Any child who has been raised in Ireland will know the joy of the rice krispy bun....always a favourite at birthday parties...... for any parent who is not in the least skilled at baking they are the easiest thing to make and well worth it to see the pride on that little face when they say my mammy or my daddy made these......even if it means you are picking rice krispies off the floor for the next month!
Kids can also get involved in the making process as all you are doing is melting chocolate and stirring in rice krispies then scooping it into paper cases and chucking some hundreds and thousands over the top or even mini marshmallows....easy peasy for anyone! However, we can take the classic rice krispie treat a step further and make it something altogether more luxurious!
This recipe results in a krispie treat that is rich and sweet from the caramel but with a delish bitter chocolate top to counteract that sweetness. I don't advise letting the kids help you with this one as lethally hot sugar and kids are NOT a good combination! BAKER BEWARE!
To raise the krispy treat bar...if you'll pardon the pun, there are a few key things to remember.....you may think that all shop bought rice krispies are the same....believe me they are not! they can differ in size, texture and flavour so choose your rice krispie carefully, for this recipe to be successful you want a really crisp texture and a rather more solid than aerated rice snap that will hold its shape when mixed rather than disintegrating, and it should have a flavour sort of like sweet rice paper.
When it comes to the chocolate topping, only the best will do....so choose a good quality chocolate with at least 50% cocoa....I like to use an Ecuadorian chocolate with 70% cocoa which is bitter enough to cut the sweetness with a smooth and smoky flavour.
We will also use real butter and good golden syrup....so for these Old School Krispy Treats you will need...........
a 10 inch x 8 inch, deep sided, non stick baking tray...I use a swiss roll tin, or some other straight sided receptacle like a ceramic dish
120 g unsalted butter at room temperature
100 g soft, dark brown sugar
150 g golden syrup
50 g pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
300 g rice krispies
300 g chocolate
2 pinches of chilli powder or smoked paprika
decorations of your choice.....some examples are...gold leaf flakes, spray or glitter, drizzled with melted white chocolate or white chocolate flakes....toasted and chopped nuts of your choice such as almonds, pecans, macadamias, pistachios....sea salt crystals or flakes....or go retro and use the old faithful coloured sugar strands if you want kitsch....julienne of crystallised fruit peels such as lemon, lime, orange or even ginger....shredded coconut, fancy chocolates....cut up candy bars....really the possibilities are endless.
How to...........
WARNING!! HOT SUGAR SYRUP CAN CAUSE SEVERE BURNS! so please be careful
- place the butter, syrups and sugar in a heavy, deep saucepan
- heat gently to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter...give it a stir every so often
- fill the sink or have a deep bowl with water and some ice cubes
- place the rice krispies in a really big and deep bowl, this is where you will mix your buttery syrup mixture with the rice so make sure you have lots of room to work.....even better if you have a hands free mixer like a kenwood or a kitchenaid as their bowls are big enough to make one batch of this
- once the butter and sugar have dissolved and the mixture is smooth, turn up the heat and bring to the boil.....let it boil fast while you count to thirty or time it for 30 seconds....do not stir while boiling!
- turn off the heat and place the saucepan into the icy water bath....this will stop the syrup cooking
- when the mixture has stopped bubbling you can stir in the sea salt
- now pour the mixture onto the rice krispies and stir as gently as you can until all the rice is coated and sticky
- scoop out onto your baking sheet and spread evenly....press the mixture into the corners of the tray using the back of a spoon or a palette knife
- allow to cool
- when cool you can then melt your chocolate over a double boiler in the usual fashion, add the chilli or paprika to the melted chocolate and mix well...this gives it a lovely bite....then spread the chocolate over the surface of the rice
- decorate immediately then set aside in a cool place to set fully.....don't be tempted to chill it in the fridge as it will get rock hard and you may need a chainsaw to cut them!
- when set, cut your treats into big greedy wedges or dainty mouth sized bites, store in an airtight container as they can go soft within 24 hours if you don't store them well.
You may like to make these with nuts through the mix, so substitute about 100g of rice krispies for 80 g of chopped nuts.
You could also make these in different shapes...try rolling the rice mixture into balls when it has cooled enough to touch...when the balls are set you can dip them in chocolate sort of like chocolate truffles and roll them in chopped nuts or cocoa powder etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment