These fun and festive rice krispy treats are an ode to Mardi Gras and feature flavors that are reminiscent of the iconic king cake!
Mardis Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is tomorrow and being that New Orleans is my home away from home, I had to create something festive to commemorate the day. These Mardi Gras Rice Krispy Treats are my ode to a city as resilient and beautiful as the most extravagant Mardi Gras float! These treats are flavored with cinnamon and brown sugar, which are flavors you find in the iconic Mardis Gras king cakes.
Of course Mardi Gras celebrations are drastically different this year from what they normally are but New Orleans residents are in good spirits and getting very creative with their festivities.
Many have decorated the front of their homes and yards to resemble parade floats complete with all the props, colors and beads that you'd expect in a typical Mardi Gras float. The socially distant celebrations have been coined "Yardi Gras" and if you get a chance to Google it, you're in for a real treat - no pun intended!
Making Mardi Gras Rice Krispy Treats
Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment with cooking spray and set aside.
Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Once melted, add the marshmallows. Stir the mixture until the marshmallows are completely melted.
Remove from heat, then immediately stir in the cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Finally, fold in the cereal. Make sure all the cereal gets coated with the marshmallow mixture.
Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Wet your fingers and gently spread mixture to fit the pan. Re-wet fingers as needed to keep mixture from sticking to your hands. Do not pack it down too tightly, just lightly press down so it’s secure in the pan.
Allow treats to set for at least 1 hour at room temperature. Once treats have cooled completely, lift them as a whole using the parchment paper. Transfer them to a cutting board or work surface. If you like, you can drizzle a simple powdered sugar or cream cheese glaze over top but this is optional.
Using a teaspoon, sprinkle spots of the purple, gold and green sanding sugars over the rice krispy treats one color at a time, being careful not to overlap the colors. I try to do small dots of each color all over the treats so that you get all the colors in each treat when cutting. Cut treats into squares and enjoy!
Cover and store leftover treats at room temperature for up to 3 days. To store, arrange treats in layers between sheets of parchment or wax paper.
Mardi Gras Rice Krispy Treats
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- one 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 4 cups crispy rice cereal
- purple green and gold sanding sugar
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment with cooking spray and set aside.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Once melted, add the marshmallows. Stir the mixture until the marshmallows are completely melted.
- Remove from heat, then immediately stir in the cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Finally, fold in the cereal. Make sure all of the cereal gets coated with the marshmallow mixture.
- Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Wet your fingers and gently spread mixture to fit the pan. Re-wet fingers as needed to keep the mixture from sticking to hands. Do not pack it down too tightly, just lightly press down so it’s secure in the pan.
- Allow treats to set for at least 1 hour at room temperature.
- Once completely cooled, lift the rice krispie treats as a whole out of the pan using the parchment paper. Transfer treats to a cutting board or work surface. If you like, you can drizzle a simple powdered sugar or cream cheese glaze over top of the treats but this is totally optional.
- Using a teaspoon, sprinkle dots of purple, green and gold sanding sugar over treats, one color at a time, being careful not to mix colors. I like to create small dots of each color all over treats so that you get all of the colors in each treat when cutting.
- Cut treats into squares and enjoy!
Share Your Thoughts!