I just had to make rice krispie treats for about 10 kids and another 10 hungrier parents. Now, rice krispie treats (or, if you don't want to support Kellogg's, "crisped rice squares") are on the easier on the spectrum of cooked desserts, but in the spirit of this blog, let's make it as easy as possible.
What you need:
- (8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup or 1/4 lb) block butter
- 2 bags (10oz) of marshmallows
- 12 cups of toasted rice cereal
- about a tablespoon of vanilla extract (optional)
- rectangular pan (9 x 13ish)
These days, butter comes in 1/4 blocks (4 in a box), and so all you need is one of those. Marshmallows also come in 10oz bags, usually. I didn't find a perfect box of 12 cups of the cereal, so you might have to measure, but in the spirit of the blog, if you need to error, error on the side of a little too much cereal, since you'll have plenty to go around.
First, butter the pan. Do this first.
In a nonstick large wok/pot, enough to fit a pretty big stir fry, melt the butter. Add the vanilla, and then add the marshmallows. Keep stirring (elbow grease!) until the marshmallows are pretty melted; you might have to turn up the heat to medium for this.
Next, turn the heat down to as low as possible and then stir in all of the cereal. If you have a second spoon, use it, since it'll be the largest, heaviest, stickiest stir fry you've ever made. With everything pretty mixed up evenly, pour the crunchy and sticky mixture into the pan. If you have a 9x13 pan, the pan will be pretty full, and you probably have to push down the mixture and flatten it a bit to get it to fit; this makes a dense treat, but the kids will love it all the more. A bigger pan will lead to a more spread out mixture, and you won't have to push down the treats.
Wait 10 minutes before you cut; otherwise, you'll end up with a gooey mess.
As for cleanup, if you used a nonstick pan - cleanup should be a snap. If not, just soak in water; everything that you used dissolves pretty quickly when immersed.
Done!
