Sweet and Spicy Rice Crispy Treats

Rice crispy bars are good. So is chili crisp. Put them together and they’re pretty good, but they did draw some negative reactions. From a friend’s wife: “weird in not a good way.” Besides the unusual syntax, she thought it was a bad combination. My friend liked them, though, as did my wife, though I’m sure there’s some matrimonial bias at play. In reality, these were just regular crispy rice bars with chili crisp mixed into the molten marshmallows.

I also made a batch with hot chocolate mix added to the molten marshmallows, which turned out good, though my friend’s wife was even more critical. “I didn’t know how opinionated she was about rice crispy treats.” I guess the challenge at hand is to make the best crisped rice bars she’s ever had.

Here we go…

What you’ll need

• Cooking spray
• 2 oz (56g) butter
• 1 10-ounce package of marshmallows (minis melt quicker)
• 3T chili crisp (I used the angry lady ((Lao Gan Ma)) brand)
• 1t vanilla extract
• 6 oz (170g) crisped rice or Rice Krispies

What to do

Spray an 8” x 8” baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large enough vessel to hold the crisped rice, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the marshmallows, stirring every so often, until they’re fully melted.

Add the chili crisp and vanilla extract, stirring until they’re well incorporated. Scrape the mixture into the baking pan, and using a scraper or spatula, press the mixture into an even layer. Let the bars cool completely before cutting and serving.