Thursday, January 5, 2012

Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats

Around the holidays, I received a complimentary copy of America's Test Kitchen's Holiday Cookies 2010 issue.  Sure, it was last year's issue but I still loved perusing through the recipes.  I flagged the recipe for Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats because I thought they would be a fun little dessert for our New Year's Eve feast!



First, I gathered the ingredients for these grown-up Rice Krispies treats:
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 (10 ounce) bag marshmallows
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
  • 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
I haven't made Rice Krispies treats in over a decade and I forgot how much fun they are to make:
  • Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and allow the excess foil to hang over the pan edges.
  • Grease the aluminum foil.
  • Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.  Add the marshmallows, white chocolate chips, and salt and cook until smooth.
  • Once smooth, stir in the vanilla extract.
  • Remove the marshmallow mixture from the heat and mix in the cereal and dried cherries.
  • Scrape the entire mixture into the aluminum foil-lined baking pan.  Spread the mixture evenly and press into the bottoms and corners with a greased spatula.
  • Let the treat mixture cool for about an hour before drizzling the melt chocolate.
  • After the chocolate has cooled, use the foil overhang to lift the treats onto a cutting board and cut into squares.


I made these Crispy Chocolate-Cherry Treats first thing on Saturday and we definitely had a square with some champagne at midnight!



My friends also enjoyed some of these treats on New Year's Day, along with the leftover chicken and sausage gumbo, salsa and chips, and lots of cheese and crackers!  These treats were a big hit and I'm definitely going to experiment in the future with different ingredients like peanut butter chips, dried cranberries or melted Nutella!

What sweet treats did you enjoy on New Year's Eve?

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