Butterscotch Krispie Cake with Butterscotch Frosting

 

If you read the blog regularly or maybe semi-regularly you may remember I participate in a wonderful group called Cake Slice Bakers. I have been baking with this group for almost three years and it has been so wonderful!

Today the group turns 5 years old. I think that is pretty significant and so do the other ladies in the group which is why some of use decided to bake cakes as a celebration (check out our birthday cakes on our new Facebook page!).

I didn’t make a traditional birthday for the celebration though. I saw this rice krispie cake Darla had made for Dobby’s birthday and I became obsessed with it.

SIDE NOTE: Yesterday was Harry's, Neville's, and JK Rowling's birthday, so Happy Birthday to them and the group!

I’m slowly starting to fall in love with butterscotch. Last year I made some biscoff butterscotch cookies (they didn’t make it to the blog due to all the cookies being gone before I could take cookies) and they changed my entire perspective on butterscotch.

This “cake” has such a beautiful deep butterscotch flavor due to butterscotch chips strewn throughout and butterscotch sauce (like the kind from Smucker’s). But I also have to give credit to the brown butter frosting that get slathered between the krispie treat layers.

I haven’t worked with browning butter very much. I can count how many times I’ve browned butter on one hand. I don’t think I browned the butter enough for this frosting out of fear for burning it, but it still gave a wonderful caramely flavor.

My favorite part about biting into these was definitely the partially melted butterscotch chips. I think I have officially because a butterscotch lover!

Butterscotch Krispie Treat Cake with Butterscotch Frosting
Adapted from Bakingdom
Makes one 9x13 inch pan

Ingredients
Treats
6 cups rice krispie cereal
½ cup butterscotch chips
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
10 oz. mini marshmallows
¼ cup butterscotch sauce

Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, browned and solid
2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp. butterscotch sauce

Directions
Line a 9x13 inch pan with tin foil. Grease foil with cooking spray.

Combine the cereal and butterscotch chips in a large bowl.  Combine marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Stir the marshmallows and butter until both are completely melted into each other. Once the marshmallows have melted pour in the butterscotch and stir until combined. The mixture may bubble a little. Pour the cereal into the melted marshmallow mixture and stir until the cereal is completely coated in melted marshmallows.

Press the hot mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Allow to cool completely.

While you wait for the rice krispie treat to cool, make the frosting. Beat the browned butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 30 seconds. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The mixture may look very dry and crumbly. Beat in the salt and the butterscotch sauce. If the frosting is still too dry add a little bit of milk or cream.

To assemble the “cake”: cut the rice krispie treat in half hamburger ways (if you are not an elementary school teacher this means you cut the cake so you have two 9x6 inch rectangles). Place one of the layers on a serving plate. Spread about 2/3 of the frosting on top of the bottom layer. Stack the remaining layer on top of the frosting. Use the remaining frosting to decorate the top of the cake.

Chocolate Kiss Krispies

I know I haven't been posting on this blog as much as I usually do. School is tough. I'm taking Calculus  II, Physics I, Chemistry II, Engineering, and History of Technologies, so please, allow me to be a little scrambled with posts. It's not that I haven't been baking, because trust me, I have! The thing keeping me from posting is my work load. By the time I remember to write a post or edit pictures, or even take pictures, it's 10 or 11 at night. Hopefully this weekend will be a little less bah and I can take some photos and write. With that said, lets get to the topic at hand: rice krispie treats!

The other day I saw this recipe for chocolate rice krispie treats that sounded absolutely amazing! They consisted of cocoa rice krispie cereal, Hershey’s kisses, and hot chocolate mix! All that chocolate sounded perfect, so I set out to make them.

Even though I adapted these quite a bit, I still think they taste absolutely fantastic. The kisses melt when added to the hot butter and marshmallow mixture, creating pockets of creamy milk chocolate. And who doesn’t like pockets of chocolate?

And how many of you are fans of a really compact marshmallow treat? And ones that love it when they fall apart? Well these rice krispie treats are sort of both. They are firm enough to hold their shape and don’t fall apart when you pick it up, but these are soft enough that if you wanted to pull it apart, like I do, these give way easy. It’s like a magic rice krispie treat!

In the spirit of the upcoming Valentine’s Day, I added a strawberry milk glaze on top. Now you can top this with whatever you want, because this really doesn’t use much strawberry milk powder, and I don’t want you going out and buying some just for this glaze, although it I pretty, and sets up nice and crunchy like.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Kiss Krispies

Adapted from The Sweet Chick

Makes one 9-inch square pan

Ingredients

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

5 oz. mini marshmallows

3 cups Cocoa Rice Krispie cereal

12 milk chocolate Hershey’s kisses, roughly chopped

Directions

Line a 9-inch square pan with tin foil. Grease foil with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium sized pot, melt together the butter and mini marshmallows over medium heat. Once both the butter and marshmallows have completely melted, take off the heat and add in the cereal and chopped kisses. Stir to combine, making sure all of the cereal is completely coated in melted marshmallow.

Pour the marshmallow mix into the prepared pan, using your hands to spread it to all corners. Wetting your hands with help the mixture from sticking to your hands. Let the mixture cool before topping with the glaze.

To make the glaze: combine ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, 1 tsp. strawberry milk mix, and 1 - 2 tsp. hot water. Add water by ¼ tsp. until you get desired glazing consistency. Drizzle glaze over top of the marshmallow treat. Cut into desired shapes. (I got 9 treats plus some giant scraps with the heart cutter I used) 

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

I am going to talk to you about marshmallow popcorn balls.

Most people have probably had a popcorn ball or two (most likely dozens) in their lifetime, but I am not most people. I have never had a popcorn ball, ever!

Quite frankly I’m not much of a popcorn person to begin with. When I’m at the movies (which is once or twice every year… maybe) I get a hot dog and junior mints or gummy stars. Popcorn just isn’t on my radar. When I saw these popcorn balls over at A Farmgirl’s Dabbles I immediately became intrigued because it was just like a rice krispie treat, only popcornified. After reading her post I set out to buy a box of microwave kettle korn (which I am not obsessed with – maybe I just don’t like buttered/non-flavored popcorn) and saved it for a rainy day.

I finally got a chance to make these little marshmallow balls when I was having a hard time deciding what to share for the 8^th week in 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.

The saltiness and crunchiness of the kettle korn paired with the sweet, gooey, and butter marshmallow is a match made in sticky crunchy heaven. Brenda used peanuts and orange gummies, but because I couldn’t find orange gummies, I swapped it out for fall-festive M&Ms. Of course you don’t have to have peanuts; you can use cashews instead or maybe candied nuts. And since Mars Inc. busts out a festive bag of M&Ms for every holiday, these popcorn balls can be made for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and all those other fun holidays.

Check out the other treats down below for some great ideas for holiday treats.  

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

Slightly adapted from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles

Makes 9-11 balls

Ingredients

1 (76.3 g) bag microwave kettle korn

5 oz. mini marshmallows

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

½ cup dry-roasted salted peanuts

½ cup M&Ms

Directions

Microwave popcorn according to the package directions. Empty the bag into a large bowl. Make sure to pick out the un-popped kernels, no one wants to bite down on that!

In a medium saucepan, melt the marshmallows and butter on medium heat. Stir frequently until the marshmallows have completely melted. The melted mixture will have a yellowish tint, but that’s because of the butter. This mixture is super-duper sticky, so watch out.

Pour the melted marshmallow mixture over the popped popcorn. Wait a minute before diving in to coat the popcorn in the melted marshmallow because it will be hot. Grease your hands with cooking spray or butter and mix the popcorn around the evenly coat it in marshmallow goo. Add in the peanuts and M&Ms. Mix, fold, and stir to evenly distribute the add-ins. Wait a few minutes for the mixture to set so you can shape them into balls.

Once the mixture has set a little bit and isn’t as sticky, grab a hand full of the sticky popcorn mixture and shape into balls. Be sure not to press too hard. Enjoy.

Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispie Treats

From October to December time seems to fly by so quickly. I looked at the calendar the other day and was shocked to find that half the month had already passed. Where did that first part of October go? I don’t know, but now I feel the pressure to get more things done.

Today, I’m sharing something very fun. I’m sharing cinnamon roll rice krispie treats. I have had the recipe saved on my computer for a while now, and when a pumpkin spice rice krispie recipe fell through the cracks I quickly came back to these as an alternative, and I’m very glad I did.

The rice krispie part is so pretty with the specks of cinnamon scattered throughout the treat. I was actually mesmerized when I added the cinnamon to the melted marshmallow in the pot . The component that really makes these like cinnamon rolls is the cream cheese frosting. It’s not too sweet, but it’s also not too cream cheesey either. I think frosting is slowly starting to make its way into my heart.

And thank you Brenda for hosting this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. This post marks 4 weeks into the celebration. 

Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispie Treats

Slightly adapted from Cooking Classy

Makes 16 squares

Cinnamon Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

dash salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

5 oz. mini marshmallows

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 cups rice krispie cereal

Directions

Line a 9-inch square pan with tin foil. Grease the foil with cooking spray; set aside.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Toss in the salt and cinnamon and stir. Add in the mini marshmallows. Stir constantly until the marshmallows have melted completely. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add the cold cereal to the hot marshmallow mixture.

Pour the hot cereal and marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan. Spread the mixture evenly across the pan with a greased rubber spatula. Gently press down to compact the treats. Set the pan in the refrigerator to cool as you make the cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

2 oz. cream cheese, soft

¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Beat the cream cheese and butter until well combined. Stir in the vanilla. Gently beat the powdered sugar in three stages so as not to make the sugar go flying.

Take the pan out of the fridge and cut into squares. Use a butter knife to spread the cream cheese frosting over the rice krispie treat. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon if desired.

Festive Fruity Rice Krispies

Has anyone noticed how many things have celebrated a 100 year anniversary this year? Let’s see, there’s Oreo, that came out with a new cookie with a funfetti cream filling (I never was able to find those festive Oreos), and then those adorable pestering Girl Scouts celebrated 100 years of selling cookies (I believe they also came out with a new cookie. A lemon sandwich cookie possibly?). This past April was the 100^th anniversary of the loss of the Titanic (I absolutely love the history of the Titanic. It’s so tragic and fascinating. It’s one of the few events in history that I love to research on my own). Also, this coming August some pretty spectacular things will be celebrating one hundred years. For instance, on the 24^th of August, Alaska will be celebrating it’s 100^th year of establishment (Baked Alaska anyone?) and the 15^th marks Julia Child’s 100^th birthday.

Ya see? So many 100s that are being celebrated this year. So, why am I rambling on about that number? Well, it’s because this is my 100^th post! Yes! I finally made it to 100. I actually never thought I would get here. But I keep on baking and sharing, not to mention I’ve also fallen in love with some pretty amazing blogs that inspire me every day.

When I saw these Rice Krispie Treats, I KNEW that I had to make them. They were just so pretty and festive looking. I couldn’t resist. I didn’t even really bother looking at the ingredient list; I just saved them on foodgawker and continued to browse. Then one day I saw my post count slowly creeping up toward that 100 mark, and I thought I should do something special. Then those lovely, cake-like Rice Krispie Treats propped into my head.

I usually end up halving recipes because my family has this thing where they take one of something I make, and never touch it again. So I’m often left to finish off a dozen of (insert whatever here) before it does stale. So, my heart kind of sunk when I finally did take a peek at the ingredient list. It calls for ¼ cup of cake mix, that alone kind of put me off from the recipe because I didn’t want to buy cake mix just for ¼ cup, and I certainly wasn’t going to buy it for two tablespoons, no way! So, I improvised, and I think what I came up with is one of the best Rice Krispie Treats I’ve ever eaten. Not only that, but they look just as festive as the Cake Better version Naomi came up with.

Enjoy!

Festive Fruity Rice Krispie Treats
Inspired from Bakers Royal
Makes one 9x9 inch square pan

Rice Layer Ingredients
2 ½ cups (122 grams) mini marshmallows
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ tbsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups (86 grams) Rice Krispie Cereal

Fruity Pebble Layer Ingredients
1 ¼ cup (61 grams) mini marshmallows
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 ½ cups (65 grams) Fruity Pebbles Cereal

Garnish
1 cup (180 grams) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp. rainbow sprinkles

Directions
Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

To Make the Rice Layer: place the mini marshmallows and butter in a saucepan on medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the mini marshmallows have completely melted. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the Rice Krispie Cereal until combined and all of the cereal has been coated in the melty marshmallow. Pour all of the rice cereal mixture into the prepared pan. The mixture will be very sticky, so you may want to moisten or grease your hands to aid in spreading the sticky mixture out evenly.

To Make the Fruity Pebble Layer: place the mini marshmallows and butter in a sauce pan on medium-low heat. Pour in all of the Fruity Pebble Cereal and stir to combine. Once the marshmallow and cereal have been completely combined, pour the fruity mixture on top of the rice mixture. With your hands, spread the fruity cereal mixture evenly over the rice layer. Set the pan aside for at least 20 minutes before adding the garnishes.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. Cut the Rice Krispie Treats into squares (or stars or circles…whatever floats your boat). Dip the tops of the treats into the melted chocolate. Sprinkle some of the rainbow sprinkles on top of the chocolate dipped treats. You can eat them now (with creamy melty chocolate to lick off your fingers) or you can wait about an hour for the chocolate to set.

Brown Turkey Rice Krispie Treat

It’s almost Thanksgiving! I can’t believe the past few months have gone by so quickly, I mean it feels like yesterday that it was October 16.

I have been so behind on my baking, and I feel bad because then my little blog gets neglected. So on Monday, I decided to whip up something quick and easy, yet something we all know and love: rice krispie treats!

This recipe is straight forward and just like every other rice krispie treat that anyone has ever made, except it has a little summin’ summin’ added to it: 1. it’s a chocolate rice krispie treat and 2. it looks like a turkey in honor of Turkey Day month. I personally think they are just so gosh darn adorable!

I know this post is short, but hopefully I’ll have some more goodies to add this weekend. Have a great rest of your week guys!

Turkey Rice Krispies

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter

24 regular-sized marshmallows

2 tbsp dark cocoa powder

3 cups rice krispie cereal

36 candy corn pieces

6 Dots candies

   (make sure colors match as these will be the eyes)

Directions

1. Line a 9x9 inch square baking dish with foil. Make sure to leave a little bit of an overhang in order to easily lift out the cooled mixture.
2. In a 3 quart sauce pan melt the butter on low heat. Once the butter is fully melted, add in the marshmallows and raise the heat up to medium-low. Wait for the marshmallows to fully melt.
3. Once everything has melted, stir in the cocoa powder. Add in the rice krispie cereal and stir until all of the cereal bits are coated in the chocolate marshmallow mixture.
4. Dump the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly to all the edges. The mixture may get really sticky, so to avoid sticking to your treats, spray a little bit of Pam on your hands. Let the mixture cool and set completely before lifting the set mixture out of the pan.
5. Using a circular biscuit ring, cut out nine circles. You may choose to nibble on the little extras. Now, place three candy corn pieces around the top half of the circle, point facing inwards. These are the feathers. Place a fourth candy corn piece towards the bottom of the circle, parallel to the “feathers”. This is the beak, and what I like to do is find the mutated candy corns (the ones that didn’t get the white tip on the end) to use as the beak; it looks more turkey-like that way. Now, take your Dots candies and cut the tips off each one. Take the rest of the dots, and cut off the tip again. To clarify, you have cut each Dot candy into three segments. Place the sticky side down in the middle of the circle, between the feathers and the beak. Now it has eyes.
6. Take a step back and admire your cute little turkey treats.