So I think I've mentioned my love of cereal treats before right? Because 1) they are ridiculously simple to make (you don't even need to bake anything!) and 2) most kiddos and grown ups love them. I've yet to find someone that doesn't smile when they see a plate full of cereal treats or have a visceral aversion to them. I've made them plenty of time before like these peppermint krispie treats, fruity pebbles cereal treats, trix and chex cereal treats, and these turkey day cinnamon rice krispie treats.
To make these a little more fun and because I love color, I went with 3 batches and flavored 2 of the 3 layers. You can find the basic recipe for rice krispie treats here, but it's really so simple:
4 cups of mini marshmallows (or 1 - 10 ounce bag of regular sized marshmallows)
3 tablespoons of butter
6 cups of rice cereal
For the strawberry and blueberry layers, you'll need about 1 cup of freeze dried fruit
On a stove top, melt butter, add marshmallows until all melted, then mix in rice krispies.
The blueberry and strawberry flavors are from freeze dried fruits, which you can find everywhere now. I got mine from Trader Joe's but most food stores or even Target carries them now too. I love using them because you can add natural concentrated flavor and color without adding any extra water to your recipe.
Crush up the freeze dried fruit of your choice - I used my good old mortar and pestle to crunch them up (see I am using my pharmacy degree!)
After you melt the butter and marshmallows together, add the powdered freeze dried fruit. It will look like this when you mix it up:
Then turn off the heat and add the rice cereal; mix it well. Press it into a pan (spray the pan with non-stick spray and spray a piece of wax paper or your spatula with non stick spray too otherwise it will stick to everything you touch)
Repeat with other layers and press well between each later.
Cut into what ever fun shapes you like.
And you get a plate of some fun and colorful stripped rice krispie treats. You could even dip in some white chocolate, but I really like the simple lines of these treats. And I did mention the color and flavor are from fruit right? No food colorings or food gels used here. Not that I don't use food colors - you really can only get the bright colors you want for some projects with them. But I do like to experiment to see what I can get with natural food colors. And these definitely have the look I was shooting for!
Here are some other goodies made with natural food dyes/colors for anyone interested:
Thanks for swinging by and have a GREAT week! We have a mini vacay next week and I can't wait --there is chocolate involved!
Tidy Mom's I'm Loving It
Tidy Mom's I'm Loving It
These are so pretty!
ReplyDeletethanks! the colors came out as i was hoping :)
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DeleteI like the healthy ingredients you used to achieve the coloring, Michelle! Such a pretty and tasty idea. Kudos to you!
ReplyDeletethanks Sue! They are still sugary treats, but at least without extra food coloring. (Although I do use food gels as you know, but I like trying to get colors without it too :)
DeleteWe love rice krispie treats! I'm not quite sure what I think of adding fruit to my dessert, tho. There's that line that takes it from dessert and makes it healthy. I might be able to swing this one, tho. Because it has marshmallow-y goodness. =o) They look so stinkin' cool, tho! The idea really is genius!
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin! I definitely would not call them healthy but at least no artificial food dyes! And tasty too!!!
DeleteThese look so cute!!!! Love the layers of colors! And they sound yummy, too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Maria! Super tasty!! Try them!
DeleteI love that you made these using fresh fruit, I bet they taste really delicious!
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