Rice Krispies Treats are one of the quintessential treats of childhood. The crispy crunch with the gooey melted marshmallow holding it all together scream childhood as you lick your sticky fingers after the last bite.
When we found out our son couldn’t have gluten almost ten years ago my husband suggested we make a Rice Krispies treat “cake” for his upcoming 3rd birthday. After reading the ingredients on the box I was heartbroken to see malt barley listed as one of the ingredients.
I thought “Rice Krispies treats are out too? Why do they have to add the malt barley?” A few years later they came out with a gluten free version. We rejoiced. Rice Krispies became a staple in our home. Milk, bread, eggs, Rice Krispies. Until one night I sent my sweet husband to the store to pick up our usual list and he called to inform me that our usual store was out of the gluten free version of Rice Krispies. (The kids had a function the next day where they were assigned to bring Rice Krispies.) He then proceeded to drive around to every grocery store in a five mile radius for the next three hours while I called the store managers ahead of his arrival to see if I could locate a box any box of the fabulous gluten free Rice Krispies. Our efforts were not rewarded.
To our horror we slowly realized that Kellogg’s must have discontinued their gluten free version. A quick Google search confirmed our fears. Thankfully that night I had one box stashed in the back of the pantry, enough to make one last batch.
The days and weeks were long and the years passed slowly until one glorious day while grocery shopping out of town we stumbled across a bag of gluten free crispy rice cereal made my Malt o Meal. Again we rejoiced. Our children’s childhood has been restored. Their happiness is intact and now we buy this staple in bulk…. just in case they are discontinued or the zombie apocalypse comes. Think about it they’d be a great running on the go treat.
Gluten Free Crispy Rice Treats
6 cups Malt O Meal Crispy Rice cereal
3 TBSP Butter (Spectrum butter flavor shortening for dairy free version)
4 cups miniature marshmallows
Coat 13x9x2 pan with cooking spray
1. Melt butter or shortening over low heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.
3. Remove from heat. Spray spatula with cooking spray
4. Add Malt O Meal gluten free Crispy Rice cereal
5. Stir until cereal coated with marshmallows mixture
6. Transfer mixture to a 13x9x2 pan. Cool. Cut. Consume.