The Best Way To Use Leftover Jet-Puffed Easter Marshmallows

Spring is in the air, and already, pastel bunnies and chick-themed treats are lining every end cap in retailers. Soon, your kitchen pantry will be bursting with leftover chocolate eggs, a rainbow of jelly beans, and leftover Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows. After Easter celebrations are over and the last shreds of paper Easter grass are swept up, try some of these creative and adorable ideas for using up your surplus of bunny-shaped Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows. Lest you find yourself (or your kids) eating them by the fistful straight out of the bag (and no judgment there).

Now, more than ever, with grocery store prices sky high, there's extra incentive to dream up creative ways to reuse and remix treats into other snacks and sweets after the holiday ends. Because marshmallows are shelf-stable and keep well, you have at least a good few weeks (if not months) after the holiday wraps to use the puffy bunnies in your baking projects.

And because they're — by nature — adaptable, Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows can be chopped up, used whole, or even melted down. There's no shortage of creative ways to give them a second life in cute, colorful, springtime treats the whole family will enjoy. If you want to keep rolling with the Easter theme, keep the bunny marshmallows whole. Or, chop up and use as you would in any recipe that calls for marshmallows  — think homemade Rice Krispies Treats, popcorn balls, or classic campfire s'mores, with a pastel twist.

Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows are here for a good time, not a long time. They only appear on shelves for a few weeks leading up to Easter, when stores are awash in pastel-tinted treats, clothing, and candies. Aside from the cute puffy bunny shape and the watercolor pink, purple, yellow, and green hues, they're the same treat as the Jet-Puffed regular or mini marshmallows; consisting of gelatin, cornstarch, sugar, and corn syrup. So, as long as you don't mind infusing a bit of color into your treats, you can use them as you would any marshmallow.

Sprinkle a handful over a cup of cocoa or even hot coffee, or melt them down and roll into crunchy, sweet popcorn ball treats. If you're craving the flavor of s'mores (minus the act of building a fire), or if you prefer to eat your s'mores with a fork and skip the sticky mess, try a springtime twist on the classic campfire treat with a s'mores pie. Instead of making a marshmallow topping from scratch, melt handfuls of Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows and dollop on top for a quick hack with a fun rainbow twist. 

Additionally, homemade Rice Krispies Treats are good year-round. You can melt down your bags of leftover Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows and add to a jazzed-up version of Rice Krispies Treats, dunked in chocolate with colorful sprinkles.

Although Easter is only one day, it doesn't mean our all-out celebration of spring has to end. It's been a long winter after all, so add some pastel charm and whimsy to your baking and lean into the springtime vibes. Gather up all the leftover sweet treats that lined this year's Easter basket — like your bunny marshmallows and the new mini Reese's eggs that debuted this year — and throw them together in cookies, brownies, and blondies. 

Envision a warm-weather rendition of throwing all your leftover Christmas candy together into a batch of kitchen-sink cookies. The same concept can be used here. Whip up any basic batch of sugar cookies, or even blondies, and press down chopped up chunks of chocolate eggs, bits of marshmallows, and sprinkles of M&M's into the dough. If you want to disguise them as regular cookies that no one will know are made with leftovers, chop your pieces more finely. But for a more recognizable Easter treat, leave the Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows intact. 

If you're craving a chocolate-forward treat, you can also take your haul of leftovers — both marshmallows and chocolate — and press them down into a layer of melted chocolate for a triple-chocolate Easter marshmallow bark. This is a kid-friendly, craft-meets-baking project, and it can be adapted for whatever sugary goodness you have on hand. Melt chocolate, pour onto a lined baking tray, and top with candies, sprinkles, and Jet-Puffed Easter marshmallows, of course.