Crispy Rice Cereal Bar Recipe (almost foolproof)
Hi Meradeth, thanks so much for having me on your blog today. In honor of my upcoming release, A Crispy Rice Christmas, a story about a gal with boyfriend and baking troubles, I'm sharing my recipe for these bars (and check out the variations) and the story of the one time they were a disaster.
Last Christmas I made these in the eggnog version and decided to add red food coloring to make it more, um, festive. So I added a generous tablespoon of red. And then another. And another. Till I'd used up all the red food coloring, the whole bottle. Still the rice crispy treats remained stubbornly pink instead of Christmassy red. With a shrug, I took them to a Christmas party, after all they tasted great. But no one would touch the ultra-pink bars. No one. Ah well, live and learn.
So, here's the recipe (without any food coloring):
Basic Recipe:4 tablespoons margarine or butter
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1 16 ounce bag of marshmallows (fresh white mini marshmallows work best, not the multi-colored ones, trust me)
In a large saucepan, heat the butter on medium heat until it melts. Add marshmallows and stir constantly until marshmallows all melt. Remove from heat. Add crispy rice cereal and stir well. Using a greased spatula, spread mixture in a buttered 15 X 10 inch pan. Cut into bars when cooled.
Okay, now for the variations:
Add vanilla or rum or orange or lemon extract, a teaspoon or two.
Add a cup of nuts, or raisins or any dried fruit, or a cup of chocolate or butterscotch bits (or a third a cup of each!).
Add any spices you like, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, or cardamom. This time of year, you can make "eggnog" bars by adding a bit of vanilla and rum extract (more rum extract) and some nutmeg.
Add 1/3 cup of cocoa.
Or be daring and trying adding a little bit of chili pepper spice to the cocoa! Strange but good if you like it weird and spicy!
If Beth can't figure out a way to seduce her love's picky appetite, she fears her relationship is toast—burnt. She cooks up a plan only to have it boil over. What's a terrible cook to do? Can Beth brave a winter storm in search of a Christmas dish to save her relationship—or will the holidays be a distasteful disaster?
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Meradeth--for some reason my comment thanking you for having me on your blog never posted! Thank you! And lets hope this posts!
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