Sweet Potato Rice Crispies

Whenever I made rice crispies with my ma, we always made them in this big, blue stockpot—the same one we’d use to make stews and soups. It was the biggest pot we had, and even though there were only five of us, we’d make enough to feed a classroom. We’d heat the butter ‘til it puddled, add the bags of marshmallows, and keep stirring with a long spoon until there was a sticky mass of fluff. Then I’d dump in the cereal. Afraid everything would harden into a rock before it was time, my little arm would start mixing with panic, until the soft crackling of the puffed rice folding into the sugar would soothe me. I’ve made variations of this inspired by some of my favorite flavors.