Baking Love

This is the last of the marshmallow recipes for now. I used up the last ones in these festive treats. Anna at Cookie Madness posted a link to the original recipe from Rice Krispies. She mentions the older version of the recipe having more butter and less cereal and getting better results, so I made mine that way. To go with the holiday theme, I added dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and cashews. (Pistachios are green, I know, for the red and green, but I prefer cashews.)

It was a perfect combination. The white chocolate accentuates the taste of the marshmallow and the buttery cashews work well with the cranberries. The white chocolate helped to bind everything as well. With the amount of marshmallows I had, or perhaps how this batch turned out, they seemed less gooey. If I had added more cereal, or even more cranberries and nuts, my treats would have fallen apart.

Now, if you are making these gluten-free be careful, as I know most of you are, to read the labels on the cereal. Most crispy rice cereals, Rice Krispies included, have barley malt in them. That’s why my marshmallow crispy treats are chocolate, because the only gluten-free crispy rice cereal I could find had cocoa in it. Not that that’s necessarily a problem; more chocolate is good for you, right, all those antioxidants?

Holiday Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows (I used 32 large marshmallows, what I had left over)

120g (1 cup) cashews

120g (1 cup) dried cranberries

284g (10 ounces) white chocolate chips

Grease or line a tin with foil or paper. Use any size. The larger it is the thinner the treats. Anna recommends a smaller one for more dramatic results. I used a larger one. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in the marshmallows until they are melted. Remove from heat, then stir in crispy rice cereal, dried cranberries, cashews, then the white chocolate chips. If you don’t stir in the white chocolate chips last then they will melt all over. If that doesn’t bother you, then don’t worry.

Spread the mixture evenly into prepared tin. They will harden up as they cool. Cool completely and slice into squares. Enjoy!