These Rice Krispie Treats are absolutely perfect. They are soft and chewy and are perfect for putting into cookie cutters to make fun shapes.
The last time I made Rice Krispie Treats was on Valentine’s Day. I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids and I to do. I had heart sprinkles and my goodness it was going to be adorable. I pulled out my cookie cutters so we could shape them into hearts (or whatever a 3-year old thought best to shape them into … which would have been Ninja Turtles if I had a Ninja Turtle cookie cutter) and pulled out the ingredients and the kids were going crazy with excitement.
Just as a small background, although sugary treats were usually around in the house growing up, and although I’d sneak some treats every now and then, I don’t actually like sugary treats that much. I never crave them. They always sound so good but when it gets down to me actually having to eat it, the idea alone is enough to make me sick. I’m assuming since I don’t eat much sugar, my body just isn’t used to it so when I do eat sugar, I get bad headaches and I can get nauseated real fast. The last time I ate half a cupcake I spent the next hour trying to keep myself from puking it all back up. So generally I never make treats which is why it’s so great when I actually do. We have 2 shelves of pantry dedicated to treats and things one might use if they were going to make some sort of delicious treat but it’s hardly ever touched. Hence, my kids were crazy excited at the thought of making Rice Krispie Treats.
Well, unfortunately that day, I was also making Valentine’s Day dinner (that my husband said he’d make…). So the pan got too hot, the butter started burning and we ended up with a very rock solid caramelized Rice Krispie rectangle. But my whole family is so great and they used knives to chip away at it and ate as much as they could. The kids told their friends (and mine) about how awesome it was that it was so hard that they got to use the kitchen knives to try to cut it … but they couldn’t.
So I have been feeling the need to make it up to them. I would hope that they will remember that I can actually make treats every now and then and that I’m actually real good at it if I’m not distracted. And I think I did a pretty good job of redeeming myself.
These little Rice Krispie babies are perfect: soft, chewy, and perfect. I never use the traditional recipe because they don’t come out as soft as I would like. Next time you’re making them, first, I hope they don’t turn out like my Valentine’s Day Rice Krispie Treats, and second, I hope you make these ones because for me not even liking to eat treats, I sure ate a lot of it.
I also used cookie cutters to make them into fun little shapes for the kids. The kids had a blast putting the mixture into the cookie cutters but felt bad when they kept ruining them as they came out of the cookie cutters. Next time I’ll try to remember to use cooking spray to spray the cutters before putting in the Rice Krispie mixture.
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 8 cups marshmallows
- 5 cups Rice Krispie cereal
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Lightly spray with cooking oil a 9x9 pan or a similar sized pan. If not using a pan and using cookie cutters, use parchment paper or wax paper about 12-18 inches long and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large pot, melt butter over low heat (remember my rock hard caramelized story above? Keep it on low!). Once melted, stir in marshmallows. Stir constantly until marshmallows are just barely melted.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in cereal and salt until coated with marshmallow mixture.
- Pour into prepared pan or quickly place mixture into cookie cutters and shape (mixture will be hot so be careful).
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares or taking out of cookie cutters.
