Desserts
I was leafing through the Dean & DeLuca Valentine’s Day catalog that arrived in the mail last week when my eyes stopped on a lovely set of heart-shaped rice krispies treats. They were decorated beautifully in royal icing…and the box of six was priced at $42. Six treats for $42. That’s $7 per treat. If you add shipping, which is $11.50, that’s $8.92 per treat.
Be still my rice krispies heart.
With all due respect to Dean & DeLuca – truly, I order gifts from them often – these are rice krispies treats…three-ingredient confections you can find, with very little variation, at any scout meeting/play date/bake sale across the country. Now, the ones they’re selling for $7 each plus shipping are nearly 2 inches thick, very even, impeccably adorned – the nicest ones you’d expect to see at any bake sale. But for about 45 cents each (I did the math!) and part of a weekend afternoon you can make really nice Valentine’s Dipped Rice Krispies Treats at home. And have fun doing it.
Following the basic recipe from the back of the Rice Krispies box, I simply spread out the cereal and marshmallow mixture in a large pan (I mixed in some sprinkles to be extra festive) and cut out heart shapes. I was inspired by Mel from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe to dip the edges of the treats in candy melts and add more sprinkles. While I dipped, my 4-year old was hard at work pressing on the sprinkles. I doubt we could get $7 for each of our hearts, but the satisfaction of making them ourselves was priceless.
Valentine’s Dipped Rice Krispies Treats
Adapted slightly from the Rice Krispies Treats recipe on the side of the Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal box
Prep time: 1 minute | Cook time: 20 minutes | Total time: 21 minutes (plus cooling time)
Yield: 20-24 treats
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 tablespoons margarine or butter (I always use butter)
- 1 package (10 oz) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
- 6 cups crisped rice cereal (aka Rice Krispies)
- Candy melts or white chocolate chips
- Food coloring, if desired
- Sprinkles, of course
DIRECTIONS:
- Melt the margarine or butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
- Mix in the crisped rice cereal. Stir until well coated.
- Spread the mixture using a buttered spatula or waxed paper evenly into an 11×17-inch rimmed baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut the treats into heart shapes with a 2- 3-inch cookie cutter (enjoy the scraps!) when cool.
- Melt the candy melts or white chocolate chips according the package directions. Stir in a few drops of food coloring, if you’d like. Dip the edges of the treats into the candy and decorate with sprinkles. Allow the candy to cool and set before serving.
- Best if served the same day.
Desserts
36 Comments
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36 Comments
Mel wrote:
I agree, 7 dollars a treat may be a stretch, but yours are cute enough, I might be willing to pay it. They are so festive and lovely!
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
I absolutely loved yours, Mel!
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Colleen wrote:
So cute, and easy to make gluten-free too!
Posted 2.9.12Reply
These are adorable! My daughter’s having a sleepover tomorrow night and we’re definitely going to make these.
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Sounds perfect – the girls will have so much fun!
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel wrote:
That price is insane! I’m sure someone is foolish enough to buy them though. Yours are beyond adorable. I actually just picked up ingredients to make some. I’m determined to introduce my girls to them soon… I keep forgetting! 🙂
Posted 2.9.12Reply
ALison @ Ingredients, inc. wrote:
These are so cute. I posted them on my Facebook page today
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Thanks so much for sharing them, Alison!
Posted 2.9.12Reply
Nikki wrote:
I found these delicious treats on Pinterest and had to try making them for myself (as a little Valentine’s gift). I’m not very good in the kitchen and I have to say my first attempt hasn’t worked at all!
I wonder if you could give some guidance..
I admit that I didn’t use ALL the marshmallows. I only used 180g instead of the suggested 300g. But it looked enough! I put in enough rice crispies to suit the final mixture.
When it came to cutting, I used a brand new metal heart cutter but it just sort of squashed the crispies as opposed to cutting through them. Almost like my crispies were stale and soft! (which they weren’t). My final mixture, when cooled (and even put in the fridge) was floppy and gooey as opposed to ‘set’ so my heart shapes (once successfully shaped) where just falling apart under their own weight.
Do you think it’s because I didn’t use enough marshmallows (which I wouldn’t thought would ‘set’ as they are gooey on their own).
Any advice or tips would be very gratefully received. You can probably tell already that the kitchen is not where I should be allowed!! 🙂Posted 2.1.13Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Hi Nikki – I’ve never had Rice Krispie treats come out floppy and gooey before, so there’s definitely something off about the quantities you used. I’m wondering if the conversion to metric may have been off? You probably did need to use all the marshmallows that the recipe called for, otherwise there will be proportionally too much butter, which would make things too wet and (potentially) floppy.
Posted 2.1.13Reply
Nikki wrote:
Thanks for getting back to me. I think maybe you are right as I used the same amount of butter but, in effect, halved everything else. It didn’t seem overly butterly when I was melting the marshmallows. I will attempt it again and follow the recipe to the letter!
I should have more faith from the start 🙂
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Thanks again xPosted 2.1.13Reply
Diana P wrote:
How did you food color the white chocolate chips? I have tried to do this before with white chocolate chips and right after I added the coloring the chocolate seized up and was destroyed. This was blue food coloring and the McCormick assorted color food coloring dye. Thank you!
Posted 2.9.13Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Hi Diana – I used Wilton candy melts (see my note in the recipe) rather than white chocolate for just that reason. It’s really easy to make white chocolate seize up, so on these rare occasions where I want to use melted candy like this I go ahead and use the candy melts. If you do want to experiment with coloring white chocolate I’ve been able to do it in the past with gel-based color (Wilton makes it, I also have some of Duff Goldman’s that I found at Michael’s. ~Kathy
Posted 2.9.13Reply
Megan wrote:
Hi there! I love these and made them with my mom when I was younger. Up to how long are they good for? Could I make them one night then eat them in the morning or afternoon?
Posted 2.5.14Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Hi Megan – They should definitely be good the next day — just keep them in an airtight container. ~Kathy
Posted 2.5.14Reply
Lori wrote:
Just curious if anyone has frozen these? I want to make them for my daughters class, but might have to make them a week before due to my work schedule. I don’t want them to get stale. Thanks!
Posted 2.8.14Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Hi Lori — I’d be a little hesitant to freeze them, out of concern for moisture turning them soggy. Kellogg’s does give advice for freezing Rice Krispies treats: http://www.ricekrispies.com/recipes/the-original-treats
Keeping the moisture out will probably be key — you’ll want to wrap them really well.Posted 2.8.14Reply
