Comedian gets serious about her kitchen

Comedian Whitney Cummings is all over the tube and the silver screen with appearances on MTV’s “Punk’d,” VH1, the Sundance Festival Dailies, E! specials and in the feature film “EMR.” A native of Washington, D.C., the 25-year-old Cummings is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has always been involved in theater. Her stand-up routines are already considered classics.

When not onstage, she enjoys hiking, visiting museums, writing, watching movies and trying new restaurants. You might have seen her recently on “Last Call with Carson Daly.” To learn more: www.whitneycummings.net.

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•Give us an episode of “Punk’d” involving food you’d like to be in.

“We’d punk a celeb on a morning talk show, where they have to cook on live TV and are given all sorts of random things to cook with, along with the help of a professional chef. Then the host tastes the food, gets really sick, and ends up in the hospital immediately with an allergic reaction, blaming the celeb, who then probably blames the chef. Hey, this idea is making me hungry!”

•Favorite stand-up routine featuring food:

“I have a bit about food in the grocery store being on sale. No two items that complement each other will ever be on sale at the same time. Peanut butter and jelly, never at the same time. But peanut butter and vinegar, they are always on sale at the same time. Growing up my dad always only bought sale items, so we had 12 boxes of cereal and no milk. Or 10 loaves of bread or a dozen bagels but no jelly or cream cheese. It inspired me to get creative with my food mixing!”

•Wildest home-cooking event:

“My friends and I BBQ every weekend, and one of my friends had just gotten an ice cream maker as a gift. We went to the store and got all the ingredients for some serious ice cream, including M&M’s, Oreos and chocolate chips. We misread the directions and added more eggs than milk, so when it blended it ended up being a frozen omelet rather than ice cream. (Yes, we were sober.) So we made an Oreo and M&M omelet. It took about 4 hours to freeze. But since we were impatient, it was more of a Slurpee omelet. Needless to say I am not opening an ice-cream store anytime soon.”

•They should really create a museum of …

“Cereal boxes. I am obsessed with cereals and the games on the back of the boxes. I know they change every few months, so they need to be kept for future reference. What better way to document history than through the evolution of cereal boxes. Trix and Lucky Charms have come a long way.”

•A favorite food scene from a movie you wish you could have been in:

“‘Pretty Woman’ is full of the best food-related scenes. When Julia Roberts wakes up and has room service, she eats a pancake with her hands, which is so adorable. I do the same thing. There is another scene where they are at a fancy restaurant, and she sends a clam flying across the room because she can’t use the gadget meant to eat it with. I love that because I am such a klutz. I am always spilling food and breaking glasses.

One other scene is when she is in the hotel room and room service shows up with champagne and strawberries. She has no clue what the strawberries are for, and when Richard Gere offers her one, and she is like “What are those for? Gere replies, “They go with the champagne.” And without missing a beat, she responds nonchalantly, ‘Oh,’ and eats it. Hilarious!”

NAUGHTY SECRET RICE KRISPIE TREATS

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup sugar (white or brown)

1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth

6 ounces chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&M’s (plain)

1/2 cup crushed Oreos

6 cups Rice Krispies

2 or 3 favorite breakfast cereals

In a saucepan on low heat, mix together the butter, syrup, sugar and peanut butter. Stir for two minutes. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, M&M’s and Oreos, and stir gently. Add Rice Krispies and stir until completely coated. Now, here’s the secret to take these to the next level: Add some of your favorite dry cereals. You can choose colors for special holidays!

Press mixture evenly into a buttered 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. Cut into squares when cool. I know this is taking it to another level of dental problems, but you can drizzle maple syrup on top or Hershey’s chocolate. Makes 24 squares.