Gluten Free Rice “Krispie” Treats

I don’t about you, but ever since going gluten-free, Rice Crispy Treats have just not been the same since Kellogg’s Rice Krispies “left the pantry.” While there are some really good GF Rice cereals out there, the famous marshmallow treat of my past just wasn’t the same, “something” seemed to be missing. I presume it was the very thing that made Rice Krispies off limits to me and my family in the first place, the malt flavoring. When General Mills’ Rice Chex went GF, I got a tip from one of my GF web forums that Rice Chex worked so well that outside of the shape, they tasted identical to Rice Krispie Treats. Wow, that was good enough for me!

Then Sam started Kindergarten. Sam’s school has a really cool “cooking class,” called Friday Fun. Each week all of the kindergartners make a snack on Friday. The kiddos do the non-cooking portion like shaping and molding and assembly, while the teachers and aids do all things related to “fire.” Anyway, back in the fall one of the Friday Fun snacks was to make a Rice Krispie Treat Cactus. That threw a wrench in my Rice Chex Treats, as they are not as easy to mold into funny little shapes and I could tell Sam really wanted his cactus to look like his classmates anyway. Sam doesn’t mind how foods look at home but he is becoming increasingly aware and sensitive about being “different” around his peers. Sam and I talk about his feelings and how it is our differences that make us all special. I think (hope) he gets it, but I also get how it feels to be 6!

So back to the drawing board!

Sam’s school is absolutely wonderful in all that they do to make sure Sam is safe and always included. Every Monday I get the recipe for Friday’s Fun Snack so I can send in Sam’s own uncontaminated ingredients/pots/pans/utensils, etc. So the Monday that I got the recipe, off to Whole Foods I went. I purchased the two GF rice cereals they had in stock. One by Nature’s Path and the other by Erewhon.

I poured some of each cereal onto a plate and gave it a good once over, looking for one with any Rice Krispies type “appearance”:

Natures Path...........................................................................................Erewhon

On appearance alone, I went with the Erewhon GF Crispy Brown Rice Cereal. I started to get out all of the other ingredients and even though I have the recipe memorized, I decided to take a look on the back of the Great Value (Walmart) brand of mini marshmallows that I had on hand. There it was. An ingredient in their recipe that was different from the recipe that I have always used: vanilla. Sometimes it can be hard to try something new, but I figured that I had nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain…

It was as if the giant marshmallows in the sky parted and let the sun shine down on R.E.A.L. (GF) Rice Crispy Treats! 😀

Gluten Free Classic Rice Crispy Treats

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine (I used Smart Balance, but you could also use Earth Balance Non-Dairy Buttery Spread or Sticks)

1 pkg. (10 1/2-oz.) Miniature Marshmallows

6 cups Erewhon GF Crispy Brown Rice Cereal

1 tsp. Vanilla

• Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan

• Melt butter over low heat in a large pan.

• Add marshmallows to melted butter and stir over low heat until melted. Remove pan from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.

• Stir in rice cereal and gently coat cereal with marshmallow mixture.

• Pour rice mixture into prepared pan. With buttered fingers press the mixture flat.

Yummy, just like old times...

You can even make snowmen!

Glutino Pretzel Sticks for arms and Jelly Belly's cut into snowman eyes, nose and buttons. The boys got a kick out of these!

The scarves are made out of All Natural Fruit Rollups called Simply Fruit.