As far as recipes go, there are few treats that I think would not benefit from a little dark chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt. Ok, maybe you wouldn’t want to add them to spinach smoothies. But ice cream sundaes and fruit bowls and yogurt, etc? Yeah, baby.
When I was thinking of a favorite dessert to upgrade with these flavors, I was reminded of the game Celebrity. Have you ever heard of it or played it? We used to play it at work at lunch as a team building exercise with our cross-functional team and it was a ridiculous amount of fun. We’d bring treats potluck style and let the competitive spirit fly. At one of these potlucks, I learned that one of my coworkers was a rice krispy treat MASTER. You’d think that it wouldn’t really be possible to mess up these crispy, chewy bars- but that probably means you’ve never had a bad one. Her treats were chewy and soft with the perfect texture. I’ve adjusted the basic recipe slightly to achieve the same texture, added dark chocolate and sea salt flavors, and VOILA:
To get dark chocolate and sea salt into the mix, I turned to these almond packs sent to me by Blue Diamond.
Both varieties are great: crunchy, flavorful and convenient, but I’ve got to put it out there: the dark chocolate variety was exceptional. Instead of a chocolate coating, this is more of a cocoa dusting. YUM.
To crush the almonds down to the right size for the recipe, I put them into a plastic zip lock bag, sealed them in and then crushed them with the base of a heavy-bottomed glass. I like slightly larger pieces instead of almond dust, but do you. I know they’ll be delicious either way.
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 10oz package mini marshmallows
- 6 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1/3 cup Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate Almonds, crushed
- 1/4 cup Blue Diamond Sea Salt Almonds, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dark chocolate cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Coat a 8x8* baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, stir in marshmallows. Continue stirring until marshmallows are completely melted.
- Add in dark chocolate almonds, sea salt almonds, dark chocolate cocoa and crispy rice cereal. Stir until combined.
- Press mixture firmly into the sprayed baking pan. Sprinkle top lightly with kosher salt.
- Cool and cut into squares.
- My pan is actually 8x10. You can use any variation close to this measurement: 8x8, 9x9 8x10. I like this size pan because it creates taller treats.
Mmmmmmmm. Just seeing the photo of the pan again makes my mouth water. See those almonds dotted all over the place? Instant flavor surprises.
It’s not rude to call up old coworkers and ask them for Celebrity rematches, is it? This time, I’ll bring the rice krispy treats!
Just waiting on an invite for game night, folks. 🙂
This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.
Um…. YES. Yes. Yes a million times. A million times yes. I’ve been craving rice crispy treats like nonstop the whole preggershood and these make me feel at least a little gourmet and like I’m getting a bit of protein?! Mmm!
Carla – you are GENIUS! These look wayyy better than the traditional treats I grew up with!
WHOA. No words. I am so excited to try this out. And I already love Blue Diamond almonds in all flavors… perfect combo!
Carla these look like a wonderful treat for my children, thanks for sharing!
Hear look amazing and I love that they aren’t smothered in chocolate but rather bits and pieces 🙂
Mmm chocolate with sea salt is such a winning combo!
Now, those are my kind of rice krispy treats!
How do you earn the title rice krispy treat master? I want that title! These are so pretty and I want a whole pan to myself. kthnx.