Feature

The easiest and best way to make your own Rice Krispie Treats

Remember 4th grade?

Back in my elementary school bake sale days, one confection reigned supreme: Rice Krispie Treats. Their hands-on and carefree creation was an afterschool activity, a pre-dinner party, or a just-before-bedtime reward. We'd double the amount of marshmallow and cut them into squares the size of our heads, creating a finished product that no 4th grader could resist. Our fingers would be gooey and our faces tinged with residual marshmallow streaks. When I brought them to the sale, I always sold out first.

I may not be in 4th grade anymore, but my love for this classic hasn't faded. In fact, I think it has grown because they are one snack that can be prepared in under 10 minutes almost anywhere. Even in my college dorm room. Now I spice them up, with layers of crushed cookies or sprinkles of spiced nuts. Toss, mix, fold, play, and stir up your inner child.

1. Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan or the microwave. Add a bag of big fluffy marshmallows (or if you're like me and like them really marshmallow-y, add more than a bag).

2. Stir until totally melted on the stove, or put them back in the microwave on high until puffy.

3. Toss in whatever type of cereal you want; classic Rice Krispies, cocoa-flavored ones, and just about any other small, light, crunchy cereal shape make for delicious marshmallow treats. Dump in any other additions too, like chocolate chips, crushed cookies, or peanut butter chips. Go nuts. Speaking of, add some of those too.

4. Press the mixture into a greased parchment-coated pan in an even layer, and cool. Sometimes I go crazy and layer half the mixture and then add crushed chocolate cookies and top with the other half of the mixture.

5. Cut into enormous squares and remember your childhood.


This article originally appeared on Food52.com: How to make any cereal treats without a recipe.


More from Food52...

Recommended

A company made a meatball from lab-grown woolly mammoth, and you can't try it
Mammoth meatball
'extinct protein'

A company made a meatball from lab-grown woolly mammoth, and you can't try it

6 marvelous homes with great kitchens
House
Feature

6 marvelous homes with great kitchens

The Check-In: How to plan a trip to Antarctica
Penguins on an iceberg
Feature

The Check-In: How to plan a trip to Antarctica

The Week contest: Seaweed invasion
sargassum seaweed.
Feature

The Week contest: Seaweed invasion

Most Popular

How to watch 5 planets align in the night sky on Tuesday
Moon, Jupiter, Venus.
skyline

How to watch 5 planets align in the night sky on Tuesday

'Rewilding' animals could help combat climate change, study finds
Two gray wolves.
where the wild things are

'Rewilding' animals could help combat climate change, study finds

The snowmelt in California could cause a long-lost lake to re-emerge
flooding in Corcoran, California.
lost lake

The snowmelt in California could cause a long-lost lake to re-emerge