Salty-sweet, chewy-crunchy, chocolatey AND caramelly, these Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats are a dessert dream come true. Made with homemade marshmallow fluff that is swirled through with homemade salted caramel, then topped with a fudgy chocolate ganache, more caramel, and crunchy flakes of sea salt, these are unlike any rice krispie treats you’ve ever tried before.
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
When it comes to snacking, I feel like people often make the mistake of assuming there are only two camps: Team Salty and Team Sweet. Sure, there are those among you who might lean more towards pretzels than cookies, or vice versa.
But all you folks out there who want pretzels IN your cookies? Those among you who consider yourselves proud members of Team Salty-Sweet? This recipe is for you. (Oh, and if you’re playing on our beautifully blended team, I have a feeling you’ll love these Rye Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies, too.)
While no one is disputing the delightful simplicity of an old-school rice krispie treat made from the recipe on the back of the box, I will shout from the rooftops about how much more satisfying these salted caramel rice krispie treats are.
Bound together with a homemade marshmallow fluff that has been flavored with a healthy dose of soft caramel goodness, they’re already miles ahead of the marshmallow treats we grew up with.
As if that weren’t enough, I’ve gone the extra mile and added a layer of chocolate ganache to the top of the treats, which acts as a perfect canvas on which to paint even more salted caramel and sprinkle with flaky salt.
Essentially, these bad boys are the grown-up love-child of Twix and marshmallow treats. They’re ridiculously delicious. Make them. You’ll see.
🍴Ingredients
Despite boasting layers upon layers of flavorful dessert goodness, these salted caramel rice krispie treats actually have a shockingly short ingredient list. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Rice Krispies Cereal - Feel free to use generic store brands here if you prefer; they’re indistinguishable in this recipe.
- Unflavored Gelatin Powder - Gelatin might seem intimidating to work with, but I promise it’s quite easy. It will give your marshmallow fluff a light, bouncy, and slightly chewy texture that is simply divine.
- Vanilla Extract - Vanilla paste or powder are both perfectly acceptable substitutes here.
- Sugar Syrup - This combination of water, light corn syrup, and granulated sugar needs to be heated to a particular temperature before mixing with bloomed gelatin to create magical homemade marshmallow fluff.
- Salted Caramel - My simple homemade recipe calls for just heavy cream, butter, sugar, and salt, but feel free to use a store-bought alternative to cut back on prep time.
- Unsalted Butter - Look for organic, grass-fed, and/or cultured on the label; these are good indications that you’re getting top-quality butter.
- Heavy Cream - Heavy cream has a milk fat of no less than 36%, which results in a super luscious mouthfeel. If needed, you can swap in whipping cream which ranges from 30-36% milk-fat, but whatever you do, don’t reach for low-fat cream. It is loaded with stabilizers and is not a good fit for this recipe.
- Dark Chocolate - Since there are so few ingredients in ganache, I'd highly recommend using quality chocolate as the flavors and textures will shine through! Also, I’m something of a dark chocolate connoisseur - reach for 70% or higher from a reputable brand like Valrhona, Callebaut, Scharffen Berger, Guittard, or Ghirardelli.
- Glucose Syrup - Technically speaking, glucose syrup is an umbrella term that includes corn syrup. As such, you can make an easy swap here, using *light* corn syrup in place of glucose. That said, corn syrup is sweeter than glucose syrup, so you may want to adjust the amount used or use a higher percentage of dark chocolate to balance things out.
- Flaky Sea Salt - I love the gorgeous pyramid shape of Maldon, but any finishing salt will do!
⚒️ Equipment
You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to make some seriously gourmet salted caramel rice krispie treats, but there are a few items that will help you along the way:
- Candy Thermometer - It is imperative that your sugar syrup hits the right temperature in order to turn into marshmallow fluff. Take the guesswork out of it with a candy thermometer. Alternatively, feel free to use an instant-read thermometer if you prefer multitaskers in the kitchen.
- Stand Mixer With Whisk Attachment - Making homemade marshmallow fluff requires that you beat a heck of a lot of air into your sugar syrup/gelatin mixture. Save your arms and get some mechanical help!
- Serrated Knife - After cutting into my fair share of rice krispie treats, I would highly recommend using a serrated knife! Light, airy, and chewy rice krispie treats tend to get squished quite easily if they're not handled with care. Using a serrated knife to cut into your squares will prevent this from happening and allow for the perfect squares.
📖 How To Make Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats
Step 1: Warm the cereal. Grease a large bowl with butter and pour in the rice krispies. Place the bowl in the oven on low to warm your cereal. This will make the future mixing process much easier!
Step 2: Bloom the gelatin. Mix the gelatin with a little water and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside.
Step 3: Make the sugar syrup. Heat the sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until it begins to bubble. Continue to cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 250°F.
Step 4: Whip up the marshmallow mixture. Transfer the sugar syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer. Once slightly cooled, add the bloomed gelatin and whisk until the mixture turns opaque, thick, and glossy.
Step 5: Flavor the fluff. Add the salted caramel and softened butter to the homemade marshmallow fluff and mix until just combined.
Step 6: Assemble and cool. Use a spatula sprayed with a bit of cooking oil to mix the warm rice krispie cereal into the marshmallow fluff. Transfer this mixture to a baking pan and press mixture into an even layer. Let the cereal treats set and firm up before taking the next step.
Step 7: Make the ganache. Add cream & glucose to a saucepan and bring to a slight boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and pour over the dark chocolate. Stir to combine, letting the warm cream start to melt the chocolate.
Step 8: Finish ganache. Add the butter into your warm chocolate mixture, and using an immersion blender, blend the ganache until the butter has fully incorporated and your mixture is smooth. Allow the chocolate ganache to cool completely before assembly.
Make-Ahead Tip: Chocolate ganache can be made up to a week in advance and kept in the fridge until ready. Simply let the ganache come to room temperature before spreading atop your gourmet rice krispie treats.
Step 9: Cut. Once the chocolate layer has cooled, remove the chocolate rice crispy treats from their pan. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut into small squares.
Step 10: Decorate & Enjoy! Swipe each marshmallow treat with a small spoonful of salted caramel. Top with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and dig in or place in an airtight container to enjoy later layered in parchment paper.
⏲️ Substitutions & Variations
These salted caramel rice krispies treats are a ridiculously tasty upgrade from the marshmallow treats of yesteryear. That said, taste is subjective and time is of the essence, so here are a few of my favorite ways to tweak this recipe to your needs:
- Cut back on prep time by using store-bought marshmallow fluff. Doing so will eliminate steps 2-4! Pro Tip: Just be sure to eliminate the extra butter called for in the recipe, or your treats might end up tasting a little rubbery.
- Use store-bought caramel to make life even easier. I love my homemade salted caramel and there’s always a jar in my fridge, but grabbing a container from the store would work perfectly too.
- Stir in some extra fun. If you’re someone who likes textural contrasts in her treats, consider adding some crushed pretzels, melted chocolate, peanut butter, mini chocolate chips, or mini marshmallows.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
These are some seriously gourmet rice krispie treats, which means they are a *bit* more finicky than the ones from the back of the cereal box. Here are my best tips to ensure that yours come out perfectly every time!
- Pay attention to the specific temperatures of your sugar syrup before moving onto the next task. Make sure to use a thermometer and babysit the syrup to ensure that you are hitting the right temperatures.
- Be extra gentle when you are mixing together the cereal and marshmallow fluff. The cereal is quite delicate and can easily be crushed!
- Make sure to grease your spatula! This ensures that your marshmallow fluff and rice krispie cereal does not get stuck, preventing you from incorporating everything well.
- To make sure that the salted caramel rice krispie treats hold their shape, wait to cut into them for at least an hour after topping with the ganache. I know... it’s rough. But these are definitely the type of good things that are worth waiting for!
💭 Recipe FAQs
Sure! Simply swap in vegan butter & coconut cream for the ganache, and either purchase a vegan salted caramel sauce or use coconut cream and plant-based butter to make your own using my easy recipe.
Once you try a single bite, I have a feeling they won’t last long at all, I’m afraid! But, if you’re making some for a friend, I recommend you deliver them pretty quickly; they’ll start to go stale and hard after about 3-4 days. Individually wrapping them in plastic wrap will also help to stave off staleness.
Generally, the soggy/rubbery texture is due to adding too much butter. If you have used store-bought marshmallow fluff instead of homemade, be sure to omit the extra butter!
More Rice Krispie Treats Variations
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Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats
Equipment
- Fork
- 9x9 Pan or Frame
Ingredients
Homemade Caramel
- 125 g (⅔ cups) Granulated Sugar
- 90 g (⅓ cups) Heavy Cream
- 28 g (2 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter , room temperature
Caramel Rice Krispie Treats
- 180 g (5 cups) Rice Krispies Cereal
- 2 teaspoon Unflavored Gelatin Powder
- 2 tablespoon Cool Water, for blooming gelatin
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 60 g (¼ cup) Water, for sugar syrup
- 170 g (½ cup) Light Corn Syrup
- 200 g (1 cup) Granulated Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 55 g (¼ cup ) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 87 g (¼ cup ) Caramel
Chocolate Ganache
- 100 g (⅓ Cup + 1.5 Tbsp) Heavy Cream
- 32 g (1.5 Tablespoons) Corn Syrup
- 175 g (1 Cup) Dark Chocolate, melted
- 25 g (2 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter , room temperature
Garnish
- Flaky Sea Salt
Instructions
Homemade Caramel
- Pour the sugar into a saucepan, and over medium-high heat, allow the sugar to slowly melt and eventually shift in color to a deep amber-brown color. Swirl around the pan or use a spatula to ensure that the sugar cooks evenly.125 g Granulated Sugar
- Add the cream and butter to the sugar – expect the ingredients to bubble and foam for about 30 seconds or so. Then, over low heat, continue to melt down any large bits of caramel until the mixture is completely fluid and smooth before removing from heat.90 g Heavy Cream, 28 g Unsalted Butter
- Pour caramel into a glass container and allow to cool completely before adding to the marshmallow fluff and garnishing. You can always place the caramel in the fridge to help it cool more rapidly!
Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
- Set oven to warm, or to 150°F. After greasing a large bowl with butter, pour in the rice krispy cereal and place in the oven. The cereal will begin to warm while you start on the marshmallow fluff making it easier to mix later in this process!180 g Rice Krispies Cereal
- In a small bowl, mix gelatin, 2 tablespoon water, and vanilla with a fork.2 teaspoon Unflavored Gelatin Powder, 2 tablespoon Cool Water, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Combine the sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a pot. Turn on the stove to medium-high and heat until bubbling. Continue to cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 250°F.60 g Water, 170 g Light Corn Syrup, 200 g Granulated Sugar, ½ teaspoon Salt
- Pour the hot syrup into the bowl of your stand mixer and cool until your thermometer reads 212 degrees. Add the gelatin mixture into the sugar syrup and mix with the whisk attachment on low speed to combine. Once homogenous, increase the speed to medium-high and continue whisking until the syrup is thick and glossy. This should take 5-8 minutes.
- Grease your 8x8 pan while you wait for the marshmallow fluff to finish mixing.
- Add caramel and softened butter to the marshmallow fluff and whisk to combine.55 g Unsalted Butter, 87 g Caramel
- Grab the warmed cereal from the oven and pour your caramel marshmallow fluff into the bowl with the cereal. Using a spatula sprayed with oil, fold the cereal into the marshmallow fluff gently until combined.
- Transfer the mixture into your prepared pan, gently pressing to the top of the rice krispie treats. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest and ingredients to cool/firm for 1-2 hours.
Chocolate Ganache
- Add cream & corn syrup to a saucepan and bring to a slight boil.100 g Heavy Cream, 32 g Corn Syrup
- Remove from heat and pour over the dark chocolate. Stir to combine as the warm cream starts to melt the chocolate.175 g Dark Chocolate
- Add the butter into your warm chocolate mixture, using an immersion blender or spatula, mixing ganache until the butter has fully incorporated and your mixture is smooth.25 g Unsalted Butter
- Allow the chocolate ganache to cool slightly before pouring it onto the top of your rice Krispie treats that have been setting in their pan. Place in the fridge to cool for about 15 minutes before continuing!
Garnish
- Cut into square bit sized bars using a serrated knife. Add a swipe of caramel and flaky sea salt before enjoying!Flaky Sea Salt
Notes
- Pay attention to the specific temperatures of your sugar syrup before moving onto the next task. Make sure to use a thermometer and babysit the syrup to ensure that you are hitting the right temperatures.
- Be extra gentle when you are mixing together the cereal and marshmallow fluff. The cereal is quite delicate and can easily be crushed!
- Make sure to grease your spatula! This ensures that your marshmallow fluff and rice krispie cereal does not get stuck, preventing you from incorporating everything well.
- To make sure that the caramel rice krispie treats hold their shape, wait to cut into them for at least an hour. I know... it's hard to wait! But you won't regret it.
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