grown up rice krispie treats

I take my lunch to work most days.  I admit to it being fairly simple at this point in my life, a sandwich.  My go to is pb&j, homemade bread, homemade jam.  Or prosciutto and jarlsberg.  The Tall Short Person left roast beef in the refrigerator when she and Koda Bear went back to Oregon.  I will probably be eating that in my lunch next week.  With being sad.

What helps the sads?  Mugs of sweet tea.  Something sweet.  I will admit that most of the time my lunches look like something a kid would bring to work and one of my favorite sweets for that is a rice krispie treat.  Might help the sads a little bit.  At lunch, I have also been reading cookbooks and came across a recipe that was billed as a French rice krispie treat.

Now I am a rice krispie treat purist.  The only thing I ever change is I ususally use brown rice puffs.  No chocolate.  No peanut butter.  Just the basic recipe off the Kellogs box.  No nothing added.  The recipe I found had chocolate in it.  That had to go.  I added more vanilla.  Made them simple.

A little tiny grown up rice krispie treat.  It does help the sads.  It is lovely.  I will have to pack some in my lunch tomorrow.  If I get bread baked before work!

crispy topped brown sugar bars

Note:  This is based on Dorie Greenspan's recipe. 

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons water

2 cups brown rice puffs

1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon fine himalayan salt

3/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a 8 x 8 inch square pan with parchment paper, letting some hang of the ends to easier pull out the bars.

To make the caramel puffs, in a skillet big enough to stir, put the 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water.  Put the heat on underneath it at a medium or medium high.  Stir the water and sugar together.  Bring to a boil.  When a bit of color starts to show and the sugar mixture thickens a bit, add the brown rice puffs.  Take the pan off the heat.  Stir the puffs until it appears all the caramel is absorbed.  A white sheen will start appearing.  Put the pan on the heat and stir for about another three minutes.  Each bit of cereal should be covered with the caramel and darker in color.  Pour out on parchment paper or a silpat.  To clean the pan, fill with water and bring to a boil.  Pour out.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugars together.  Mix in the vanilla.  Mix in the salt and flour.  It will take some work but it will all come together.

Press into the 8x8 inch pan.  Cover with about half the cereal mixture.  Bake for 22 minutes or until golden.  Golden will be hard to see. 

My house was cold, so I just pulled the bar out of the pan and let it cool.  The suggestion is to put it in the refrigerator before cutting.  Pull out by the paper and cut into small squares.

Really quite lovely and all grown up.  Maybe it will be all I take to lunch.