Healthy Rice Crispy Treats

© Sweets You Can Eat by Megan Matthews and Patricia Schroeck 2020

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup unsalted sesame seeds
1 and 1/2 cups crisp brown rice cereal (not puffed cereal and not white rice)
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup seed butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
large crystal salt

Makes 16 rice crispy treats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Liberally brush an 8x8” square metal pan with coconut oil. On a dry cookie sheet, toast sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the oven for 6 minutes (checking regularly so they do not burn). At 6 minutes, add the sesame seeds and toast another 4 minutes or until the seeds JUST start to pop as they turn lightly brown.
2. In a large bowl, toss the toasted seeds with the crisp rice cereal and coconut flakes.
3. In a medium pan cook maple syrup and seed butter on the stove over medium heat. Allow mixture to boil, while stirring constantly for 8 to 10 minutes. The boiling maple syrup will lose its liquid and condense into a thick caramel sauce.
4. Now the most important step to make the candy crispy: Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in vanilla extract. The syrup will bubble and burn off the alcohol in the vanilla extract. Working quickly, pour hot maple syrup over crispy rice, seeds and coconut. Stir gently until evenly coated.
5. Pour mixture into the prepared 8x8 pan. Using your hands (I use coconut oil on my hands, so they do not stick), press down firmly to a 1/2-inch-thick (12mm) sheet. Press extra hard so the rice crispy mixture compacts and forms a dense bar. Sprinkle salt over the top.
6. Place pan into refrigerator for 30 minutes to set. Once cooled, flip the pan to turn the sheet out onto a cutting board. Be careful to not break the rice crispy sheet apart. Cut rice crispy sheet into 2x2-inch (5x5cm) square bars.
7. As a fun sweetness, you can pour a drizzle of melted chocolate chips over the crisp bars.

Photos by Milkshake Creative

Do you want to be our test baker? Please, share a photo of you with your bake on Instagram or Facebook and let us know how the recipe turned out and add any other comments you have! We can’t wait to hear from you!

This recipe contains affiliate links, which means that Sweets You Can Eat LLC (Megan’s and Patricia’s partnership) will make a small commission if you purchase using these links. The price you pay is the same as going there directly. We only recommend products that we use ourselves and that we trust and love!