A colorful, attractive fun no bake rainbow rice krispie treats recipe is suitable for home-making club activities for children. It is an excellent addition to the list of snacks at a kid's birthday party or any occasion.
Jump to:
About the recipe
My eldest daughter had just joined regular school and was excited to join the homemakers club. She is a food enthusiast and has a particular interest in food art. She was determined to practice her skill on how to bring together art and culinary skills.
This was inspired by my snowman rice krispie recipe, and the chocolate rice krispie recipe. I also liked making the Corn flakes rice krispie treats for the holidays.
This would be an exciting project with friends in the same club. The steps involving adding food color and layering were most exciting for the upcoming executive chef.
Suitable For Birthdays Or Any Occasion
This exciting and colorful recipe requires more ingredients than all other variations. Each layer of color will use up two cups of Rice Krispies.
The outcome is many slices that your households will be unable to finish. If this is one of your favorite cereal treats, why not make them for birthdays or any occasion and invite little ones over? They will definitely have fun.
A Little Bit Of Cleaning
To have all the dishes clean (there will be more this time!), create an eager want by encouraging each child or children to wash their mixing bowl! The children who participate in mixing the yellow will
be called the yellow team !! The team that cleans their bowl gets extra treats. This trick worked for me.
Some spilling of the Rice Krispies cereals may happen as a few of the helpers are still developing their fine motor skills. It took less than a minute to wipe the counter. We invited our kitten to munch away the few which spilled on the floor happily.
Colorful, tasty treats
Colors are great for children, studies show that bright colors stimulate excitement and the cooler coolers bring in the aspect of calmness.
Thanks to edible food color, food and colr brought together! How thrilled are children when they interact with colors beyond books? Especially while snacking on these perfect Rice Krispie treats.
The ingredients are :
Rice Krispies
All other ingredients bind to the Rice Krispies. They form the primary structure of the treats. This recipe requires about 4 cups of the airy cereals.
Butter
Butter adds moisture to the rice Krispies, making them soft and chewy. The butter gives the treats a rich milky flavor.
Marshmallows (preferably mini-sized)
These contain the sugar that sweetens the treats and the gelatin that becomes gooey, sticky, and stretchy when melted. This property binds the rice Krispies together.
Food Color
This ingredient adds beautiful color contrast enabling you to create layers of different colors.
Vanilla essence
Although adding this essence might be optional, it gives the Rice Krispies treats an exquisite aroma.
Note: If you use unsalted butter, you could sprinkle a pinch of salt while combining the cream and the Rice Krispies.
Substitution
Marshmallows
Marshmallows are an essential ingredient since they act as a binding agent. However, there are other ingredients, such as honey, maple syrup, date paste, or even tamarind paste, that could be used instead of marshmallows.
Butter
Butter adds moisture to the recipe. It can be substituted with coconut oil, peanut butter, or almond butter.
Food Color
Food color makes you create rainbow hues. Food color exists in powder form or gel form. In this recipe, food color cannot be substituted, but it is crucial to pick the quality of food color to achieve the best results.
Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies form the most basic structure of the recipe. They can be substituted with toasted oats, cornflakes, or granola.
How To Make It
The recipe involves melting butter and marshmallows into a smooth-flowing cream. The cream is poured into a round mixing bowl containing the Rice Krispies.
Gently mix the Rice Krispies with the melted marshmallow and butter mixture till all the Rice Krispies are coated by the cream. Scoop out two cups of the mixture in 6 separate bowls. Add food color into each bowl (red, yellow, green, purple, blue, and orange).
Mix the color into the rice Krispies until you achieve the desired shade of color. Speed is required at this stage to prevent the mixture from drying up.
Transfer each bowl's mixture to the greased tray and gently press each layer until the top of the tray.
More About The Equipment
Saucepan: a heavy-based pan is a plus in the recipe as it ensures the butter and marshmallows do not burn quickly.
Spatula: an excellent tool for scraping all the creamy mixture from the mixing bowl, thereby not wasting any ingredients.
Mixing bowls; a wide round bowl is the best choice because mixing is easy, and none of the mixture remains in the corners. Six smaller mixing bowls are needed to integrate the food colors separately.
Baking tray: a 9-inch rectangular non-stick glass pan was ideal for layering the colored mixtures.
Chopping board : sturdy chopping board is required as the solid bar is divided into sizable squares. Preferably you can cut the treats while still in the pan.
Knife: a sharp knife ensures neat borders on every slice.
Rainbow Rice Krispie Preservation
Can you freeze?
If you need to make a huge batch ahead of an upcoming picnic or potluck, the Rainbow Rice Treats freeze beautifully.
First, it's advisable to cut them into your desired shapes and place them on baking paper or a sheet. Place the cut-out treats in your freezer overnight.
The following day, remove the treats and carefully put them in a ziplock bag. They can freeze for about three months.
How to Store
The Rainbow Rice Krispie Treats should be stored in an airtight container and placed in the refrigerator. Though as yummy as they taste, the little ones might consume them in less than two days.
Frequently asked questions - FAQs.
Any Rice Krispie treats will fall apart when you put too many marshmallows or too much butter. It is essential to find the correct ratio of marshmallows and butter to the rice Krispies. 2 cups of marshmallows is enough for 6 cups of Rice Krispies.
The type of food color used, that is, gel or powder will affect how the treats hold together. Powder food color will require the use of water. Water makes the marshmallow less ooey gooey. Once the nature
of the binding is compromised, the treats will fall apart. We used powdered food color, and our treats kept falling apart.
About two days in the refrigerator or in a cool place as long as they are sealed in an airtight container.
It takes about 2 hours for the cereal treats recipe to set well. It could probably take longer in climates with higher temperatures, such as 34 degrees Celsius, and high humidity levels as well.
If you reside in such areas, it is recommended to place your tray in the coolest part of your kitchen.
Expert Tips
Rice Krispies are very light and airy. It is essential to remember to use the spatula while mixing gently; otherwise, most of the Rice Krispies will spill out of the bowl. This causes a mess and wastage too.
As mentioned earlier in the FAQs, to avoid the Rainbow Rice Krispies Treats from falling apart, it is essential to use gel food color. Gel food color does not introduce water into the culinary equation.
In addition, we realized it would be much better to add the food color to the marshmallow and butter mix. Mix all wet ingredients, then add to the dry ingredients. The shade obtained will be much better, and you will use less food color.
Rainbow Rice Krispies Treats
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Spatula
- Mixing bowls
- Baking Tray
- Chopping Board
- Knife
Ingredients
- 4 cups Rice Krispies
- 2 cups Marshmallows
- 6 tablespoon Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
- Food color
Instructions
- Grease a shallow baking tray, preferably a 9-inch pan.
- Measure out the ingredients and set them aside in bowls
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the marshmallows. Stir the mixture for about a minute and a half.
- Pour the cream into a bowl containing the rice Krispies and mix with a spatula making sure all the Krispies are coated with the cream.
- Scoop the mixture into six small separate bowls. Add your choice of food color in each bowl and mix using a spatula.
- Keep washing the spatula every time you mix unless you have six spatulas!
- Gently transfer the mixture into the greased tray, spread, and press onto the tray layer after layer.
- Set aside the tray, and let the mixture rest for two hours to set firmly.
- Move the set bar onto a chopping board; using a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut out your desired shapes.
Notes
Gel food color does not introduce water into the culinary equation. In addition we realized it would be much better to add the food color to the marshmallow and butter mix.
