Thursday, July 4, 2013

Red, White, Blue and Crispy

I got hooked on a new kind of rice crispy treat from some good friends at a recent BBQ... and then I found a recipe for them on smitten kitchen.  To enhance the flavor of the treats, they use twice the butter, brown the butter first to golden and nutty deliciousness, and add some sea salt w/ the cereal... these really are amazing treats.

So, for the 4th of July I decided to take it up a notch.  Red, white and blue treats.  And, well, I couldn't stop there.

For the red layer I added cinnamon, bit of salt and red coloring... add more than you think or they are a salmon color like mine were.

For the white layer I did like the above - sea salt.

For the blue layer I added some almond extract and a bit of salt.  I didn't put in enough blue, so they were grey-ish... but you get the point.

We used rice checks instead of crispies - I think the larger cereal is nicer.  (sometimes we just mix up the last cup of all the cereal in the house to make them... that's yummy, too.)

I put the red layer down first, then the white, then the blue ... used a greased butter wrapper to press it firmly into a deep 9x9 brownie dish.  Cooled, cut into little triangles... they really were a hit... as gourmet as a red white and blue cereal treat can get.

For the base:
1-stick butter (1/2 C) - melted, browned, no burnt (stir and watch closely)
6-cups marshmallows - add to melted butter off heat, if you need low heat to fully melt, that's cool... but stir and watch.
7-8 cups cereal - stir into smooth butter/mallow mixture
1/4 t sea salt - add w/ cereal

For the Red White and Blues... I doubled the recipe and then split the butter into 3 pans from the start... I added the color w/ the marshmallows.    When it was smooth I added a 1/4 t cinnamon to the red and a couple caps of almond to the blue and the salt to the white....

YUM - Patriotic Yum!