I’m always looking for fun and nutritious snacks for the family. Today I had a craving for rice crispy treats. NOT the healthy ones. I’m talking those good old fashioned ones that come neatly packaged in the blue wrapper. Those puppies take me back to childhood. Yup, I’m sure they are full of corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, so now that I am older and know better, it’s a huge no thank you.
I’m always determined to make healthier versions of my favorite treats. So today I grabbed Gavyn, my 3-year old, and coerced him into helping me in the kitchen. I told him we were making “rice crispy treats,” and at first he was super excited, stirring the mixture in the bowl with all of his little might. All was going well until I asked him to repeat back to me what we were making, and to my shock, he said “garbage.” KIDS, MAN, KIDS. Where do they get this shit from? His loss, because these bad boys (or gals) are just incredible and I’ll just eat them all myself.
I did sneak in collagen peptides into this recipe, and in fact, I like to sneak it in when ever I can. It’s tasteless, odorless, is a really good source of added protein, and promotes strong hair, skin, nails, and joint support. If you are vegan, just omit it! The recipe will still turn out perfectly, I promise.
This recipe will make 16 large bars. They are perfect for any time snacking, kids’ lunch boxes, and for a peace offering to someone in your life that you’ve been thinking about apologizing to for something.
Let’s do this.
Ingredients
- 4 cups puffed rice cereal
- 1 cup creamy almond butter (peanut butter and cashew butter work well too!)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 scoop Vital Proteins collagen peptides (optional)
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt (optional)
- 1 chocolate bar of choice (I used Hu Kitchen hazelnut chocolate bar), melted
Instructions
- Line a 9×9 baking dish with parchment paper. To make the parchment paper stick, grease the pan with some oil and then press the paper down.
- In a small sauce pan over low heat, add the almond butter, coconut oil, cacao, cinnamon, salt, and maple syrup. Stir until mixture is blended together well and there are no clumps.
- Pour all four cups of the cereal in a large bowl.
- Pour the almond butter/chocolate mixture over the cereal, and mix to coat well. I just a wooden spoon to do this, so that the cereal does get smashed.
- Pour mixture into the baking pan and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.
- Remove from the refrigerator, and melt your chocolate bar. I do this in 30 second intervals in the microwave.
- Drizzle chocolate on top and refrigerate for another 10-15 minutes before slicing into 16 squares.
- Keep these stored in the refrigerator for up to one week, IF they will last that long (I dare you!)
- Enjoy!
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