Rice Krispies

Rice Krispy Treats… always a childhood favorite! For whatever reason, I wasn’t a fan of rice krispy treats when I was growing up. It was always the post-game snack after soccer games or the summer camp go-to. But I just refused to like them. I honestly think it was because my mom loved them. Don’t you remember as a kid when your parent loved something and you just decided that you don’t like it, really just to spite them? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was why I never liked rice krispy treats – because my mom LOVED them. Well, when I got to college and discovered our campus bakery’s rice krispy treats, all of my rice krispy treat resolutions went flying out the window. The cafes sell individually packaged, just-made rice krispy bars and they are so good. Gooey, sticky, marshmallow-y… So much better than the store-bought kind! They quickly became my go-to library study treat and at the end of the school year, when I had to finish out my meal points, I bought ten of them to bring home for my mom and I! Oh, how things change 🙂 Well, I found this recipe on Pinterest awhile back and have been dying to try it. I’m not sure what took me so long – it is the simplest recipe! It took me a whopping ten minutes to make. And seeing as I did NOT need to eat them all, and I would have if they stayed in my kitchen, I brought them in to work to share with my coworkers. They were a hit! I watched several of the staffers casually wander by for seconds and even thirds! Ha 😀 It’s a fun twist to a classic treat!

Peanut Butter Cheerio Treats

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Mackenzie

Serves: 28

Recipe slightly adapted from JustJennRecipes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 (10 oz) bag marshmallows
6 cups cheerios (peanut butter cheerios, multigrain cheerios, honey nut…whatever your favorite is!)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Butter a 9×13 glass baking dish. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and peanut butter. Add the marshmallows and melt them down. Just as the marshmallows dissolve into the peanut butter, pour in the cheerios and stir it all together, making sure all the cheerios are coated in the peanut butter mixture.
Transfer the cheerios to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 10 minutes to set and cool and then serve!

As its my last week of work here in Indonesia, I decided to share some of my favorite American desserts with my colleagues. I brought in a massive Deep Dish Apple Pie on Monday, my family’s favorite dessert, Pretzel Jello Salad, on Tuesday, and these Rice Krispy Treats today! They loved all of them and I had a blast making and sharing these desserts with them.

The pretzel jello salad will come in a future post, but these Rice Krispy treats need to go up now! They were easy to make, delicious to eat and unique with the addition of the sea salt. I highly encourage you to make these asap – they are fantastic!

Salted Rice Krispy Treats
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes 16, 2-inch bars

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 10 oz bag large or mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispy (puffed rice) cereal
1 bar dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Butter an 8-inch square pan. In a large pot, melt butter over medium low heat. Let it melt, foam then turn clear golden and then slightly brown. This gives it a really good nutty taste but if you are impatient, just melt the butter 😉

2. When the butter is melted (and browned if you want), turn the heat off, sprinkle in the sea salt, and stir in the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are smooth – you may need to turn the heat back on to low to get them to melt, but don’t let the marshmallows actually cook.

3. Take the pot off the stove and stir in the cereal. Fold it in gently, until it is all combined, then transfer to the prepared pan. Press it down with your hands to get it smooth and even.

4. Melt chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, then drizzle over rice krispies. Place in the fridge so the chocolate hardens but take it out an hour before you serve them so they return to room temperature. They are also pretty darn good after just a could minutes of cooling!

Mackenzie

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