It is quite likely that whenever you read this post I will either just have eaten, just been about to eat or actually be eating one of these rice crispy treats. They're pretty much my new most best thing ever.
When I was little, rice crispy treats were very simple. Melt some chocolate and some golden syrup, throw in your rice crispies and there you had it.
It's only in recent years that rice crispy treats seem to have evolved into something much more complicated involving butter and marshmallows and goodness knows what else. And I have to admit that marshmallows, or at least shop-bought marshmallows, are one food that I've never really understood. They always seem so weirdly pointless and supremely unappealing.
So in the spirit of these simple rice crispy treats of my youth, these only contain three ingredients. Well, four if you count the chocolate chips that I added which are optional but most definitely encouraged.
Now I do also realise that I've become slightly obsessed with nut butters of late but I finding it very hard to stop thinking about them. I promise I'll stop soon (although I should point out for people in the UK that Ocado currently have cashew and almond butter on special offer if you want to join me in my obsession).
Hazelnut butter is probably my favourite but I think any type of nut butter would work equally well in these. Indeed the last batch I made contained a mixture of three different butters that I found lurking in my kitchen. Honey provides the stickiness here; I think you could use maple syrup but I tend to find that honey is stickier and therefore works slightly better. I like to stir the chocolate chips in when the mixture is still slightly warm so that they melt a little and end up with swathes of chocolate. The chocolate, when it hardens, also has the added benefit of helping to hold the whole thing together but it's by no means essential, the nut butter and honey have more than enough sticking power.
I feel so much better about life when I have a batch of these on hand. They're sweet enough to keep me happy but substantial enough that I don't feel hungry within ten minutes of eating one. The fact that they are so easy and quick to make (seriously, I made the last batch in an advert break during CSI) is just an added bonus.
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Hazelnut butter rice crispy treats Adapted from my chocolate rice crispy treats Makes 8
Ingredients
- 110g (1/2 cup) hazelnut butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 50g (2 cups) rice crispies (I used brown rice crispies but the normal ones are fine. Just don't use puffed rice. Not the same thing at all.)
- 50g (1/4 cup) chocolate chips (optional)
Cooking Directions
- Line a tin or a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Melt the hazelnut butter and honey in a medium saucepan over a low heat until they are combined and liquid.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the rice crispies so that they are all covered. If desired, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the mixture into the tin, pat down with your hands and chill until firm (about an hour or two).