crispity hedgehogs

it was really exciting to find this rice krispie treat hedgehog recipe on sprinkle bakes. it was even more exciting to find organic, gluten free, crispy brown rice and vegan marshmallows:

these guys are vegetarians! and gluten free! they'd be vegan if they were made with margarine, but i only had butter on hand. the original treats recipe made on the stovetop worked fantastic- the marshmallows melted up real nice, and the treats in the pot looked identical to the real deal. it shaped up nicely while it was still hot (and a bowl of water to dip your hands it works like a champ to keep it from sticking to you), but when it started to cool, it got hard to handle.

the noses are made from big heart shaped sprinkles. unfortunately, they were a bit too big. the bottom corner was the only part needed.

their prickly bodies are made from melted chocolate (a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips- for a reminder of how to melt chocolate, click here), and dark chocolate sprinkles.

painting the chocolate on their bodies helps to control how much you want on each critter. a generous sprinkle of sprinkles makes them nice and spiky.

a toothpick dipped in chocolate made their eyes and glued on the noses. like humans, some were cute and some, not so much.

these were some tasty critters when they first were created, but the following day they were hard as rocks. i'll try again with my usual vegan marshmallows and see what happens. of course, if you don't mind a bit of gelatin, the old fashioned way is the surest bet. they don't seem to mind each other's shortcomings...