My mom used to always make Rice Krispie squares for my brother and I, and they were the BEST. I always wondered why my mom’s tasted so much better than any other Rice Krispie squares that other moms made, and I still don’t really know. She probably made them once a week, and in preparing this recipe, her and I reminisced, guessing how many batches of these she sent up to Antigonish (2 hours away from home) while my brother and I were in university. She used to always put semi-sweet chocolate chips in her squares, making them perfect with a big glass of milk.
Back in 2015 I bought Milk Bar by Christina Tosi, and quickly became obsessed with her ability to bring together nostalgia and perfectly seasoned sweets for that ideal sweet and salty bite. Inspired by Tosi’s “Compost Cookie (R)”, I started adding pretzels, potato chips sticks and corn flakes to my squares. The result is a more grown-up flavour but the same familiar taste of my mom’s Rice Krispie Squares. Enjoy!
Ultimate Rice Krispie Squares
15 minutes, 20 minutes to cool
Pro-tip: the first 3 ingredients you can buy at the Bulk Barn or your local bulk store, rather than buying full packages
Ingredients
1 cup salted pretzels sticks
1.5 cups potato chip sticks
2 cups corn flakes
5.5 cups Rice Krispies
½ cup butter, unsalted (if using salted, do not add kosher salt)
1 tsp kosher salt
~55 marshmallows (about one large bag)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup Skor toffee bits
Method
Prepare a 11 x 17 pan by greasing generously with butter.
Mix together the first three ingredients (pretzels, potato sticks, corn flakes), crushing with your hands to make them smaller pieces (but not dust). Add in Rice Krispies and stir until uniformly mixed.
In a large bowl, melt the butter in microwave*. Add in the kosher salt.
Add in marshmallows and microwave in 30 second intervals until marshmallows have puffed up / are melty and can be stirred to incorporate into butter. Stir in vanilla extract and continue to stir until smooth. Be ready to move quickly to step 5 otherwise your marshmallow mixture will harden.
Moving quickly, stir in dry ingredient mixture to the marshmallow sauce until fully coated. Add in the chocolate chips and skor bites last to prevent too much melting, folding until uniformly mixed.
Press into the prepared pan (coat your hands with butter so the mixture does not stick to your hands, or use a piece of parchment paper to press down).
Refrigerate until hardened. Store in fridge for up to 5 days.
*If you’re like me and somehow have reached adulthood without a microwave safe mixing bowl, you can also do this on the stove top. Start by melting the butter over medium heat, and then keep a very close eye when you add in the marshmallows. Stir often once the marshmallows are in to prevent sticking - remove from heat once it becomes smooth and uniform, before adding in the vanilla.