Thursday, May 12, 2011

Cocoa Rice Crispy Treats

These are super tasty and super easy to throw together. Need a quickie semi-non-guilt-inducing treat? You can have these ready in less than 30 minutes. I made a batch of these as per Alisa at One Frugal Foodie's recipe for my book club the other night. They went over well, but the Monster needed another batch just for his wee self. I thought the original recipe was great but a little too sweet, so in my adaptation I'm using less agave nectar. I didn't look at the recipe when I made my second batch and totally forgot to put in the ground flaxseed. I'll list it in the ingredients, but I really don't know what it will do to the treats given you're using dry cocoa powder and a little less agave. Might just opt to leave it out. Do try the original recipe too though. It was really great too but I was just too lazy to take photos and they disappeared too quickly.
This recipe is open to all kinds of additions. I've already bought dark chocolate covered cocoa nibs to add in to Alisa's original recipe...minus at least a Tbs. of agave that is.
I'm thinking another alternative to the agave and cashew butter would be one made with honey, tahini and no cocoa or chocolate.

Cocoa Rice Crispy Treats:
(Adapted from One Frugal Foodie's recipe)

1/4 cup roasted unsalted cashew butter
3 Tbs. agave nectar, or honey
2 Tbs. extra-virgin coconut oil
2-3 Tbs. dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrhona brand)
a pinch of sea salt (to taste)
2 cups crisp brown rice cereal (I used Whole Foods 365 Organics brand)
(1 Tbs whole flax seeds that you've ground in a spice grinder...which I didn't do for this batch)

Prepare a muffin tin by lightly oiling all 12 cups (not necessary to oil if you have a silicone pan).
Alternately, you can just oil an 8x8 cake pan and cut the treats into squares after they've come out of the freezer)
Add cashew butter, agave nectar, coconut oil, cocoa powder and sea salt to a small saucepan and warm low heat just until everything is incorporated.
Remove from heat...mix shouldn't really even be warm at this point...and fold in brown rice cereal, stirring until well coated.
Distribute the mixture between the 12 muffin cups, lightly flattening down with the spoon to level.
Place the muffin tin in the freezer for 20+ minutes, then pop them out of the tin either into your face, or into a freezer bag. Store in the freezer to keep fresh.

2 comments:

Alisa Fleming said...

These look fabulous! I agree, the flaxseed probably isn't needed when using cocoa powder. Glad you enjoyed!

Joanne said...

These are so fun! I love rice krispie treats and a chocolate version has to be even better than its vanilla counterpart!