American · Desserts

Marshmallow Crispy Treats

Extra butter, extra marshmallow, browned butter rather than plain, and pressed lightly rather than packed. Six minutes of cooking and the difference between chewy and cement is entirely in the pressing.

16 min prep and cooking plus 45 min setting 1 hr 1 min start to finish Serves 16 servings Easy
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Marshmallow Crispy Treats

Photograph credit: 2020-03-29 03 01 20 A Rice Krispies Treat in the Dulles section of Sterling, Loudoun… by Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Make Ahead and Storage

Airtight at room temperature for 3 days, and best on the first. They go hard in the fridge.

Making Marshmallow Crispy Treats

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  1. Butter a 23 x 33 cm tin and line it with baking paper.

  2. Melt the butter in a large heavy pan over medium heat and keep cooking, swirling, for 4 to 5 minutes until the foam subsides and the solids turn golden brown and smell nutty.

  3. Drop the heat to low and add the 500 g of marshmallows, stirring until completely melted and smooth — about 3 minutes. Do not let it bubble or the sugar will harden.

  4. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla and fine salt.

  5. Add the puffed rice and fold quickly with a buttered spatula until every piece is coated.

  6. Fold in the extra marshmallows with two or three strokes only, so they stay in visible pieces.

  7. Tip into the tin and press down with a sheet of buttered baking paper, using your palms and only enough pressure to level it. Firm pressing gives you a brick.

  8. Scatter with flaky salt and leave to set at room temperature for 45 minutes before cutting into 16 squares.

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A Few Pointers

  • Press lightly. This is the whole recipe and it is the thing everyone gets wrong.
  • Never refrigerate them to speed the set — cold makes them hard and they do not soften back.
  • Fresh marshmallows melt smoothly; stale ones stay lumpy.

Some Background

Melted marshmallow is a sugar syrup full of gelatine and air, and it sets hard as it cools — so any air you compress out while pressing never comes back. A light hand, using buttered paper rather than a spatula, is what leaves them chewy. Browning the butter first adds nutty depth that plain butter cannot, and holding back a handful of whole marshmallows to fold in at the end gives pockets of soft marshmallow through the set slab.

Serving Ideas

A glass of cold milk · Vanilla ice cream · Strong coffee

Quick Answers

How long does Marshmallow Crispy Treats take to make?

10 minutes of preparation and 6 minutes of cooking, plus 45 minutes of setting, so allow 1 hour 1 minute from start to finish. The recipe serves 16.

Marshmallow Crispy Treats Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. How the figures are worked out.

243Calories
2gProtein
43gCarbs
7gFat
0gFibre
22gSugar
140mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .