Rice Krispies Treats

Rice Krispies Treats are an art form. It's not a quick three step process as they claim about melting butter in a pan and adding cereal. There's much more to it that that.. It you want to make Kick Ass Rice Krispies Treats, try the following:

The fact remains that that Kellogg’s had mass produced anything and everything they can throw their name on, including Rice Krispies Treats, which now can be bought in a handy box of eight individually wrapped snacks. There are the originals, chocolate chip, and chocolate and peanut butter ones. Gag me. Who wants that shit. The best ones come from someone's kitchen!

The original recipe and instructions, as per Snap, Crackle and Pop:

3 Tablespoons of Margarine
1 Package (10oz. or about 40) Regular Marshmallows or...
4 Cups Miniature Marshmallows
6 Cups Kellogg’s® RICE KRISPIES® Cereal


1. Melt it! Melt margarine in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Mix it! Add Kellogg’s® RICE KRISPIES® Cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Spread it! Using buttered spatula or waxes paper, press mixture evenly into 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2x2-inch squares when cool.

Yield: 24 squares
Notes: Use fresh marshmallows for best results
Do not use diet or reduced fat margarine

And I'm not even going to bother mentioning the microwave instructions... It's shameful.

And the revisions to the above:
To turn your Rice Krispies Treats into Kick Ass Rice Krispies Treats:

* Start off by doubling the cereal, 12 cups of cereal, 1 entire stick of butter and 2.5 bags of marshmallows. You should buy 2 and maybe have a 1/2 of a bag left over from the last BBQ.

* DO NOT use margarine! Butter tastes better, you are making treats, not a diet food. Use nasty, fattening, artery-clogging butter. No exceptions.

* Take your stick of butter and grease the pan with it before you toss it in the saucepan to melt it. You'll need that bit of lube to get these ones out of the pan.

* Melt butter as the instructions say, and marshmallows. Add cereal etc... then, DO NOT remove from heat! As soon as they start to cool you are doomed, and it's a lot of cereal you have to mix. Keep the heat low and on.

* When ready, scoop your mix into the pan. Press it around as much as you can, it's gunna start getting gunky real fast. So when you have as much out of the pan as you can manage, reach for some butter, margarine or whatever, it's just to grease your hands, rub it over your fingers (after you wash your cootie infested hands) and start packing the Rice Krispies in the pan. It's the easiest way to do it, and you have a lot to jam in that pan after doubling the cereal. When you start getting sticky, get a little more lube.

* When finished, the only way you are going to clean that mess up is by re-melting the sugar from the marshmallows. Super hot water to clean everything up with.

* When everything is cool, use a buttered up pizza cutter to slice those puppies up. Serve... Enjoy... MMMMMM. :)

Rice Krispies Treats have become so popular that Kellog USA has decided to mass produce them and sell them retail.

I haven't done the math, but I suspect you can make a whole pan full with Rice Krispies and marshmallows for what it costs to buy a single Treat.

The treats come in a variety of flavors, including those with chocolate and caramel, but I must say, the original are still the best.

And so, without further ado, the ingredients for The Original. (These are not something I'd eat after reading the ingredients, so I have quite willfully blanked my memory of what is in them so as not to curb my enjoyment.)

Ingredients: toasted rice cereal (rice, sugar, salt, high gructose corn syrup, malt flavoring, niacinamide, reduced iron, riboflavin {vintamin B2}, folic acid), marshmallow (corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, artificial flavor), fructose, margarine (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, water, natural and artificial butter flavor, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, acetylated monoglycerides, vintamin A palmitate, BHT to preserve quality, vitamin D), invert sugar, corn syrup solids, glycerin, salt, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride {vitamin B6}, riboflavin {vitamin B2}, thiamin hydrochloride {vitamin B1}. CONTAINS A MILK INGREDIENT.

I remember when they started requiring food containers to warn of peanuts, but I find it quite interesting that the wrapper has a warning that it contains a milk product. On that I will do research.

• Serving Size 1 Bar (37g)
• Servings per Container 1
• Calories 160
• Calories from Fat 30
• Total Fat 3.5g 5%)
• Sat. Fat 1g (5%)
• Cholest. 0mg (0%)
• Sodium 170mg (7%)
• Total Carb. 30g (10%)
• Fiber 0g (0%)
• Sugars 13g
• Protein 1g
• Vitamin A 8%
• Vitamin C 0%
• Calcium 0%
• Iron 4%
• Vitamin D 4%
• Thiamin 15%
• Riboflavin 15%
• Niacin 15%
• Vitamin B6 15%
• Folic Acid 10%

Exchange (per serving): 2 Carbohydrates The dietary exchanges are based on the Exchange Lists for Meal Planning ©1995 by The American Diabetes Association, Inc. and The American Dietetic Association.

Percentage Daily Vaules are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

While most people living in North America are familiar with Kellogg's Rice Krispies there is now a Gluten Free version of the classic crispy rice cereal. It seems to me that the original version is slightly sweeter, the new Gluten Free version boasts that it is made from whole grain brown rice and this version has trimmed back on some of the additives still used to manufacture the traditional product.

A blog I follow discussed the troubles one person had verifying that the cereal was made in a dedicated gluten free facility and after going back and forth for a while Kellogg's confirmed that the Gluten Free label was not merely a marketing ploy. There is nothing on the box to indicate that the product is certified gluten free or what else it may be processed with although FDA regulations state that foods must be labeled if they are processed with any of the eight most common allergens.

I purchased the cereal to make Rice Krispies Treats so my children could take them on a camping trip. The girls will not eat them as a cold cereal and I can't say that I blame them. Below is my gluten and dairy free version of the recipe. I have to confess that I reduced both the cereal and the marshmallows however this occurred only because my little nibblers got to the marshmallows before I did.

• 1/2 Cup (4 ounces) coconut oil
• 1 package marshmallows - Kosher marshmallows are expensive and probably don't really add much here
• 6 Cups (48 ounces) Gluten Free Rice Krispies Cereal
• 1 Tablespoon peanut butter (Optional)

Melt the coconut oil over low heat, add the marshmallows and peanut butter. When your marshmallows are lump free add cereal and press into a 9 x 13 pan. The recipe on the box suggests coating the pan with cooking spray however I used coconut oil instead. The box recipe does not call for additional peanut butter however I was unsure how the final product would taste without butter. I tested this recipe on my children and their friends. Adults who tried it said they wouldn't have guessed it was gluten free and no one missed the butter. 1/2 Cup may seem like quite a bit of oil. I've only made this recipe once so it may need tweaking however the final product seemed nearly identical to the Snap Crackle Pop treats I remember having as a child.