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chewy homemade granola bars

July 29, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

Raise your hand if you’re the sleep in until the last minute, get ready quick, eat a grab-and-go breakfast type. Like the “if I wear that thing that needs no ironing, I can stay in bed for exactly 7 minutes more” type. Or even the “eh, shower schmower…I’ll skip for the extra 10 minutes of rest” type. If you’re hand is up, take that hand and go ahead, hit that snooze button one more time. I’ve got you covered with this homemade granola bars recipe.

Granola bar for you, and you, and you, and you! Granola bar for me, for sure!

These chewy, wholesome, customizable, homemade breakfast bars are dreamy. Not only because they’re a cinch to make and also freeze and store well to save you precious Zs for weeks to come. But also, on top of that, they’re delicious and can be studded with any combination of your favorite nuts, fruits, chocolate chips, seeds, sprinkles or candies!

After spending too much money—on my walk to work—on granola bars to satisfy my ‘I-didn’t-have-time-to-eat-breakfast’ appetite—and only half enjoying their taste, no less—I decided I needed to tackle making my own. I was so excited—as I hope you’ll be too—when I realized how easy they were to make and how many different flavor combinations could result from one basic recipe. Think of this more as a guide than a recipe.

As a heads up, these bars do call for butter, but when you think about the amount of butter in the recipe divided across an entire tray, the butter content in one bar is really not that bad. A super-healthy version will come your way soon. Promise.

chewy-homemade-granola-nature-bars-recipe-2

For this batch, I chose to use dried cranberries, golden raisins, lightly chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and shredded coconut.

chewy-homemade-granola-nature-bars-recipe-4

chewy homemade granola bars
adapted from the smitten kitchen recipe which is adapted from king arthur flour

prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 35 minutes
total time: 45 minutes (not including cool time after baking)
makes 12 to 16 bars

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups 1-minute rolled oats (aka instant oats; I used old fashion oats for 1/3 cup of this because I had them on hand and was interested in the texture. Feel free to try that combination or use all instant.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (less for mild sweetness, more for sweeter bars)
1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, ground into a powdery texture in a food processor or blender)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 3 cups assorted dried fruits, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, sprinkles or candies (pick any of your favorites until they total 10 to 15 ounces)
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (optional)
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon water

Instruction:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ baking pan with a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom and two opposite sides (you are creating “handles” that will help you remove the granola bars later). Lightly grease, with butter or a non-stick spray, the parchment paper and the exposed pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the rolled oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon and desired fruits and nuts. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter, honey or syrup, corn syrup and water. If using peanut butter, toss that in with the wet ingredients now.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry and stir until all of the oats have been coated with the wet ingredients and the mixture starts coming together in chunks. Spread mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly across the top and into all corners and edges. Smooth down the top for a flat, even final product.
Bake the bars for 25 to 35 minutes until they’re brown around the edges and a deep golden color on top. They may seem soft and almost under-baked in the center, but they’ll set completely once fully cooled.
Cool the bars—in the pan—completely on a cooling rack. Once cool, lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper “handles” and then double check that they are totally cool in the middle. If yes, use a serrated knife to cut the bars into squares or rectangles—or triangles if you’re so inclined. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container and leave at room temperature or in the refrigerator. The bars will seem hard when you take them right out of the fridge, but they come back to their chewy state in about 10 minutes. Remember, they also freeze well.

blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter

July 10, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

When spending your vacation at a house on the water, you’d better not forget to pack your bathing suit, sunscreen, aloe vera for when you inevitably get burned regardless of the sunscreen, boogie board, frisbee, Stephen King or Emily Griffin novel (pick your poison), kitchen tongs and measuring cups/spoons. You’re probably thinking those last two don’t scream ‘sand between the toes,’ but if you have access to a kitchen, these tools will make life much easier and breakfast much more delicious.

I learned from my mom that you should always travel with tongs.* The reason being, she told me, you never know what the kitchen supply situation will be. With this in mind, I decided that because of my baking obsession I should also always travel with measuring tools. You see, some vacation rentals are equipped for a chef, while others are equipped for a stack of take-out pizzas (no knock there, love me some take-out pizza). Luckily, even if you’re staying in the latter, you can make delicious homemade treats because, with just your hands, you can be quite the little bakeshop.

You’ll already be all sandy after the beach; why not also get a little flour on your hands while making some blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter? The butter—oh the butter—may be my new little obsession. It is SO easy to make, and with just just three ingredients, you can have this addictive sweet spiced spread at your disposal in no time. I’m going to start making it by the pound.

Your cohorts will thank you when they’re slicing through the sweet, juicy blueberries in the light, buttery scone and smearing it with the cinnamon sugar butter. They may actually volunteer to make you a piña colada for your hard work. (Our little secret will be how easy the ‘work’ was, but go on, accept that island drink reward ;-))

* For clarification: this applies when you have a kitchen to work with. I did not, for example, bring tongs to Las Vegas for a girl’s weekend. That would be strange. Probably not all that surprising, but definitely strange.

blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter
Adapted from M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, 2007

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 16–18 minutes
Total Time: 30–35 minutes
Makes 8 large or 16 medium-sized scones

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 egg lightly whipped with 1 tablespoon water (for brushing)
A dash more granulated sugar for sprinkling
Cinnamon sugar butter (recipe follows)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with your fingertips or with a pastry blender until it reaches a coarse meal and the butter is in pea-sized pieces or just smaller. Add buttermilk and mix until almost combined. Mix in blueberries until everything is just combined.
Transfer dough to a floured board (divide into two parts if you’d like smaller scones). Roll into 1-inch thick rounds for larger scones or into 3/4-inch thick rounds if you divided the dough and are making smaller scones. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place slightly separated onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg mixture, sprinkle each lightly with sugar and bake for 16–18 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm, split in half with a smear cinnamon sugar butter.

cinnamon sugar butter

makes 1/4 cup

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature (I use salted, but if you use unsalted, add a dash of salt)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

In a small bowl, stir together butter, light brown sugar and ground cinnamon until completely combined and fluffy. Chill and serve.

one skillet chicken and saffron rice

April 27, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

This chicken and saffron rice in my new cast iron skillet instantly spirited me back to weeknight dinners my mom used to make when I lived at home. The fall-off-the bone chicken, the yellow sticky rice enhanced by the mysterious flavor of saffron, the pops of green peas and the salty Spanish pimiento stuffed olives. Not to mention, the crispy burnt bits of rice that get stuck to the bottom of the pan during cooking—everything about it reminded me of my mom and full-blooded Portuguese grandmother. I don’t know if the dish is traditionally Portuguese, but it was our Portuguese.

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s Chicken and Rice recipe from the book “How to Cook Everything,” this one-pot recipe a weeknight staple you’ll want make over and over. Saffron can be a bit pricey, but it really only takes a pinch to flavor the whole dish. I always find mine at a discount at TJ Maxx or Homegoods. Your senses will be shocked at how just a little bit of the red threaded spice will transform the flavor, color and aroma of plain white rice. If you can’t find saffron you can still make this dish successfully. Feel free to experiment with different spices or veggies you have hanging around.

One Skillet Chicken and Saffron Rice
Adapted from Mark Bittman

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: About 1 hour
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2–3 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken (thighs, breasts and/or drumsticks)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon hot Spanish paprika, optional
2 medium onions, diced (I diced this while the chicken was cooking in step 1 to save time)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (I also minced this while the chicken was cooking; one point for efficiency!)
1½ cups short- grain white rice
Pinch saffron threads*
3½ cups water, chicken stock or vegetable stock, or more as needed
1 cup frozen peas
½ cup Spanish Manzanilla Olives

Instructions:

Put the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken skin with salt, pepper and the paprika—if using. When the oil is hot, add the chicken skin side down. Sprinkle the bottoms with salt and pepper and cook undisturbed—adjusting the heat so it doesn’t burn but is consistently sizzling—until the pieces release easily from the pan, 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn and rotate the chicken every few minutes to brown evenly. Once the chicken pieces brown, let cook for another 5 to 10 minutes then remove them from the pan.
Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium and pour or spoon off the oil until only about 2 tablespoons remain. Add the onions to the pan and cook—stirring frequently—until they soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and rice and stir to coat the rice with a nice glossy sheen. Crumble in the saffron threads, if using.
Return the chicken to the pan, add the water and stir gently to combine everything. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat so it bubbles gently but steadily. Cover the skillet and cook undisturbed for 20 minutes—then check the rice and chicken. The goal is to have the liquid absorbed, the rice tender and the chicken cooked through. If the water has been absorbed but the rice is not cooked, add another ¼ cup water and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. The meat is done when a quick-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 155–165°F.
Remove the skillet from the heat. Taste the rice and salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the peas and olives then cover the pan again and let it sit for 5 to 15 minutes. Serve.

* If you don’t have saffron you can still make this dish, but I would encourage you to use the 3½ cups of stock versus water to add more flavor to the rice.

cacio e pepe

April 5, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

A simple, cheesy, creamy, peppery Roman pasta dish on your table in 20 minutes.

I would rather clean the bathroom than do a load of laundry. Call me crazy, but it’s true! I hope fellow Laundromat goers can relate.

Luckily for me, my super cool roommate (boyfriend) is a laundry fanatic. At this point, I’ve been banned from doing said roommates laundry because of my “poor technique.” Even just last night, I attempted to help fold some shirts from the mountain of warm, clean clothes, only to catch my fold jobs being refolded at the turn of my head *ahem*.

So, to thank my resident laundry-pro for his hard work—and as an attempted peace offering for leaving chap stick in a pants pocket that went through last week’s wash *gulp*—I wanted to make a tasty weeknight dinner that he could enjoy.

He is a big pepper person, so if you are too, you will love this simple, cheesy, peppery Roman pasta dish.

Even non-pepper people will love this. Hey, even picky kids would probably love this as a take on mac and cheese.

Called Cacio e Pepe, literally meaning cheese and pepper in Italian, this minimalist pasta dish is so great because it is made with just 6 ingredients and its deliciousness is on your table in 15–20 minutes. Like I often do, I read a Shaq-sized handful of recipes for Cacio e Pepe before making it myself. The key to this creamy, cheesy, peppery-spiced pasta is in the technique. You’ll heat the pepper in a small bit of oil first to help develop its flavor. You’ll use the starchy pasta water to make the sauce; coupling it with a little bit of butter and a generous portion of finely grated, sharp Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. I used fresh bucatini because there is a fabulous fresh pasta shop near my apartment, but feel free to use dry. If you can find it, I strongly recommend bucatini (spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center). I served it with some simple sautéed kale to make myself feel better. I mean, we did just have this cake.

The result is a restaurant quality dish that even the busiest novice home cook can master and impress with.

I loved this so much I made it two days in a row because I was so excited to share it with you.

cacio e pepe

Author: Adapted from Maialino via The Family Table Cookbook

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: Makes 2 main servings or 4 starter courses. Recipe can easily be doubled.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon table salt
½ pound pasta (any shape you like, though long spaghetti-like pasta works great.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon medium-course fresh ground black pepper (if you don’t really like pepper, reduce to 1 teaspoon)
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus ¼ cup extra for garnishing

Instructions

Bring 6 cups water and the salt to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add the pasta, stir, and cook until just al dente; the pasta will be reheated for a minute or two later on (keep in mind, when using fresh pasta cook time will be a few minutes shorter than dry).
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pepper and warm for 1 to 2 minutes to release its flavor. Ladle ⅔ cup of the pasta cooking water into the skillet with the pepper and remove the pan from heat.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the pepper/pasta water skillet. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the butter, and cook, stirring constantly until the butter has melted completely. Remove from heat and gradually sprinkle the cheese over the pasta, stirring the pan until the cheese is fully incorporated and forms a creamy sauce. Taste the sauce and add more pepper if you’d like.
Serve immediately topped with the remaining grated cheese.

cold soba noodle salad with tahini dressing

March 26, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

Soba (buckwheat) noodles served chilled with crunchy cabbage, mushrooms, and scallions. Stir up with a creamy, nutty, tahini sesame ginger dressing and you have lunch ready for the week!

If you’re anything like me, you’ll know sometimes even the greatest intentions to wake up early and make lunch before work succumb to the blessed snooze button; not unlike the early alarm I set to go running before work each morning. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve completed a run only to realize I had run in my dream and I did not, in fact, actually get out of bed to hit the pavement.

Anyways, until I started separating leftovers after dinner to bring for lunch the next day and bulk making things like this noodle salad or this Asian Quinoa Salad, I would inevitably end up lunch-less and forced into the money eating cafeteria abyss.

If you’ve ever boiled pasta, you can easily make this dish and step away from the café!

Soba noodles are thin Japanese buckwheat-flour noodles and they are super approachable. Tahini is a sesame paste, recognizable for its roles in Hummus and The Condiment on Top of Falafel. It is a bit bitter on its own, so to counter that I added a bit of honey and some citrus juices. This dressing is not a spicy tahini, but more a creamy, nutty, gingery sauce. You can certainly add spice to the recipe or mix some in when serving. If cabbage or mushrooms aren’t your thing, I think shredded carrot, shelled edamame, or snap peas would also be great alternatives on the veggie side.

Bonus: This dish is stress free, in that you don’t need to worry about working on too many things simultaneously or really over/undercooking anything. Make the pasta, let cool. Slice veggies. Cook mushrooms, let cool. Mix dressing. Mix everything.

gather your ingredients

soba noodle salad tahini dressing ingredients

gather your ingredients for the tahini dressing

combine!

enjoy! (Some like it hot. Like me. I added Sriracha.)

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Tahini Dressing
butter loves company

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25–30 minutes
Serves: 4–6

Ingredients:

Soba Salad:
6 oz dry soba noodles
4 cups thinly sliced cabbage (about ½ a small head)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 Portobello mushroom caps sliced into ¼ inch slivers (or 3 cups shitake mushrooms sliced thin)
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 thinly sliced green onion, white and light green parts, for garnishing
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnishing

Tahini Dressing:
¼ cup tahini (sesame paste)
4 tablespoons orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons honey, raw if you have it
1 teaspoon fresh ginger zest
1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onions, white and light green parts
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Instructions:

Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add the dry soba noodles. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, or until tender. Strain and transfer noodles to a bowl. Refrigerate until cooled.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the sliced mushrooms and soy sauce and cook until the mushrooms have released their juice and the slices have shrunk in size, about 4 minutes. Remove mushrooms, discarding excess juice, and transfer to a small bowl to cool.
While the noodles and mushrooms are cooling, prepare the dressing by mixing all ingredients from the tahini to the ½ teaspoon salt together in a bowl. Season with additional salt—if necessary—to taste.
In a large bowl, mix together the cooled noodles, cooled mushrooms, and sliced cabbage. Using tongs or a large wooden spoon, stir in half the tahini dressing. Slowly add additional dressing until the noodles are covered, but not dripping with sauce. Add the green onions and sesame seeds to the entire mixture now or atop each serving.

broyé (salted butter table cookie)

March 23, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

A large, rustic, buttery, salty cookie adorned with a pretty crosshatch meant to be shared at your table (although, it does not need to be!)

I am obsessed with this.

Yes, it may only have 5 ingredients and sounds pretty basic, but I just love everything about this recipe. The simple, buttery, salty, crunchy yet tender cookie is one you keep reaching back for until you “accidentally” eat the entire thing. But, what I love most, perhaps even more than its taste, is its sheer concept. The large, rectangular cookie is intended for sharing with many on the center of your table, each guest breaking off his or her portion as you sit and enjoy each other’s company.

On a table, this little rustic guy is somehow casually dramatic.

In her book Around My French Table, Dorie Greenspan explains the broyé, meaning crushed cookie in French, is a tradition in the butter loving Poitou region of western France. Although I’ve never been there, if this cookie is a staple, I could see myself calling the region “home.” The cookie can be made with flaky or coarse sea salt, or sel gris, for a noticeably salty flavor between sweet, buttery bites, but can also be made with table salt.

broyé (salted butter table cookie)

Recipe Type: cookies

Cuisine: dessert

Author: adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Prep time: 1 hour 10 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 1 hour 35 mins

Serves: 6-8

A large, rustic, buttery, salty cookie adorned with a pretty crosshatch meant to be shared at your table (although, it does not need to be!)

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated sugar
¾–1 teaspoon sel gris or kosher salt
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) cold unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces
3–6 tablespoons cold water
1 egg yolk, for glazing

Instructions

Put the flour, sugar and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Drop in the butter and pulse until the butter is in both pea-sized pieces and some in small flakes, about 8 to 9 one-second pulses. With the machine running, start adding the cold water gradually; adding just enough water to produce a dough. To test, you can stop the processor and feel the dough to determine if it has become malleable.
Scrape the dough onto a work surface or a large piece of plastic wrap. Form it into a ball and then pat it down slightly into a disk. Wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for about 1 hour (the dough can now be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Place the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper and, with a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle that’s about ¼ inch thick and about 5 inches wide x 11 inches long. Keep in mind, it should be rustic! Don’t worry about exact size or even edges. Transfer the dough to the lined baking sheet.
Beat the egg yolk with a few drops of water to create the glaze, and, with a pastry brush, paint the top surface of the dough with the glaze. Use the back of a fork to create a crosshatch pattern.
Bake the cookie for 25 to 35 minutes, or until it is golden (check fairly often as mine was done after just 25 minutes). It will be firm around the edges, but may have a spring in the center. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the cookie to room temperature.
To serve: place the cookie in the center of your table and let your friends and family reach their hands in and crack off pieces.

pea, fennel and leek soup

March 18, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

A recipe for a light, healthy, pea, fennel and leek soup. Fennel adds a subtle anise flavor to the sweet leek and pea puree; completed with sharp, salty, shaved Parmesan.

Sometimes it scares me how similar my mom and I think: I buy lots of fennel on Saturday, and she has the family over for a fennel filled, porchetta on Sunday (wrapped in prosciutto, no less). The bright green, feathered tips of the fennel—the fronds—were generously rolled into the meat, like cinnamon in cinnamon buns. While I like fennel, the thought of making another heavily fennel flavored dish seemed like it could be overload for one week. I needed to use my fennel in a more subtle way (call me a fennel-phobe, I can take it).

What resulted was an adaptation of the Fennel, Lettuce, and Pea soup recipe from Giada de Laurentiis’ Feel Good Food. I had no lettuce, so I subbed with leftover leeks that didn’t make it into my boyfriend’s St. Patrick’s Day boiled dinner. To keep the fennel light in the soup, I omitted the fennel seeds she had called for, instead adding a bay leaf for flavor during the cook time. The result was a creamy, nourishing soup with a gorgeous sea foam green color. You’ll love this recipe if you’re looking for a friendly introduction to this licorice-flavored vegetable. The bright, sweet pea soup balances the anise flavor enough to please both sides of the fennel divide; the lovers and the skeptics. Of course, feel free to add another ½ or full fennel bulb if you’re entertaining a group of fennel fans.

pea, fennel and leek soup

Recipe Type: soup

Author: adapted slightly from Giada de Laurentiis, Feel Good Food

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 4

A recipe for a light, healthy, pea, fennel and leek soup. Fennel adds a subtle anise flavor to the sweet leek and pea puree; completed with sharp, salty, shaved Parmesan.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small shallots, diced
1 medium fennel bulb, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into ¼ inch slices
One 10-ounce package frozen petite peas (about 2 ¼ cups)
2 cups low-salt chicken broth, plus extra, as needed
1 bay leaf
shredded parmesan, for garnishing (optional, only, not really)
fennel fronds, for garnishing (optional)

Instructions

Melt the butter in a heavy, large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and fennel. Season with the salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the leeks and continue to cook until all the vegetables are almost tender, another 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in the peas, broth, and bay leaf. Bring the soup to a boil. Cover; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the bay leaf from the saucepan and discard.
Using a blender, or immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. If using a standing blender, take the saucepan off of the heat for 5 minutes and then blend just 1 cup at a time. Pour the soup back into the saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Thin out the soup by adding 1 tablespoon of extra broth at a time, if needed.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and a pinch of fennel fronds.

rice krispie treat hearts

February 6, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

I was looking for a quick Valentine’s recipe that required minimal work, few ingredients, and little fuss (just like relationships *winkwink*). Inspired by Rice Krispie wreaths my mom and I make every year during the holidays, I took to the cereal aisle and conjured up these festive Rice Krispie Treat hearts. You can’t help but feel like a happy little kid with one of these bright pink hearts in hand—it’s like an instant smile booster!

Requiring just one dish, two if you add the white chocolate drizzle, this recipe is easy on us manual dishwashers. It’s also easy on the wallet; leaving you with more cash to spend on Valentine’s gifts for your significant other—or on shoes, chocolate, wine, jewels, clothes…

I got a little heavy handed with the food coloring, resulting in a somewhat radioactive iridescence on my treats. Luckily, my excessive pink did not affect the crispy, gooey flavor one bit. I adjusted the proportions in the below recipe, but to be safe you may want to add the coloring in increments.

Often times the warm Rice Krispie Treats are poured into a sheet pan and then cut out into squares or shapes once cooled. I prefer to mold these by had to avoid the rough, half-cut Krispies on the edges from cookie cutters. Do whatever you prefer! You could even try this with another cereal to mix it up.

rice krispie treat hearts

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: butter love company

Prep time: 30 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: About 16 Hearts

Ingredients

1 10 oz. bag of marshmallows
3 tablespoons of butter
1/4 teaspoon pink or red food coloring (more if you are using liquid food coloring)
6 cups of Rice Krispie cereal or equivalent
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup white chocolate or white chocolate chips (for drizzling, optional)

Instructions

Line cookie sheets with waxed paper. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring (add more if desired).
Add coconut and crisped Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.
Using 1/4-cup measuring cup or your hands, scoop the mixture into balls onto the waxed paper covered cookie sheets. With your hands, shape the balls into hearts (you may have to wet your fingertips with water or butter if it is too sticky to mold). If drizzling with white chocolate, heat the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave until it is thin enough to drizzle with a fork over the hearts.