Chocolate-Covered Cheerios

Not that I have anything against Jacques Torres*, but I find myself completely unable to haul myself, my 2-year-old, and the stroller into his store to try these chocolate-covered Cheerios that I keep reading so much about. But then August sees the picture of them in New York magazine and starts squealing. Out come the chocolate chips, a quick zap in the microwave, a couple of fistfuls of Cheerios stirred in and we had it. The tedious part is fishing them out of the melted chocolate, which I did with a skewer while the boy stuffed 1 in his chocolate-smeared mouth for every 2 I laid out on my silpat. It is kind of tricky to melt chocolate in the microwave; I did it for 2 minutes on 50 percent power. The trick is to take them out far before they look finished, while they're still whole; those chips hold a lot of heat, which finishes the job.

But what a genius idea. They are remarkable. And I'm sure Torres' are even better, made as they are by a master chocolatier.

*Actually, I kind of do, but it's a small, personal thing; I was writing a short, short piece on fondue and wanted to get a recipe from him, but his people made so many demands about wording and about touting Torres' own chocolate that I couldn't use it - there simply wasn't enough room for all that verbiage and the recipe. Chocolate Bar was much more accommodating.