Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

I may be a grown woman, but my taste buds sometimes carry on like my 5 year old. 

During my summer breaks in middle school, I would stay home and experiment in the kitchen. It was the summer of 1993 that I discovered that rice krispy treats were only made of 3 ingredients! Marshmallows, melted in butter and then mixed with cereal. 

Easy. Peasy. 

I. Went. In.

Every day there was a different cereal. Trix. Fruity Pebbles (my personal fave). Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Granola. Frosted Flakes. Cracklin’ Oat Bran. Whatevs. 

If it was cereal and it was tasty, it was getting eaten! 

Later on when I got to Spelman, I started learning the fundamentals of eating a plant based diet and the “evils” of animal based diets. I’m only half joking when I say ‘evil’ because my early teachers were radical. But nevertheless they made it clear to me that thou shalt not eat pig. (Even though I do love me some bacon – but I digress). So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that the gelatin in marshmallows were sourced from pigs. #DamnGina 

So you see my dilemma. 

How does a grown woman explain to her inner 5 year old’s taste buds that they can no longer eat rice krispy treats because they aren’t healthy? 

Like this. 

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

• Author: Shelley

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice cereal or millet cereal
• 1/3 cup peanut butter or almond butter
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips, carob chips or cacao nibs
• 3 TB brown rice syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla

 

Instructions

1. Add cereal, chocolate chips/cacao nibs/ carob chips to a large bowl.
2. Melt nut butter, brown rice syrup and vanilla in a small pot for approximately 1 minute. The goal is to make it pourable
3. Pour nut butter mixture over cereal
4. Mix with spatula until it forms one ball
5. Using clean, slightly oiled hands, break off pieces and shape into balls or discs.  Or flatten into a rectangle shape that can be cut into smaller squares
6. Place on nonstick surface (wax paper, parchment paper, silpat mat, etc.) and let rest. May place in freezer for 5 minutes to harden.
7. Store in refrigerator or airtight container