6.03.2015

maple & cinnamon toast crunch rice krispie treats


i can clearly recall the fist time i ever tasted a rice krispie treat.  it was circa 1988... i was attending some sort of after school production for my brother's third grade class, and one of the moms was selling them for 25 cents.  i asked my mom for a quarter, and thus began my love affair with the one and only rice krispie treat (RKT).  now, nearly thirty years later my love affair continues.

luckily i have a few coworkers who share my same affinity for these tasty treats.  we were highly inspired by this buzzfeed article, so we decided to attempt to bake every RKT on the list.  i of course decided to take it a step further and make up my own recipe... allow me to introduce you to the maple & cinnamon toast crunch RKT.  the recipe isn't too different than that of the original RKT, but i've posted a few tips i've perfected in my 27 of baking these little guys :)





maple & cinnamon toast crunch rice krispie treats:
yield: two batches, about 20 large squares

ingredients:

for the treats:
 6 tbsp butter
2 - 10oz bags of marshmallows
6 cups cinnamon toast crunch cereal
6 cups rice krispies cereal 

for the maple drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
5 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash allspice

 instructions:
 * i cooked this in two batches, but if you're stirring arm is stronger than mine and you have a pot big enough... you could save time and do it all in one.

heat 3 tbsp butter over low heat in a large pot.  when the butter is melted, add 1 bag of marshmallows.  when the marshmallows are almost fully melted, remove from heat and add three cups of cinnamon toast crunch cereal.  stir into mallow mixture.  finally add three cups of rice krispies cereal, and stir again to combine.  dump the delicious sticky mixture into a 9x13 inch pan lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  here i like to also lightly spray the back of a large spoon with more cooking spray and firmly rub it over the top of the rkt's to even them out and to make them more dense.

now, after scraping/licking every crumb from the inside of your pot and spoon (it's tradition)... wash pot and spoon and do this all over again with the remaining first four ingredients, for the second batch.  when the ingredients are all mixed together, layer this batch on top of your first batch in the same pan.  rub over top with spoon again.  allow to cool

for the maple drizzle, mix 5 tbsp of maple syrup with 1 cup sifted powdered sugar.  mix together well with a spoon.  add a tiny bit more syrup into the mixture if it's too thick.  add 1 tsp cinnamon and a dash of allspice into icing and mix again.

when the RKT's are cooled, cut appx 20 squares with a sharp knife.  pour the maple drizze into a small ziplock bag (or icing bag w/tip if you want to be fancy), cut a small tip off the bottom corner, and drizzle the icing on top of the RKT's.  allow the icing to set for a few minutes.  now, try not to consume all 20 RKT's in one sitting.
low and slow is key in the marshmallow melting process.  patience is a virtue here... if you melt them over a burner that's too hot, your RKT's will be hard as a rock!

be sure the add the cinnamon toast crunch cereal first... then add the rice krispies.  it's easier to mix that way and crushes up the cinnamon toast crunch a bit which makes the final product easier to eat.

i swear by this spoon trick for perfectly square treats.

i'm from the south.  i sift everything.

maple syrup...

cinnamon...

a very sharp knife is a must here to maintain a perfect edge/square shape (i'm a little OCD over this).

i learned this"icing bag" trick in home economics in seventh grade.  it's life changing.

pipe the icing onto cooled RKT's.

voilĂ .  rice krispie treats and cinnamon toast crunch.  two of my favorite worlds collide.  also, in case you were wondering, it's perfectly acceptable to eat these for breakfast.