Jun 08

Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Squares!

Posted by Katie on Jun 08 2012 at 06:05 am

Well folks, wherever you are in the world, I think we can all agree that summer has officially arrived.

…Though as I type this (which is Thursday during lunch hour because I knew that Thursday night would be a WHIRLWIND of packing for the cottage, making my famous roasted veggie infused whole wheat turkey lasagna for Saturday, making THIS recipe, grilling veggies for subs and I could go on and on) our forecast is cool and rainy for the weekend!

I digress…

With summer comes certain must-have treats!

In our household, one must-have summer time treat is rice crispy squares!  My father in law in particular absolutely adores them! And whats not to adore really?  They’re crispy, ooey, gooey, buttery, chewy pieces of pure bliss!

What’s not to adore?  Well, for me personally, the freaky deaky marshmallow.

Yes folks, marshmallows give me the heebies.  It’s not always been this way but since I’ve grown more aware of the foods I’m putting into my body, the marshmallow just doesn’t make the cut for me anymore.

In anticipation of this recipe I checked out the ingredients label on a bag of marshmallows at my local supermarket and here’s what it read:

Corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, dextrose, water, gelatin, tetrasodium pyrophosphate and artificial flavouring.

NO THANK YOU!

THAT BEING SAID I too love a rice crispy square every now and again and so I went on a hunt for a recipe that didn’t involve the marshmallow at all.  I had high hopes but somewhere deep within me I was sure it couldn’t be done.

And then I did what I often do when I need a GUARANTEED TO BE DELICIOUS recipe.  I headed on over to Angela’s home, Oh She Glows to see if she had anything comparable to this classic treat.

In true Angela fashion, she has a FANTASTIC recipe that is quick, super easy, delicious AND so much CLEANER both to make AND clean up than the classic ooey, gooey marshmallow version!

Her recipe calls for almond butter but I’ve used White Chocolate Wonderful natural peanut butter, Dark Chocolate Dreams natural peanut butter and Bees Knees natural peanut butter and each time they come out absolutely perfect!

And the best part?

I feel good about serving these because I know exactly what is in them, and it is all good baby!

Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Squares!
Print
Recipe type: Dessert, Snack
Author: Katie
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Serves: 12
Adapted from Angela’s recipe over at Oh She Glows!
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup White Chocolate Wonderful Natural Peanut Butter (or any nut butter!)
  • 1/2 cup Brown Rice Syrup (you will likely find this in your natural food section in your supermarket!)
  • 1 tablespoon Earth Balance butter spread (or regular butter)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal (such as Rice Crispies!)
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate for melting and drizzling! (I use a few squares from a Lindt 90% dark chocolate bar)
Instructions
  1. Line an 8×8 square baking dish with wax paper.
  2. In a medium sauce pan on medium-high heat combine peanut butter, brown rice syrup and butter until heated and silky smooth!
  3. Add vanilla extract and stir to combine.
  4. Add crispy rice cereal and stir stir stir until combined!
  5. Pour peanut butter bliss into wax paper’d baking dish.
  6. Press the cereal down and even out into a nice layer (You are going to want to have wet fingers or a wet spatula because it is gooey goodness!)
  7. Put dish in freezer to cool for about 5 minutes.
  8. While squares are cooling melt your chocolate!
  9. Take the squares out of the freezer and drizzle with a spoon in whatever patterns you want!
  10. Put squares BACK into freezer to allow the chocolate to harden. Once cooled, remove from freezer and cut up!
  11. ENJOY!!!

First Step:

Line an 8×8 square baking dish with wax paper.
Second Step:
In a medium sauce pan on medium-high heat combine peanut butter, brown rice syrup and butter until heated and silky smooth!

Smooth criminal ;)

Third Step:

Add vanilla extract and stir to combine.
Fourth Step:
Add crispy rice cereal and stir stir stir until combined!*
*This is me singing like Dori from Finding Nemo: “Just keep stirring, just keep stirring, just keep stirring stirring stirring, what do we do we stir…” :lol:

I promise it will look like this, just KEEP STIRRING! :LOL:

Fifth Step:

Pour peanut butter bliss into wax paper’d baking dish.

Sixth Step:

Press the cereal down and even out into a nice layer and put dish in freezer to cool for about 5 minutes.
Seventh Step:
While squares are cooling melt your chocolate!

This is what happens after 1 minute in the zapper!

Eighth Step:

Take the squares out of the freezer and drizzle with a spoon in whatever patterns you want!

Nineth Step:

Put squares BACK into freezer to allow the chocolate to harden.  Once cooled, remove from freezer and cut up!

ENJOY!!

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6 responses so far Dessert,Snacks

6 Responses to “Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Squares!”

  1. Doran says:
    June 8, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    Yummy! Angela’s recipes are awesome! I and my mom have made tons of her recipes! These look awesome and so easy! I might have to make these, I never make deserts but these are so clean and can’t be too bad for you! Hmmm….

    Reply
    • Katie says:
      June 13, 2012 at 4:14 pm

      Aren’t they???

      No they aren’t too bad for you at all! All things considered, there are definitely worse things :)

      Reply
  2. Hilary says:
    June 8, 2012 at 8:25 pm

    Yum! This is the recipe I made you, only with my puffed millet and the almond butter. Enjoy the weekend!

    Reply
  3. Janet says:
    June 10, 2012 at 9:56 pm

    I am SO trying these. Next time we chat, I’ll find out where to buy the funky ingredients. See you Thursday for our walk!

    Reply

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