Lumps of Coal Treats: Easy No-Bake Recipe (2024)

Lumps of coal treats made with cereal and marshmallows? Yes, please! Kids love these no-bake goodies and they’re a great way to add some fun into your kids birthday parties and Christmas celebrations.

Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you’ll find the full recipe here, complete with step-by-step photos, and handy tips to make everything easier and to get the best results.

Coal isn’t Just for Christmas

Coal treats are so much fun at Christmas. They’re perfect for stocking stuffers, party favors, or as a sweet warning from the family elf. But they’re also fun for birthday parties too! You can easily add these snacks in for:

• Train themed parties
• Camping birthday parties
• Minecraft Parties, or
• Dinosaur Parties

No-Cook Recipe

Coal treats are a no-bake recipe, which means you don’t need an oven or stovetop. The whole process takes about 45 minutes from start to finish and needs only a few simple ingredients.

Step-by-Step Directions:

To make things easy for you, I’ve got a photo tutorial right here to show the entire process for lumps of coal treats with cereal and marshmallows.

For a detailed step-by-step process with all the measurements you need, you’ll want to check out the recipe card at the bottom of this page.

Step 1 – Prepare a silicone spatula with butter flavored cooking spray and set aside.

Step 2 – Split the Oreo O’s cereal into two gallon size zip top bags. Crush the cereal a bit with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.

Step 3 – Combine marshmallows, butter, and black food coloring in a large, microwave safe bowl.

Step 4 – Microwave on high for 1.5 minutes. Then stir the marshmallows before microwaving for another 30 seconds. Repeat until all the marshmallows are soft; approximately 2-3 minutes total.

Step 5 – Using the prepared spatula, stir the heated marshmallows until they’re smooth. Add any more black food coloring if desired.

Step 6 – Add the crushed cereal to the marshmallow mixture and stir together until well combined.

Step 7 – Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the mixture onto a cookie sheet prepared with a piece of parchment paper.

Step 8 – Allow to cool and set for 30 -40 minutes, then pack and reshape your treats by hand as desired.

Essential Tips:

Don’t skip these tips – read them before baking to avoid any potential mistakes.

Make sure your bowl is big enough

You’ll need a bowl three to four times larger than the quantity of marshmallows. This will allow the marshmallows to expand as they heat up without overflowing your bowl. It also allows plenty of room for the cereal to be added in later.

Watch your marshmallows carefully

Overheated marshmallows will get hard and crunchy instead of soft and melty.

I recommend that you heat the marshmallows for 1 to 1.5 minutes first, then give the marshmallows a good stir before heating for another 30 seconds. Repeat until all the marshmallows are soft and gooey.

Don’t worry about crushing the cereal too much

You’re not trying to pulverize the cereal. Instead, you just want to have plenty of smaller pieces that will help create the bumpy look of a lump of coal.

I’ve used both a rolling pin and a meat tenderizer to get the look you see here, and found that they both work well. But definitely beating the cereal worked better than rolling the pin over the cereal.

That said, if you want super dense treats, you can try adding the cereal to a food processor…but make sure you don’t let your treats get too dense, otherwise they’ll be hard to eat.

Spray down your scoop

Marshmallows are sticky business! Use a little bit of butter flavored spray on your cookie scoop to help the coal cereal treats release more easily. Repeat as often as necessary.

Giving Lumps of Coal Treats away as gifts?

Coal treats are such a fun gift at Christmastime – either as class gifts, stocking stuffers, or as a surprise treat from your Elf on the Shelf.

All you need to do is add the treats to a cellophane bag and place a fun printable tag or label.

FAQs:

Can I use a different cereal?

What I love about Oreo O’s is that they’re a much darker brown than most chocolate cereals which means you don’t need to purchase Oreo cookies separately. That said, I know that they can sometimes be difficult to find.

So, while I haven’t specifically tested other cereals, if you just can’t find the Oreo O’s, I would recommend using cereals like Cocoa Krispies, Cocoa Pebbles, or Cocoa Puffs.

Just be prepared for the final treats to be more brown than all black. (You might want to use the black spray food coloring mentioned below)

Why isn’t my marshmallow mixture turning black?

Different brands of food coloring have a different end results. Sometimes the marshmallow mixture ends up looking more grayish-brown than black.

You can either increase the amount of food coloring you use, or try a different food coloring like this super black food coloring or black spray on food coloring.

But, if I’m being perfectly honest, most kids don’t really care if the treats aren’t totally black. So I wouldn’t worry about it.

I don’t have a cookie scoop. Can I use something else?

Using a cookie scoop makes the treats more evenly sized, but you could just as easily use a metal spoon. You just need to make sure you use something sturdy enough to dip into the cereal mixture.

If you liked these coal treats, you’re going to love my Fruity Rice Krispie Christmas Trees. They’re so easy, and full of flavor.

Or you can check out my other desserts recipes right here.

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