Chocolate Rice Krispies or Crispy Chocolate-Marshmallow Treats - Everyday Food

Chocolate Rice Krispies with Bittersweet Chocolate Drizzle

Happy Tuesday! I'm in complete denial that Christmas is coming soon. Complete denial. I turned on the TV and saw "It's a Wonderful Life" playing...and wondered why they were showing that! I think Los Angeles' recent heat wave (it was 80+ degrees) didn't help any. But today it will be freezing ;) with temperatures below 70 degrees! Bundle up Los Angeles! So, the little Santa hat on these treats is the start of my holiday spirit.

The official name is Crispy Chocolate-Marshmallow Treats thereby avoiding all mention of name brands. But everyone knows it's Chocolate Rice Krispies made with Valrhona Dutch Cocoa and Trader Joe's Bittersweet Chocolate.

My oven is still out of commission. Ugh. Sorry for the lack of Tuesdays with Dorie today, but here is another no-bake treat. (Dude, remember yesterday's Christmas Jello? It was mentioned on the LA Times Food section blog, The Daily Dish! So cool!!)

Add cocoa powder to your usual Rice Krispies treat and top with a bit bittersweet chocolate. What can be easier? In the holiday season, you can even toss a few Christmas sprinkles on top!

I put them in individual cupcake holders (I buy them in 500 count packages at the restaurant supply store) to make them easier to grab at the library.

Have a great day! - mary the food librarian

Recipe:
Crispy Chocolate-Marshmallow Treats - Everyday Food 

• I used a restaurant 1/4 sheet pan
• Be sure to let the chocolate drizzle set before trying to wrap it in plastic...just sayin'
• I cut mine smaller and got 48 little squares

Monkey Munch or Chex's Muddy Buddies

Monkey Munch or Chex's Muddy Buddies
One Delicious Bowl of Goodness

For my last three baking endeavors, my oven has been either (1) giving me attitude or (2) crying out for help. I turn it on, it doesn't heat up for a long time or gets stuck at 250-275 F until I put it on broil to "wake it up." Once, it got up to 350 right away and then fell back to 250 within 20 minutes. Perhaps this is why my little 4" Devil's Food cakes took 45 minutes to cook! Sigh.

So, until the Southern California Gas comes out to calibrate the oven and check it out (such a great free service...and I just hope I don't need a new oven like Madam Chow), I'm going to try to make "short bake" items such as cookies and no-bake items such as this crazy yummy Monkey Munch or Muddy Buddies.

I doled them out in 3 dozen nut & party cups to bring to work.
(By the way, you can get a boatload of these sooo cheap at Smart & Final (sorry, S&F are only in CA, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico)

Jon and Kate Plus 8 make this on their show and "I'm-getting-really-tired-of-you-but-your-kids-are-so-damn-cute-I-keep-watching-the-show-with-you-on-MUTE" Kate calls it Monkey Munch.

Here is the easy, simple Muddy Buddies recipe from the Chex's website.

So easy! Melt 1 cup chips, 1/2 c peanut butter, 1/2 stick butter in the microwave. Stir til smooth then add 1 t vanilla.

9 cups Chex Mix (I used Rice Chex). Mix the melted mixture with the cereal then pop it into large ziploc bags with powdered sugar. Shake and spread out on a cookie sheet. And that's it! It would be a lot of fun to make with kids as they get to shake, shake, shake and then eat, eat, eat! I'm going to make this with my niece and nephews real soon.

Monkey Munch. Muddy Buddies. Or even Monkey Buddies. Whatever the name, I could eat a gallon of this stuff. Make it in a quick minute! Here's the recipe!