Crispy Rice Treats are one of those desserts, or treats, that are so simple to make, that whenever I make them, I often wonder why I don’t make them more often. They’re also an incredibly versatile treat, too. It’s a simple matter to transform them into Christmas trees, Halloween pumpkins or other scary shapes, hearts for Valentine’s day , or as in some of the photos for this post, Easter treats.

You may be wondering why I’m not calling these Rice Krispie Treats. The reason is simple. I don’t often buy Rice Krispies cereal because it tends to cost more than the store brand except when it’s on sale. Since I’m all about saving money where I can, I tend to buy the store brand of Crispy Rice cereal, so while we call them Rice Krispie Treats at home, for clarity and honesty regarding our ingredients, we refer to them as Crispy Rice treats here.

I love to make these crispy rice treats because it’s a simple three ingredient recipe, and as I mentioned above, you can do so much with them to transform them into something new and different.

Ways to customize crispy rice treats:

• Add food coloring to the melted marshmallows and butter before adding the Crispy Rice cereal to color them for different holidays.
• Use a cookie cutter to cut out different shapes for different occasions.
• Sprinkle the top with seasonal sprinkles
• Arrange candy on top to decorate your crispy rice treats
• Frost the top of your pan of crispy rice treats before cutting into squares
• Mold the still warm crispy rice treats into different shapes.
• Dip them in melted chocolate or candy melts.
• Make them with seasonal flavored marshmallows instead of plain ones.
• Use flavored rice cereal to create a different

These are just a few of the ideas for what you can do to transform your crispy rice treats into something extra special, but how, exactly, do you make them?

What you will need to prepare Crispy Rice Treats

From the Pantry

• Crispy Rice Cereal
• Miniature Marshmallows

From the Refrigerator

• Butter or Margarine

Crispy Rice Treats have Only Three Ingredients.

Only three ingredients create these delicious and versatile treats, and they’re pretty simple to prepare.

First, you melt the butter in a very large pot, then, over a low heat, you stir in the marshmallows. You need to stir constantly until they’re melted. Next, you fold in the crispy rice until it’s all coated with the marshmallow mixture. Finally, you turn the crispy rice mixture into a 9X13 inch pan that’s been buttered. Using a rubber or silicone spatula, spread the rice mixture out in the pan. Then to ensure a solid treat, take a piece of wax paper, and using that between your hand and the hot crispy rice mixture, pat it down until it’s evenly distributed.

After everything is spread out in the pan, set it aside and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares, or cutting into shapes with a buttered cookie cutter. If you’re going to add seasonal sprinkles to the top of your crispy rice treats, you want to add them just after you’ve placed them in the pan, so they’ll stick well. Simply press them onto the top using that sheet of wax paper. Pressing the sprinkles onto the top helps them to adhere better.

If you’re just cutting them into squares, pack the soft crispy rice treats pretty hard into the pan. If you’re planning to use a cookie cutter to cut out different shapes, you might want to pack them more lightly into the pan. (They’re easier to cut with the cookie cutters that way.)

Once you’re done, you can cut them into squares, or you can use a cookie cutter like we did to create large egg shaped treats that we decorated for Easter with pastel colored m&m’s. Once we were finished, we wrapped each crispy rice egg in plastic wrap to stick into the Easter baskets. You can use any shape cookie cutter, so this would work for Christmas, too. You can even decorate them with frosting. There are so many possibilities.

Do you like to make crispy rice treats? Is your recipe similar to ours? Do you like to add other things to them? Do you decorate them or leave them plain? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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The following nutritional information is calculated for one treat ,or one-twenty fourth of the pan of crispy rice treats, prepared according to the recipe above.

Disclaimer:  Nutritional information is calculated using online tools such as those available at cronometer.com or verywellfit.com.  We make every attempt to ensure that the information is calculated correctly, but this information should be considered estimates.   Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe.  In addition, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition-fact sources, databases, and the algorithms used.   You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.  Under no circumstances will PattyCakesPantry.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information provided.