52 in 52 #5 - No-Bake Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Cookies

52 in 52 #5 – No- Bake Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Cookies

Pinterest project – 5
Pinterest projects to go – 47

This weekend I have to work an overnight shift to test a system upgrade at my job. Insert happiness and joy here. I knew that I would need something with sugar in it in order to keep myself awake for the multiple hours that I would be there. My boss would be there as well and I knew that she recently gave up chocolate and marshmallows for Lent, so this instantly became a challenge to find something that looked delicious and didn’t include those two ingredients.

Insert a pin that I saved MONTHS ago and never did – Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Cookies. Original pin: http://www.marthastewart.com/343255/no-bake-peanut-butter-rice-krispies-cook . This definitely fits all three requirements of looking delicious, not including chocolate or marshmallows and including enough sugar to keep myself awake.



On my last visit to the store I bought an enormous box of Rice Krispies and decided to make a double batch so we would have some for the house as well. This made two 13x9 pans of treats – I cut one batch into the stated 16 squares and they seemed a bit large so I cut the next batch into 20 and they were definitely a more appropriate size.

Original recipe:
Ingredients
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups salted peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups Rice Krispies
Directions
1. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with wax paper or baking parchment. Place the corn syrup and sugars in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
2. Stir in the peanut butter and mix well to combine. Quickly stir in the vanilla and Rice Krispies. Spread into the lined baking pan. Cool and slice into squares.

A few important things to mention:
1. This mixture needs more cereal than it calls for – the texture is completely different than a normal Rice Krispie treat. It is a lot more dense than normal and adopts a slightly sticky texture on the bottom of the bars even after they are refrigerated.
2. Remember to spray your wax paper or parchment liberally. These are very sticky and will stick without being sprayed with cooking spray or buttered. I used aluminum foil and sprayed heavily with cooking spray.
With that being said, this recipe is amazing! It has a strong peanut butter flavor and is a good texture, even though different from ‘normal’ Rice Krispie treats. The instructions are easy to follow and the recipe takes about 10 minutes total to make. This was a hit!