Growing up, I used to be a professional Rice Crispy Treat baker. I’d dump butter in a pot, add a bag of marshmallows, rice crisp, and vanilla.
Spread into a pan.
Stuff in face.
Totally gourmet.
Sticky, sweet, crunchy…and easy enough for a child to make. I still remember sticking the gooey cereal covered spoon straight into my mouth to ‘taste test’, leaving marshmallow whiskers all over my cheeks. I made them so many times, I memorized the complex and highly detailed gourmet recipe off the side of the cereal box. Like I said, total pro.
Each December, I showcased my skills by making Christmas-themed Rice Crispy Treats, complete with red and green rice crispies and a dusting of red and green sprinkles on top. They were the hit of every class party, the talk of the town, and they matched my Christmas sweater and scrunchie so well.
These Almond Butter Rice Crisp Treats are an equally gourmet version (read: no bake) of my loved childhood treats. However, unlike the original, this recipe is made without marshmallows, but I promise you won’t miss them!
To make these treats, I used my No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispies recipe for inspiration- one of the most popular recipes on the blog.
I put on my apron, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work. After 15 exhausting minutes, I had treats whipped up for a special someone.
Almond Butter Rice Crisp Treats
Yield
12 squares
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
15 minutes
Total time
These rice crisp treats are absolutely divine! I love to use my Maple-Cinnamon Superseed Almond Butter in these for a great flavour, but store-bought natural almond butter will also work in a pinch.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) brown rice syrup*
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) Maple-Cinnamon Superseed Almond Butter**
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) non-dairy butter (such as Earth Balance)
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups (115 g) gluten-free rice crisp cereal
For the chocolate topping:
- 1/3 cup (65 g) non-dairy chocolate chips
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) coconut oil
- Unsweetened shredded coconut, for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Prepare an 8 inch by 8 inch square pan, by lining it with 2 pieces of parchment paper, one going each way.
- In a large pot over low-medium heat, add the brown rice syrup, almond butter, butter, maple syrup, and salt. Stir well until super smooth and heated through. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Stir in the rice crisp cereal until thoroughly combined.
- Scoop into pan and spread out evenly. Press down with lightly wet fingers or roll flat with pastry roller. Place in freezer to set for 5 minutes while you make the chocolate topping.
- In a small pot or double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil over low heat. Once 2/3 of the chips are melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth.
- Remove the pan from freezer and drizzle or spread with melted chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with coconut and place in the freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.
- Slice into squares. Bars will hold their shape quite well at room temperature, but you can store in the fridge to ensure the chocolate stays solid. Leftovers can be wrapped and stored in the fridge for 5 to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Tip:
- * Brown rice syrup is used in this recipe because it is a great binder. I don't recommend using another liquid sweetener.
- ** Feel free to swap the almond butter for store-bought natural peanut butter or almond butter, if desired.
- Make it soy-free: Use soy-free vegan chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life brand. Also use soy-free vegan butter, such as Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Oh man did this recipe bring back the memories!
You can either drizzle on the chocolate as shown below, or spread it out evenly covering the entire surface, depending on how much chocolate you want. I used 1/4 cup chocolate chips and it was the perfect amount to drizzle. Use 1/2 cup chips if you want to cover the entire surface.
I had to use so much restraint not to eat all of them! Eric also raved about them and was quite jealous when he found out that they weren’t for him. :)
Did you do any baking or cooking as a child? What was your favourite thing to make?
Recipe News:
I’m setting up a new recipe organizational system powered by Recipage! I think you’re going to love it as much as I already do. I‘m excited to have a better system for quickly locating, searching, emailing, sharing, and printing recipes all in one spot. You can check out the new page here to see the 40 recipes I’ve entered so far. I still have about 6 gazillion recipes to enter, so bear with me as I try to enter all of them in. ;) I should be finished by 2015. Maybe sooner if I figure out how to copy and paste.
[joking, joking!]
Good luck with adding the recipes!
“I used to be a professional Rice Crispy Treat baker.”–
I STILL AM!!
I have umpteen versions of RKTs on my site. All with some sort of choc frosting or choc PB frosting on top b/c I just have to incorporate chocolate into them, somehow.
And I have Special K Bars and other cereal-based sweet/treat bar recipes, too.
There is just something about nobake bars like this that I love. Probably b/c yes, in childhood, these were STAPLES for me!
Your photography on these is brilliant! Love the coconut flake dusting; makes it all sooooo beautiful.
:)
haha :) Yes I discovered that dark desserts with chocolate don’t photograph well, a touch of coconut makes them a bit easier ;)
Oh my gosh, I just checked out your recipe page and I love it to pieces! I just updated my page, with images and sections to make it easier to find things, but I had to write the HTML myself. It wasn’t too hard, but I knew it wasn’t going to be the ultimate solution. Thanks for sharing recipage with us! Once I get up to the thousands of recipes you have, I’d love to have this sort of thing on my blog.
I can’t wait to see the final product!
Oh my gosh! I used to adore rice krispie making as a child! I am.pumped for this recipe and that you are getting Recipage! :)
Oooooh! delicious! I’ve missed RC squares, and marshmallows generally. These are at the top of my weekend to do/eat list.
A classic treat loved by kids of all ages, myself included.
These look like a party, with a generous drizzle of melted chocolate being its crowning glory!
Those look just like the real deal!
I totally used to cook when I was little…. except what I made wasn’t exactly edible. I loved to take out all the spices and baking supplies out of my grandma’s kitchen cupboard and go to town mixing up all kinds of crazy concoctions. I would then make “cookies” out of them and take them to my grandpa to try. He was a good sport and would pretend to take a bite and tell me how wonderful they were. :) There was also the time I wanted to make a “smoothie” and I made my nana peel about a thousand grapes for me because I didn’t want the peels in it. Haha, now I’m a little bit better about actually following a recipe.
My mother doesn’t like to bake, so we didn’t do much baking when I was a child. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I’m more than making up for what I missed out on! Those treats look oh so yummy – they are now on my To Do list for the weekend :)
Wow. Those look good. Can’t wait to try them.
Yum, I loved the other ones, and I can’t wait to try these! No bake is where it’s at in Texas in the summer!
Hi Angela,
I had everything at home for these and made them this afternoon. They were so quick and awesome. Thanks for another fabulous, healthy and kid friendly recipe … the boys loved them! I used 1/3c chocolate chips and had more than enough to do a thin coating of chocolate over all the bars. My youngest even enjoyed the leftover chocolate out of the bowl.
So glad you all enjoyed them Heather!
Those are lovely. I think Rice Krispy treats were among the first things I made, and I made them often, but my favorite thing to make was chocolate chip cookies, and that remains today! I made your oatmeal raisin cookies last week and my husband gobbled them up, and last night I made the brownies with the teff flour. Yum!
I even needed help with Rice Krispie Treats when I was in 2nd grade. Too many steps? Not sure what my deal was!
That new recipe page is seriously awesome! :D
These sound delicious. I was never a big rice crispy fan, but they have to be good with almond butter and chocolate. I started my baking obession early on. Peanut butter balls, no bakes, cakes, cookies-I was no stranger.
Great recipe! I didn’t like to make rice krispie squares as a kid, but I definitely loved to eat them! ;) My favourite thing to make were brownies!
You should find someone to do the copying over to the recipe page for you. You could pay them in rice crispy treats. . . ;) GREAT page, by the way.
Delicious post! You know, the truth is, I can get tired crunching my way to the summits of mountains, but I get exhausted just thinking about all the effort it takes for you to assemble some of these oustanding entries in your blog. Excellent job. I may need some advice on heart smart cuisine in the near term. Keep up the good work.
Uh, yum! I wish I had all the ingredients right now so i could make them for dessert tonight! :) However, I have a feeling I’ll be able to make them tomorrow :)
I wonder what your (oh my) children will whip up in the kitchen. Would it be a bit like this: “Mommy, try that! Not only it is sweet and tasty but it’s good for your arteries too and will give you lots of energy for running”. Oh maybe: “Moooom, you don’t get it, a treat just has to have marshmallows and sugar and butter in it!”
Thanks for the recipe! I have always disliked rice crispy treats due to the overly sweet marshmallows. I love that this recipe leaves them out! I will definitely be trying them out. ^_^
ahhh I loveee rice crispy treats! It’s almost as if you subconsciously knew I just got a new jar of brown rice syrup ;) Must make these asap!
I REAAAAAALY want one of these with a cold glass of almond milk right now. Actually I really REAAAAAALY want a whole pan of these right now. And you can hold the almond milk.
Yum they look lovely. I used to love making cornflake crackle cakes (basically sugar, butter, syrup, chocolate all melted, stir in cornflakes (and sometimes raisins) and then spoon into fairy cake cases)- so easy because you only needed one pan and then were made so quickly :)
These look like a delicious treat for my g-f partner! I’m going to add some chopped almonds too – you can’t go wrong with extra almonds :)
OHHHH EMMMM GEEEEEE!!! I made these last night. And as i took the first bite, the skies parted and a choir of angels started singing “Hallelujah” They were Ab-So-Lute-Ly amazing. I dont know how you do it?!?! And the crazy thing is it tastes like the ones i ate as a child. Only better *giggles*
Im so happy you enjoyed them so much!!
I love healthy rice crisp treats! I haven’t made them in awhile and was just thinking about bring them back into my treat diet!:) Maybe this evening…sounds like a perfect way to wrap up Saturday!
Beautiful photos=they make me want to make them RIGHT now..too bad I have to go to work…or else I just might, even if it is 6:40AM :)
I bet I’m gonna love these! Rice crisps are so yum *childhood memories* we smuthered them in chocolate, in the oven, and then – watch it don’t burn your fingers – we ate them, all of them!
This sounds AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve made the almond butter chews (I forget what they’re called on here…crisps, almond butter, brown rice syrup rolled into balls) and totally thought they could be turned into rice krispie treats. Looks like you had the same idea and I’m happy you got the proportions right for me so I don’t even have to figure it out. My kids really loved the chews and I know they’ll love these too. I feel so much better giving them these kinds of treats instead of the junky (and pre-packaged) ones!
Thank you!!
I really want to make these today! I’m trying to find the motivation to go back to the store (i’ve been 3 times already today!) Apparently I need to make a shopping list.
These look so delicious, Angela!!!
I have mixed feelings about Recipage. I’ve seen it on other blogs and at first I thought it was really cool, but on further use I hate the fact that when you search for something you can’t just right click and open results in a new tab. The way it is now you have to search, click on one recipe to see it, then go back, research, click on another recipe, etc. This can make it really time-consuming and annoying if you just want to quickly scan the recipes. Maybe Emily and the Recipage developers could add a right click/open in new tab option? Okay, sorry for the ramble-y post. I just thought I’d mention it. :)
These look absolutely stunning and I can’t wait to try them out! I’m having trouble finding brown rice syrup in my local area (I don’t think it’s something we commonly bake with in the UK) but I’ll keep looking! Otherwise I wonder if agave syrup will work?
It should work with other sweetener, but it wont hold together as well and you will have to keep them in the fridge. Goodluck! :)
THESE WERE A HUGE WINNER! Oh I have a new go to treat… and so easily adaptable! You could sub in peanut butter for the almond no problem.. this was my first rice syrup recipe and I am more than please! Thanks to you and to everyone else… give them a try!
I used maple syrup. Seemed to hold together fine for me.
I could only find rice puffs cereal- do you think that would provide the same crunch?
Yum! These sound dee-lish!
Do you think they would work with molasses instead of brown rice syrup? I’m trying to up the iron in my little guy’s diet and molasses is a power house. Thanks!
Im not too sure, the flavour would change but they should hold together. Goodluck!
These are delicious!! They’re a perfect healthy alternative to the special K butterscotch bars at my university’s dining hall :) I made a half batch since I’m only cooking for myself and I subbed 1/8 cup agave and 1/8 cup honey instead of brown rice syrup and they hold together fine. I also didn’t bother with the almond butter or salt in the drizzle either, just used straight up melted dark chocolate.
I just made the almond butter rice crisps treats! Very good, I had to use agave nectar instead of the brown rice syrup, but they held together well enough. I also cut the amount of salt, and topped with chopped roasted almonds. This is a quick and tasty snack!
Angela, do you think these would work using coconut butter instead of almond butter?
I made these yesterday and they are so delicious! Thanks for the recipe
Could I use Kamut puffs? Opposed to rice crisp?
Thanks for posting this recipe, I was looking for something that would replicate my favorite (expensive) bars from a natural foods store. Excited to make these!
I made this yesterday without the chocolate drizzle. They’re really, really good. They reminded me of this- a bar that a resort I go to makes.
canyonranch.com/your-health/food-nutrition/cooking-recipes/breads-snacks/canyon-ranch-hiking-bar
Thanks for the recipe!
I made these for the second time today. I must say, the first batch – while good – seemed to heavy on the vanilla. 1 Tbsp didn’t work for me. So the second batch I scaled it to 1 tsp and liked the flavor much better.
Also for those wondering, for the first batch I used maple syrup (I was making them for a vegan friend, couldn’t find brown rice syrup so substituted the maple syrup) and the second batch I used honey (because I am neither a vegan or a vegetarian). Both were excellent binders, no issues whatsoever there.
Anyway, I think *my* ideal batch will use maple syrup and 1 tsp vanilla (I really liked the flavor of maple syrup and almond butter – it was particularly yummy). :)
OH MY GOSHHHH I just made these. And they were better than I thought they were going to be. I have been making so many recipes from your website lately and they are all AMAZING! Thank you! :)
These are so delicious. I made them as little bite-sized balls and covered them in chocolate and brought them to a party. Everyone loved it and the hostess asked for the recipe!
Love these! Growing up my mom made a version of these, and she still makes them from time to time when we get together. I did not expect these to be even close to as delicious as her bars are, but they totally are! I think I might even like them more!(don’t tell her I said that) I didn’t have any parchment paper, so I oiled the pan with coconut oil and the bars came out with no problem. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Angela. The recipe says “stir in almond butter” in both the crispie mix and the melted chocolate chips. HELP! What did I miss?
Never mind. I just found it. Duh!