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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Rice Crispy Smorgasbord!

The first Quest on this blog, the quest for the perfect cupcake, has finally been completed..but I already have two more quests planned. The first, I need a better frosting recipe. Now, my frosting tastes wonderful, but I want one that is lighter and fluffier. One that doesn't look wet when I pipe it on to my cupcakes. One that I can make those pretty flowers with. But I'd also like it to be cooked (I think) so that it can sit out for a day or two and stay good. Ideally, I'd like it to look something like this.
The other quest, me and Daniel came up with about an hour ago. Actually, I suppose it would be more appropriate to call it an experiment, rather than a quest. We wanted to make two batches of the same recipe - one with good madagascar vanilla extract, and one with the imitation stuff. I know it tastes better, but we'd like to try them side by side and see how much of a difference it makes. For no real reason other than pure curiosity. It would have to be a recipe with a really simple flavor, so there would be nothing to mask the vanilla taste, like a plain sugar cookie, or shortbread, or... Mexican Vanilla Rice Crispy treats (thats how this topic came up). Sometime in the near future, I'll conduct this culinary experiment.
But for now, I'll show you what I did today. Daniel requested Rice Crispy treats, and being the angry baker that I am, I couldn't do it normally. I decided to do half the batch regular, and half the batch peanut butter. But while I was looking for a peanut butter crispy treat recipe, I came across one for Mexican Chocolate Rice Crispy treats that I just couldn't ignore. So, I decided to do one third regular, one third peanut butter, one third Mexican Vanilla. I scaled down the recipes, played with the proportions a wee bit, and left out the chocolate in two of the recipes because Dan isn't a giant chocolate fan. I did it like this...

Original Rice Crispy Treats adapted from the link above at Epicurious
1/6 stick of butter
1 1/3 c mini marshmallows
2 cups rice crispies

Line a 9 x 13 with parchment paper. Melt butter in saucepan on low. Add mallows & stir until totally melted. Remove from heat and stir in cereal. When cereal is fully coated, turn out into 9 x 13, taking up only 1/3 of the pan, leaving 2/3s empty. Pat down with rubber spatula.

Mexican Vanilla Rice Crispy Treats adapted from the link above at Epicurious
1/6 stick of butter
1 1/3 c marshmallows
1/3 tsp of cinnamon
1/3 tsp of vanilla
2 c rice crispies

Melt better in saucepan on low. Add mallows and stir until totally melted. Remove from heat, and stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Add cereal, and stir until coated. Press into the next third of the pan, leaving 1/3 empty.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats adapted from link above at Epicurious
1/6 stick of butter
1 1/3 c mallows
1/2 c crunchy peanut butter
2 c rice crispies cereal

Melt butter on low. Add mallows and peanut butter, and stir until totally melted (this takes longer than the others, because of the peanut butter). Remove from heat and stir in cereal. Spread into the last third of the 9 x 13. Pat down. Allow to cool, then cut.

Total ingredients for everything:
6 c rice crispies
4 c mini marshmallows
1/2 stick butter
1/3 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c peanut butter

Whew! Sounds like a lot, but the whole thing was very easy. It would have taken me a lot shorter if a small catastrophe hadn't happened in the beginning...




Luckily, I had Sadie to help me clean it all up. Within no time, we were back to mallow melting, and we were done.



The Mexican vanilla ones were very good, as were the peanut butter treats, but those were a little crumbly. Maybe next time, I'd add more marshmallows to those.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely blog & cute dog! I have been looking at one or two of your recipes ... have you tried oatcakes and marzipan (almond)they are really nice. :o)

Anonymous said...

I've just happened upon your blog--enjoyed it, and I have recommended it to my daughters. I just know that my precious little grandsons would enjoy your cupcakes!

Stephanie said...

kloggers...
Thank you for the compliments! No, I have never tried oatcakes! In fact, you got me curious so I wikipedia-ed it. Do you have a recipe? I'd love to try it out! And marzipan is delicious, you mean the little candies? I've seen it in tubes at the supermarket, too, but in recipes I usually use almond paste instead. Thanks for the comment, I hope to see you back!

Stephanie said...

kay,
I'm so happy to hear you've recommended me, thank you so much!! I'm glad your grandsons would like my cupcakes. Once I go global, they'll be the first to get some samples! :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I'm trying your mexican vanilla ones pronto!
~ingrid

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