Sweet And Salty Rice Crispy Treats Recipe

Rice Krispies treats were created long, long ago in the Kellogg's test kitchens and the recipe has been printed on the boxed for over 80 years. As to the secret of their enduring popularity, this could well be due to the fact that, as recipe developer Jennine Rye points out, "They are super quick and easy to whip up." Even a well-established recipe, however, can stand for a little tweaking from time to time, and over the years cooks have added such ingredients as candy, fruit, and even bacon to the basic cereal plus marshmallows combo. Here we're sticking pretty closely to the original form, although Rye notes that "the addition of vanilla and condensed milk [gives them] an extra delicious depth of flavor" and feels that the latter ingredient improves the texture, as well.

Rye also swaps out the unsalted butter so often used in baking for the salted kind in this recipe, telling us that this ingredient "adds a little balance to the sweetness of the Rice Krispies treats." If you want your treats to have a saltier flavor, though, she says "you could definitely add sea salt or crushed pretzels," perhaps sprinkling them over the top of the treats in place of the sprinkles.

The main ingredient in Rice Krispies treats is the Rice Krispies, of course, although if you use a generic puffed rice cereal we'll let it be our little secret. You'll also need the aforementioned salted butter and condensed milk, some vanilla extract, rainbow sprinkles for the topping, and marshmallows to serve as the sweet, sticky glue that holds everything together.

Melt the butter over medium-low heat, then gently stir in the condensed milk. Once these ingredients are well-combined, add the marshmallows and stir until those have melted. Once they have, stir everything for just a little longer until you wind up with a homogeneous mixture.

Take the marshmallow mixture off the heat and combine it with the Rice Krispies. Once all of the cereal is coated, spread the mixture in a greased pan. While Rye uses a 6x6-inch pan, she notes that "any pan lying around at home works, really, as long as it isn't too large or too small." So, if you only have an 8x8-inch pan, that'll work just fine. Try to form the sticky Rice Krispies into a fairly even layer, but don't press down too hard as you don't want to squish the puffed cereal.

Once your Rice Krispies mix is in the pan, scatter the sprinkles over the top to give it a little color. Now walk away and leave the whole thing alone for an hour or more as it will take some time for the mixture to harden up to the point where it can be cut into bars. Don't put the pan in the refrigerator, though, as this may make the treats a bit too hard. In fact, Rye recommends storing them in an airtight container at room temperature, telling us they should remain fairly fresh for about 3 days. If you don't think you can consume all of the treats in this time frame, though, she says they can also be frozen.