Pistachio Rice Crispy Treats

These might be the fanciest rice crispy treats you’ll ever make, entirely due to the fact that they are made with pistachio butter!

Guys, this weekend was a mess. Some of it was fun, but it was fair amount of literal mess as well. After Friday night, waffling our indecision between one unexciting wedding invite to another, we were looking forward to our friends fondue party which he hosts every year. We made all kinds of things to bring and be dipped in cheese and chocolate. After a fun filled evening we returned home to even more fun – a flooded basement. Apparently after a weeks worth of rain and the river flooding (not 100 feet from our house), the water table was so high that it was rising through the cracks in the floor faster than we could remove it.

We thus resigned ourselves to accepting the water for what it was and removing everything we could from the basement (which means a lot of it now resides in our dining room). After a few hours, we found ourselves staring at the water continuing it rise, helpless to stop it, and decided there was nothing else to do but go to bed. Thankfully when we woke up in the morning it was nearly all gone and we were left with a wet floor. So now we just have to hope for no mildew, which felt like deja vu since we had a black mold scare not too long ago. Le sigh.

But today is National Pistachio Day and if you’ve been following my blog long enough you know I love recognizing a good food holiday (which BTW there’s almost one every day). It gives us an excuse to celebrate something we enjoy and what’s so bad about that? It also help gives me inspiration for things to cook because honestly, after over 7 years of recipe development I sometimes run our of ideas. And rice crispy treats are easy to whip up in times of crisis when your kitchen is not suitable to cook much else.

Granted, rice crispy treats are not ground breaking. And yet, they are always so wildly appreciated and loved by all that they are often some of my more popular recipes. So as you can guess I made a pistachio variety. These however should be considered fine dining worthy as they are made with real pistachio butter, which if you’ve ever priced out pistachios before you will know how expensive that stuff can be even if you make it yourself. Am I crazy for using it in a crispy treat? Let’s just say I brought these to the fondue party and they were quite lovely dipped in chocolate.

One year ago: Coconut Pistachio Larabars

Two years ago: Strawberry M&M® Cheesecake Truffles

Three years ago: Black Bean & Chorizo Soup

Four years ago: Three Cheese Chicken and Artichoke Bake

Six years ago: Almond Cherry Chip Blondies

Seven years ago: Apple Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

PISTACHIO RICE CRISPY TREATS

Makes 24 bars

Ingredients:

BARS

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 (10.5 ounce) bag mini marshmallows

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup pistachio butter (try homemade)

6 cups puffed rice cereal

TOPPING

2 oz. dark chocolate, melted

2 Tbsp chopped pistachios

Directions:

1. Coat a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add marshmallows, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the pistachio butter and vanilla. Fold in the cereal until well combined and coated.
3. Transfer sticky cereal mixture to the prepared pan, pressing down until the top is level. Allow to cool completely.
4. While the bars are cooling, melt the dark chocolate. Drizzle over cooled treats and top with pistachios. Allow to solidify before cutting into squares.

Source: Adapted from my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Rice Krispies Treats.