Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Krispies Treats

It doesn’t get much simpler than that, does it?  It’s almost unAmerican to not love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  Almost as unAmerican as calling french fries freedom fries. But I digress…

I’m going to a friend’s house tonight for a girls Valentine’s day craft night and I’ve been wracking my brains all week trying to figure out what kind of sweet treat I can bring with me. As I was ordering my Grande Nonfat Vanilla Latte yesterday morning, craving a big fat Crispy Square, all the pieces fell into place.  While Rice Krispie Treats are some of my fa.vor.ite. goodies, I know all too well that peanut butter Krispie Treats are even better.  But what could I do to them to make them special?  Hearts! And chocolate, naturally.

And as I sit here wishing that I could have an hour to sit with some soothing Michael Bublé crooning in the background while I blog without a TV on somewhere in the house, I remember that I’ve got these perfect little treats waiting for me tonight.  And all the stress goes away…

P.S. – Happy 200th blog post to me!!!  What a lovely way to celebrate, eh?

Share the Love Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats®

source: adapted from Kelloggs®

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 bag mini marshmallows or 7 oz jar marshmallow crème
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 cups Rice Krispies (or other puffed rice cereal)
• Pam (spray vegetable oil)
• 6 oz high quality milk chocolate (I used Callebaut)

1. Grease a 9×13 inch roaster or glass baking dish. Lightly spray a long piece of wax paper with Pam.
2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and marshmallows.  Cook on high for 2 minutes. Stir and cook for an additional minute.  Stir in peanut butter until fully combined.  Carefully but quickly stir in cereal.
3. Turn out mixture into roaster or baking dish.  With the wax paper, firmly press mixture into pan and flatten out the top as much as possible.  Allow to fully cool.
4. When fully cool, turn the cereal mass out onto a cutting board.  Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts; put the scraps in a bowl and save for snacking later.
5. Chop chocolate and place in a glass bowl.  Place the glass bowl over a small pan of water and bring water to a simmer.  Be sure that the bottom of the glass pan is not touching the top of the water. Stir chocolate until it is almost fully melted, taking care not to allow steam to escape from beneath the bowl.  When chocolate is just about fully melted, turn the heat off and slow pull the pan with bowl still atop off the unit.
6. Carefully dip the flattest side of each heart-shaped treat into the chocolate.  Cool on a rack until fully hardened.  Once the chocolate has almost fully set, you can transfer the treats to a baking sheet and set them in the pan in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the hardening process.