How to Make Rice Krispies Squares Even Better

I had a sweet tooth one day recently and as I was shopping I saw that Rice Krispies was on sale or $1.88. Knowing how much they can cost I went and grabbed a box. That led to go get some marshmallows as well. You can see where I'm going with this right? That's right - Rice Krispies Squares! I've searched far and wide for some really good ones and find that I can make them just as good at home. Anyway, I knew I had butter at home, so I was ready to go.

I had some unexpected guests over one weekend and out of boredom and trying to think of something to do for our guests I pulled out the ingredients to make the rice krispies squares. If you don't know the traditional recipe, let me summarize it for you:

¼ cup butter (or 4 tablespoons)

1 10.5oz bag of marshmallows (whatever brand you prefer)

6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal

Those are all of the ingredients. So what you do is let the butter melt on low heat, and once that's done add the marshmallows and stir until the marshmallows have melted. Once that has happened add the cereal and stir until all the ingredients have meshed together. At this point you'll need an 8x8 pan to put the mixture in and even it out so that it's level. You may want to rinse your hands in cold water before evening out the mixture so that your hands won't get sticky. I recommend this also because this will be a slightly hot mixture as it's been mixing in a hot pot. The cold water on your hands offsets the stickiness of the marshmallows but also any heat that may come from the rice krispies mixture. Once that's done stick it in the refrigerator and let set for a little while, then cut up into squares or triangles and happily eat.

That's the gist of how you make Rice Krispies Squares. Now... for why you're reading this article... how to ENHANCE that recipe. I promise you it's a really simple addition. Are you ready? Here's the extra ingredient you'll want to add...

2 ounces of strongly brewed tea

That's all. Now let me explain. Take two tea bags and place in a 6 ounce mug. Boil some water like you're making tea and fill the mug halfway with about 3 ounces of boiling water. Let the tea bags steep for about 5-8 minutes because you're actually going to make this batch strong to get more of the flavor out of the tea leaves.

Do you remember the step where I said melt the marshmallows with the butter? This is the part of the process you're about to interrupt. As the marshmallows are melting, slowly incorporate the two to three ounces of tea inside of the mixture before you put in the cereal. Stir until all the butter-marshmallow-tea mixture is blended. You should be able to smell the tea inclusion at this point. After that proceed with the recipe as normal.

Sounds simple, right? That's because it is. Now, what I recommend is that you do a flavored tea. When I tried this recipe I used a honey-vanilla tea and it turned out beautiful. I had one of my friends try it and they loved it! Your guests will love it also.

Here are my recommendations of what kind of teas to try:

Chai tea

Any kind of tea with vanilla in it

Any kind of citrus tea (not lemon though, more like orange or mango)

Any kind of tea with chocolate flavor in it

If you don't have flavored tea I'm sure coffee would work as well. You can do a regular coffee or a flavored coffee. I would just recommend that it be sweetened first since coffee has a tendency to be stronger than tea. Remember, just two to three ounces maximum so that you don't water down the butter and marshmallow mixture. We still want the rice krispies squares to hold together; we're just adding a little bit of flavor to it.

Try this addition and let me know what you think of it! If you tried an addition I didn't recommend, let me know and maybe I'll try yours as well.