hatred of winter. I began to notice that I was excited by the red and pink and silver in the stores, instead of the dreary, cold gray of the world outside. I found myself drawn to the idea of getting dinner with friends and wearing anything I could find with pink; I was suddenly daydreaming about color-appropriate ensembles. …And then I cried a little for my lost scruples, I’ll be honest, but the damage was done.

Thus began my love of celebrating this holiday… Buying kids’ Valentine’s cards for friends and coworkers, hanging heart-shaped paper doilies on my windows, and — of course — baking. Sugar cookies, cupcakes, candies… Anything that was festive and lovely. (Love-ly. Get it?? Haaaaa. I know, I’m cheesy.)

This year, I’d like to share the recipe for what is possibly the easiest way to create pretty and tasty Valentine’s Day happiness: Cocoa Krispie Treats with Valentine’s M&M’s.

So. Easy.

Let’s meet the players:

Cocoa Krispies. Regular Rice Krispies would do, as well, but the chocolate ones are so much better. Because they’re chocolate. Clearly.

Valentine’s Day M&M’s. I had a wicked tough time finding these this year… Don’t know why! Until I very accidentally stumbled upon them on a promo display at Stop & Shop, I had planned to use regular milk chocolate baking chips. They would’ve worked just fine.

These are absolutely my favorite ingredient: Strawberry heart-shaped marshmallows! They are so yummy… I bought two bags just so I’d have one to snack on. Worth every calorie, man.

Okay, so… Onto the process.

First, mix together the Cocoa Krispies and the M&M’s. If you try to do this later, you will end up a sobbing, melted-marshmallow-sticky mess. I speak from experience, my friends.

In a saucepan (bigger than the one I so foolishly used), melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Over low heat, mix in the marshmallows..

PS: I absolutely mean “low heat.” If you turn it up too high, your kitchen’s going to end up smelling like a campfire, and unless you’re prepared to do that “Kumbaya” thing, it’s really not appropriate for the occasion.

…and stir until they are uniformly smooth. No lumps!

It’s super-helpful to coat your spoon/spatula with cooking spray. You’ll want to keep doing this throughout the entire process, until the mixture goes into the fridge.

Once you have smooth marshmallow meltiness (yes, meltiness. Dontjudgeme.), gradually pour in your Cocoa Krispie/M&M’s mix. Stir it all up with that cooking-spray-coated spatula.

At this point, you’ll need a greased (cooking spray’ed) baking pan or casserole dish. Spread your mixture in the pan. My favorite tool here is wax paper — you can loosely spread the mixture out with your (still greased!) spatula, and then cover it with the wax paper — you can use your hands to press it down and even it out.

…Not that getting it stuck to your fingers and having to lick it off isn’t fabulous, but you do want to end up with some actually left to serve to other people. (Oh, bother.)

This should hang out in the fridge until it’s set… At least 30 minutes.

Once it’s set, you can use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the treats into squares. Then, devour at will.

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter

5 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal

1 10-oz. package marshmallows

1 12-oz bag Valentine’s M&M’s (or 1 bag of standard chocolate baking chips)

cooking spray

wax paper

baking pan or casserole dish

Happy Valentine’s Day!!