Two weekends ago, small eats turned three! It’s crazy to believe that I’ve been blogging for three years and how different my life is on many levels. In blogger tradition, I made something sweet (and healthy) to commemorate the occasion. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you’re enjoying the recipes just as much as I love creating them to share with you.
I never imagined that I would be making a “superfood” recipe, let alone one that would also be in the form of a rice crispy treat. Randomly rice crispies popped up into my life over the past month or so ago a few different times, and the clincher was when N mentioned to me that he loved rice crispy treats as a kid. Then I knew I had to make them.
But, because I’m me and I love a healthy twist to everything, I knew I wanted to health them up and make them without marshmallows aka all of the refined sugar. I’ve been playing with a few recipes for a little bit and finally experimented enough to find something N and I liked.
I went with a recipe that calls for honey, nut butter and coconut oil as the glue to bind everything together. A lot of marshmellow-less rice crispy recipes call for brown rice syrup because it’s stickier, but I didn’t want to buy it because I wouldn’t use it enough. I use honey for way more than just baking/making rice crispies.
The downside of a less refined binder is that it isn’t immediately as sticky. After just chilling them in the fridge for a few hours after making them they fell apart pretty easily. Sticking it in the freezer for a few hours helps, and I’ve noticed putting them in overnight reeallllyyy helps them stay together. After a day or so in the fridge, they bind together a lot better and don’t fall apart as easily.
The idea of a plain rice crispy treat was weirdly boring to me, even though I ate so many plain ones as a kid. I decided to add in some fun and healthy things that I had on hand, those being cacao nibs, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. They make up the superfood portion of the recipe. While I’m not the biggest fan of the word because it’s largely used as a marketing term, cacao, hemp and chia each have pretty great benefits.
Cacao is the raw version of cocoa, they come from the same pod but are processed differently. Cacao is cold pressed and cocoa is roasted, and the roasting causes it to loose it’s high antioxidant and mineral content. Hemp seeds are good sources of omega-3s, magnesium and protein. Chia is high in fiber and omega-3s. I enjoy adding some extra goodness to my food whenever I can. If you have other healthy mix-ins to add like flax seeds, goji berries or dried fruit, feel free to swap any of mine out for yours.
Is there a treat you’d like a healthier version of or with a little extra healthy goodness added? Let me know in the comments below and it may show up on the blog 🙂
Ingredients
- 4 cups crispy brown rice cereal
- 1/2 cup cacao nibs
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup nut butter (I used almond)
- 1 tbsp unrefined virgin coconut oil
- 1/2 cup honey (or brown rice syrup to make it vegan)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Line an 8x8" baking pan with 2 sheets of parchment paper one in the pan horizontally and one vertically, with extra hanging over the sides to make it easy to take out and cut into squares later.
In a large mixing bowl, combine rice cereal, cacao, chia, hemp and cinnamon, stir to combine.
In a small sauce pan, combine nut butter, coconut oil, honey (or brown rice syrup) and vanilla extract. Bring this to a medium heat, stirring to make sure the mixture is fully melted and combined.
Once combined, remove the wet mixture from the stove and pour into the mixing bowl. Stir throughly to evenly coat the rice mixture.
Using a spatula, pour the mixture into your 8x8" pan and press firmly to flatten it down. Once you've flattened it with the spatula, cover the top with a different piece of parchment paper and press down firmly with your hands to get it really packed in there.
If you prefer a dense rice crispy treat, place the pan in the freezer for a few hours (or even overnight). If not, chill in the freezer for an hour and move to the fridge to store. In a few days the treats will be denser and hold together really well.
Notes
Adapted from Running with Spoons.