Cocoa Pebbles Grotto for Our Lady of Lourdes

A number of years ago I shared the recipe and directions for the Our Lady of Lourdes"Fruity Pebbles" Grotto.   We made another version a couple years ago using Cocoa Pebbles, which my children preferred since it looked more like a real grotto to them.  This year they used Cocoa Pebbles once again, and a small statue of Our Lady instead of one of our hand-painted saints.   I've heated some water for some French Vanilla Hot Cocoa to enjoy while we read Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes.

Cocoa Pebbles Grotto 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick Butter 
• 10.5 oz. Marshmallows
• 8 1/2 cups Cocoa Pebbles Cereal

Directions:

Line a 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan and grease lightly.

In a large pan, melt butter. Add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.  (We used a bag of leftover pumpkin marshmallows that needed to be used.) 

Add cereal; mix well. (Grease your spoon or spatula before mixing.)

Place cereal mixture into pan. Top with parchment paper and press mixture firmly into pan. Remove parchment and allow mixture to cool.

Before completley cooled (read: still pliable), lift cereal bars from pan using foil handles, and cut into 18 squares (or rectangles). A pizza cutter works well for this task.

Use four squares for the back wall of the grotto and one square cut in half for the floor. Build up the walls with all but four of the remaining squares. Mold three squares into the roof and cut the last square in half to add to the sides of the roof. You may need to play around with it a little bit and trim the edges if you'd like.    Note: As you can see, my children didn't follow the directions exactly this year, but it still turned out cute!  

Place a Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes inside the Grotto.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of the Church, 

Pray for us.