How to Make a Turkey Out of Rice Crispy Treats

     Damn you Pinterest for giving me ideas that are awfully difficult to execute.  Someone pinned a picture of a turkey made out of Rice Crispy treats.  Mike loves Rice Crispy treats.  I was betting he would get a kick out of a Thanksgiving bird made from these special goodies.
     I made a pan of Rice Crispy treats only once before, and I declared them too messy to ever make again.  Mike had to resort to buying huge boxes of the factory made treats at Costco.  With this being the Thanksgiving holiday, and with me feeling thankful for getting such a good husband, I decided to give the oooey, gooey sweets another try.  It wasn't all smooth sailing, but it turned out okay in the end.
     The ingredients are simple enough (I doubled this recipe for my turkey):
         
          3 Tbs. of butter
          One 10 oz. bag of marshmallows
          6 cups of Rice Crispies

     Melt the butter in a big pot using low heat.  Add the bag of marshmallows to the melted butter and heat until the marshmallows are melted.  Stir the butter and marshmallows until they are well mixed.  Remove from the heat.  Add the Rice Crispies and mix until the white fluff is evenly distributed throughout the cereal.  Normally, at this point, you would dump the gummy mass into a pan and press it down.  However, for our project, this is the time to begin sculpting a form that resembles roasted poultry.
     I divided the mixture into five parts - two small piles for the two drum sticks, two even smaller piles for the wings, and one large pile for the body of the turkey.  I wasn't successful at forming bird body parts at first because the warm mixture wouldn't hold together.  As it cooled, it acquired its adhesive properties.  I had to work pretty fast once the mixture "set up" because the limbs wouldn't stick to the body if the mixture cooled enough to start forming a hard shell.  The secret to sculpting with this glue is to coat your hands with melted butter.

The breast looks more human than avian.  I didn't get the stuffing cavity right.  The mixture was too cold to start over.   

Boo hoo.  The wings were a little warm and not compressed enough so the tip fell off.  Repairs were executed.

I made the fringe-y things out of card stock (what are they called?) and added them to the drum sticks.  Since I didn't make a proper body cavity, I dumped M&M "stuffing" on top.  I garnished with green Easter grass. 

  
        I'm thankful for this project because I got to lick my fingers and I realized that making standard Crispy treats will be a snap after this.  That's a Thanksgiving blessing for Mike.  Happy holiday, everyone.