I made these Valentines rice krispies treats because I love a good rice krispies square. Am I the only adult who genuinely loves them? I don’t like the store bought ones. I did when I was a kid and I don’t know if they changed the ingredients or my palette just got more refined but they stopped tasting anything like homemade ones. Homemade ones are buttery and soft and delicious. I wanted to make a kid friendly, but adult delicious treat for the holiday.
I used gel food dye for the bright pink coloring, but you could easily swap that for freeze dried strawberry or raspberry powder to get flavor and color. I love the original and wanted them to be simple with minimal ingredients and work so I just went with food coloring.
Making rice krispies treats is one of the easiest “bakes”. You can use the microwave in lieu of the stove, but I think the stove top is easier. I made these for the first time by myself when I was about 12. Ready in about 10 minutes and then let them cool so you can cut and drizzle on the tops. This would be so fun to do with your kids or as a sweet treat FOR them on Valentine’s day.
Other rice krispies treats recipes:
Preparation Tips
I used a jelly roll pan which is about 10×15 and my treats were about an inch thick. Adjust your pan size to make them thinner or thicker. Neither is right or wrong but I would not press them out to less than half an inch.
Be careful when melting the white chocolate. White chocolate is very finicky and prone to seizing. For this reason I wouldn’t use white chocolate chips as they are designed to hold their shape, making them harder to melt. I usually use and buy this white chocolate bar.
You’ll need a heart shaped cookie cutter. I would recommend having multiple sizes as you can get more hearts out of the pan.
Valentines Rice Krispies Treats Key Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – Unsalted butter to control the salt level. If you only have salted, it will work but your treats may be a little on the salty side. Additionally, if you use salted butter omit the salt in the recipe. The butter is browned in this recipe which is skippable but I would encourage you to not because the flavor is unmatched!
- Marshmallows – Whatever kind is your favorite, mini or large.
- White Chocolate – We use half of a 4 oz white chocolate bar, melt and drizzle over the tops.
Ingredients
- 99 g Unsalted butter 7 tbsp
- 415 g Marshmallows ~8.5 cups
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Pink food coloring
- pinch Sea salt
- 185 g Rice Cereal 7 cups
- 62 g White chocolate bar 2 oz
Instructions
- Line either a jelly roll, half sheet or quarter sheet pan with parchment. Set aside.
- In a large pot on medium heat, melt your butter.
- Let the butter continue to cook until it has browned (another 2-4 minutes). As soon as the butter begins to have a nutty aroma and the milk solids are browning, add all the marshmallows.
- Turn the heat to low and stir the marshmallows into the browned butter. Add your vanilla and salt.
- Once the marshmallows have mostly melted, add in your food coloring to desired level of color.
- Remove marshmallows from heat and stir in rice cereal.
- Mix until cereal is evenly coated and dump onto prepared sheet pan. Using the used butter wrapper or a rubber/silicone spatula press the rice krispies into an even layer. It doesn't matter if they go all the way to the edge of the pan.
- Let the treats cool for at least 20 minutes to allow them to hold their shape.
- Once they are cool, use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts. Using several sizes may allow you to have less wasted space and get more treats.
- Remove excess rice krispies treats (and store for eating!) and arrange heart shaped treats on parchment.
- Break your white chocolate into small pieces. Heat either on the stove using a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, I would recommend heating for 30 seconds, stirring and then heating for 15 seconds, stirring, and then a final 15 seconds to prevent the chocolate from seizing.
- When white chocolate is melted, drizzle over the treats. Enjoy!
