Rice Krispy Bars

When I was first married I only owned 1 recipe book, which was a school fund raising book from my husbands alma mater that was given to us as a wedding gift. We were young and very poor and could not afford any more cookbooks and of course, in 1988 the internet wasn't available.

One day I wanted to make Rice Krispy Bars and do you know that I had no idea how to make them!? I knew the ingredients but I had no idea of the amounts. I had a box of cereal there and they did not even have the recipe on the box!

For the next few years I simply never made them and I admit, it wasn't a big deal at the time and I certainly didn't miss them. I never really thought about it.

Then there came a day when I wanted to make them again and sure enough, I couldn't track down a recipe. LOL. How sad is that!? Luckily for me Kelloggs put the recipe back on their box and I was able to clip it out and save it. It's such a simple recipe (and easy to find NOW) but a few years ago it sure wasn't.

So for those of you who also can't find it... here it is only after the list of ingredients, this is my version of how I make them and I found it works best and makes nice soft bars.


Rice Krispy Bars

3 T butter
10 oz. package of regular sized marshmallows (about 40 if you count them) or 4 cups of mini sized
6 c Rice Krispies

In a very large plastic bowl sprayed with Pam or similar, place the marshmallows and butter. Microwave this until the marshmallows are melted which means they puff up and are are about 3 times their normal size. They will be puffed up over the top of the bowl, very tall, reaching for the top of the microwave. This is about 2 minutes depending on your microwave. If you cook them longer they will get tough and make your bars rock hard! Remove them from the microwave and quickly pour in the cereal. Stir with a rubber spatula/scraper that you have sprayed with Pam or other cooking spray.

As soon as the mixture is blended together transfer the cereal mixture to a prepared pan of your personal choice in size that you have sprayed with Pam. A typical pan size will be 9X13" for bars about 1 inch tall but a smaller pan yields nice thick bars up to 2-3 inches tall or a larger sized pan will give you thinner, more crisp bars under an inch. To flatten them quickly and easily cover the cereal with a piece of saran wrap and use your hand to press the mixture down into the pan, as uniformly flat as you can.

They will be set up (although still gooey and warm) within minutes. Letting them set 30 minutes or refrigerating them will make them easier to cut into uniform sized bars. I like to individually wrap them in saran wrap so the kids can grab and go and they also stay soft and chewy this way.