Gluten-Free Rice Krispie Treats for Easter

2018-03-18

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Categories: Sweet Blogs , Holiday Blogs


collage of rice crispy treats and packaging

As a child I always asked my Mom to make Rice Krispie Squares for my birthday and other special occasions. I still love them to this day. When I was diagnoised with celiac disease I was sad to learn that rice krispies were off limits because they contained barley malt. Then I started to see gluten-free puffed rice cereals on the shelves! I was ecstatic!

If you are interested you can see my review of two of the gluten-free puffed rice cereals I have tried so far: Nature's Path Gluten-Free Crispy Rice Cereal and Kellogg's Gluten-Free Rice Krispies

Marshmallow puffed rice treats were back in my diet. Marshmallow rice crispy treats are an easy and fun sweet to make for Easter.



kelloggs rice krispies squares

The easiest way is to just make a large square of treats and decorate with colourful sprinkles. You need to add the sprinkles while the square is still warm so that they stick. In the photo above I have used Kellogg's Gluten-Free Rice Krispies cereal.



four crispy eggs in a row

If you want to get more creative you can use cookie cutters to cut out festive shapes. Here I have used an egg-shaped cookie cutter. If you don't have cookie shapes thats fine I also made one just with my hand. I cut out a warm square and shaped it into an egg shape. The treats above were made with Nature's Path Gluten-Free Crispy Rice cereal. I then let them cool and decorate with icing. The icing gives them a nice taste. They did not last long in my household! The rabbit was made with mini marshmallows. Be creative and have fun.



one natures path crispy egg with jelly beans

The recipe I use for marshmallow puffed rice treats is based on the original Kellogg's Rice Krispies recipe that was on the back of the cereal box. Here is a link to Kellogg's Rice Krispies original recipe http://www.ricekrispies.ca/en_CA/recipes/squares-original-recipe-microwave-recipe.html.

Nature's Path has a great looking marshmallow puffed rice treat that uses banana which looks tasty. If you want to try it here is the link to the recipe (https://www.naturespath.com/en-ca/recipes/koala-crisp-y-banana-marshmallow-squares/).



Marshmallow Crispy Puffed Rice Treats

Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup butter or margarine
  • 400 g pkg of mini marshmallows
  • 6 cups of a gluten-free rice crispy cereal (Kellogg's gluten-free rice krispies or Nature's Path Crispy Cereal or Cereal of your choice)
  • Decorations of your choice such as gluten-free sprinkles, chocolate chips, candies, marshmallows.
Directions
  1. In a microwaveable-safe large container melt the butter. About 15 to 30 seconds.
  2. Add the marshmallows and mix so they are coated with butter, and put back in the microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove and stir for about a minute until the mixture is smooth. If the marshmallows have not all melted then put back in microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again. You do not want to overheat the marshmallow butter mixture otherwise it won't be chewy.
  3. When marshmallows are melted and well mixed, add the dry cereal and stir until coated. I like mine very chewy, so I sometimes just add 5 1/2 cups of cereal. It will look quite white.
  4. Scrape the mixture into a greased pan. I usually use my 13 x 9 cake pan but have used different sizes. Lightly press with buttered hands. Do not push hard as you don't want hard squares. Decorate now before mixture cools. If using icing you will have to wait until the squares are cold. Then slice and enjoy.
  5. If you want to make shapes such as easter eggs then while the mixture is warm in the pan, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. I sometimes make my squares thinner using a cookie sheet so that I have thinner cookies. Then when the shapes are cool you can ice and decorate as you like.

I use a simple icing. I put about 1 cup of icing (confectionary) sugar, a teaspoon of melted butter (optional) and water in a bowl. Add just a little bit of water at a time. Mix till you have the consistency you want. You can add food colouring too. I use small ziplock bags and put different colours in each one, cut off a small piece of the tip and use as a piping bag. Add your decorations: mini marshmallows, jelly beans, chocolate, nuts. Use whatever candies you enjoy.

There are so many versions of Rice Krispie Squares out there. Which is your favorite? Do you use a different cereal? What do you like to add or decorate with?

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