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Chocolate Hazelnut Crispy Treats

I’ve been on a chocolate hazelnut butter kick lately.

Honestly, I don’t foresee that going away anytime soon. And yes, I realize I’m like ten years late on all the hype… but now I definitely get what all the fuss is about. That sh-tuff is goooood.

It’s been making its way into so many things in my kitchen (mostly a spoon and then my mouth, but hey).  My favorite so far: rice crispy treats. These don’t even need the chocolate on the outside they are so hardcore delicious. But, the silky smooth coating puts these babies over the top.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crispy Treats

adapted from Snap, Crackle and Pop’s famous version

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp vegan margarine
  • 1/4 cup chocolate hazelnut butter, homemade or Justin’s
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean scraped, or vanilla bean paste
  • 10 oz Dandies vegan marshmallows
  • 5 1/2 -6 cups gluten free crispy puffed rice cereal
  • 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Measure out about 5 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal and place into large bowl. (Reserve about half a cup to add at the end in case they seem too “wet”. My marshmallow mixture worked perfectly mixed with 6 cups of rice, but depending on exact ingredients used… such as the hazelnut butter’s consistency, this could vary.
  2. Generously grease up a 9″ x 11″ or similar sized pan with margarine (on the bottoms and the sides).
  3. Over medium heat in large saucepan melt together margarine and hazelnut butter.
  4. Stir in vanilla bean paste and marshmallows.
  5. Reduce heat ever so slightly and let marshmallows melt and merge well with the butters, stirring often. Now, just so you guys know–when I made these as a kid (and as a big kid) with regular marshmallows, I distinctly remember the marshmallows melting into a super liquidy type consistency. That won’t exactly happen here…  the marshmallow mixture will remain fluffy the entire time, but all the individual marshmallows and other ingredients should homogenize. It will look more like brownish marshmallow fluff at this point.
  6. When all marshmallows have been fused into one giant marshmallow-like blob, quickly stir in with cereal until everything is well mixed (after it cooled briefly I used my hands, lightly greased with margarine, to gently mix it all together super well). This takes a bit of finesse, but not much. If the mixture seems too sticky or wet, add up to 1/2 cup more rice cereal.
  7. Transfer marshmallow/crispy combo into the greased pan and spread out until flat and even.
  8. Place in fridge to firm up.
  9. Cut into squares, either bite sized or bigger.

 

You can stop right here and eat these as is… because as is, they are damn good. Or you can go ahead and melt your chocolate and coconut oil together over a double boiler. Once totally smooth and silky, dip individual squares into chocolate to coat. Let harden up at room temp and then devour.

We successfully polished off all crispy treats in just one day. :)

Also, just fyi: the colorful sprinkles pictured in the photos above are not gluten free… :(

Cooking time (duration): 15

Diet type: Vegan

Diet (other): Gluten free

Number of servings (yield): 12

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29 Responses to Chocolate Hazelnut Crispy Treats

  1. spongebob says:

    I have no idea how this happened but I have recently decided to become a vegan after becoming more educated about the negative affect of animal products on our bodies and seeing a horrifying video of slaughterer houses. Anyways I was going to stumble but i realized I would probably come across foods that would make me want something with lots of dairy in it but this is the first cite I came across it was fate because normally all the food blogs i stumble upon are all loaded with animal byproducts. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for being awesome and intelligent :) you rock.

  2. Lynae says:

    My two year old and I made these today. SO good! Thank you for this recipe!

  3. Ooooh my gosh, I am bookmarking this right now and am going to try them ASAP. Except my obsession is sunflower butter…I’d love to see how that tastes!

    They would probably also be awesome with chocolate puffed rice, like Koala Crisp, yes? :)

  4. Gauri Radha गौरी राध says:

    Those look great :-)

  5. Fiona says:

    They look perfect! Delicious and crispy, just like the ones from the store. :) Amazing recipe, I can’t wait to try it!

  6. K says:

    I made these today and they were delicious but I wanted to double check the quanity of puffed rice cereal because it seemed to be too much for the chocolate and marshmallow mix??

    • allyson says:

      Hi K! thanks for making em… when I made them, it was really close to get all six cups in the mix, but I just barely made it. I bet depending on the brand of cereal and even the choco-hazelnut butter type (justin’s vs homemade) could make the quantity of cereal needed vary. I’m gonna edit the cereal to a range… just in case! I’d hate for someone to overdo it and come out with less than stellar cripsy treats. Thanks so much for your input! <3

  7. rebecca says:

    these look so yummy! is the cereal used just plain puffed rice? or is there a vegan gf rice krispy type cereal out there? in your pictures they look like the real deal.

    • allyson says:

      Thanks Rebecca! Yes, this cereal is crispy rice.. funny enough my hubs was the one who thought it would be less confusing if I called it “puffed rice”.. haha. so I’m blaming him <3

      I hate to say that the box is now empty, so I can't retrieve the actual brand name :( But! I know the cereal was just like rice crispies (they even snap, crackled and popped in almond milk!), but they were clearly labeled gluten free. They also happened to be organic, if that helps at all. I purchased this particular box at Whole Foods, but I know that other grocery stores around my town carry them as well. To me there was no difference between these and kellog's brand… making for the perfect crispy treat! :)

  8. These look so adorable & yummy! I can’t wait to make these for my kids. They will LOVE them! :)

  9. Oh. My. Gourd.

    These look insanely delicious! I can’t believe that I have never had hazelnut butter, but now I NEED it. I was just thinking about rice krispy treats today, and these look a million times better!!

  10. Hi Allyson, Love your cover photo. Just discovered your blog on Foodbuzz. Congratulations on making the Top 9! Vegan and gluten-free, you’re not ambitious, are you!

  11. lisa says:

    I’m new to the gluten free diet and looking for options, and this one sounds fantastic!! Thanks for sharing.

  12. Chocolate and hazelnut is one of my favorite combos. I think I’ll make these for Easter treats. Thanks for sharing!

  13. The only hazelnut I typically have is the syrup in my lattes, so this is a real treat!

  14. Gena says:

    These sound amazing, and like something the BF will adore. Thanks!

    • allyson says:

      Thank you Gena!! I know my guy sure did enjoy them… a lot. You’re awfully sweet to look at a post for chocolate covered treats and immediately think of your man. How lucky is he?! <3

  15. Amanda says:

    You have me drooling! These look awesome! Thanks for sharing. :-)

  16. I was just getting my FoodGawker fix when I saw these little darlings. Absolutely gorgeous and they have put me into full obsession mode. Thanks for the eye candy. I love your site and promise to be back very soon!

  17. Now you’re being downright evil teasing me with your chocolate hazelnut butter! Evil! These look so tasty and they seem tiny and dainty enough that I could pop them whole in my mouth without feeling like a complete savage.

    • allyson says:

      River, after you eat like 10 of them (ehem), you may feel less dainty about the whole ordeal. Although, I prevented any remorse I may have had by only dipping 2/3 of the batch in chocolate. :D

  18. Amy says:

    I was eating Justin’s choc-hazelnut butter the other day- so frickin’ good! Which means these have just shot right to the top of my “must make immediately” list. :)

  19. Rebekah says:

    Yum!! I love the Justin’s Hazelnut butter even more than I used to love Nutella…it’s saltier with more texture. These look fantastic! I especially like the idea of dipping each square individually rather than just spreading the chocolate on top of the whole pan and then cutting. So much fancier this way!

    • allyson says:

      Thanks Rebekeh, bite-sized is so much easier to dip, and to bite! I’ve never had nutella, but I do love the texture of Justin’s!! <3