Chocolate Dipped Cocoa Crisp Treats

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Confession time.

I love chocolate milk.

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If I’m going to have chocolate milk, it’s going to be super duper chocolatey. Otherwise, it’s just not worth it.

I seemed to be the outcast in my family when it came to chocolate milk because I always liked Nesquik powder over Hershey’s syrup. It’s just more….chocolatey? I love Hershey’s Syrup on ice cream, but if I’m going to make chocolate milk, it’s going to be with 4-8 spoonfulls of good old powdered Nesquik.

Yup. 4-8 spoonfulls. Just depends on how big the glass is and how I’m feeling.

Like I said, my chocolate milk better be like liquid chocolate or I’m not drinking it. If the chocolate is so light that the glass of milk still looks like a regular glass of milk, I’m not having it.

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It’s probably no surprise that my favorite cereals growing up were the ones that turned my milk into chocolate milk at the bottom of the bowl.

Cocoa Puffs. Cocoa Krispies.

Sprinkled with a little sugar, that bottom of the bowl chocolate swirled milk was the best part of breakfast. Or afternoon snack. Or dessert.

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And when I was thinking about all of this last weekend, I remembered one dessert I tried from a little candy store in Colonial Williamsburg one summer.

A chocolate covered rice krispie treat – on a stick.

To a 10 year old little girl, that is like, the best thing ever. Especially to a chocoholic like me.

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After finding some crispy cocoa brown rice cereal at the store this weekend, I knew I needed to mix the two together.

But not just cereal, marshmallows, and chocolate. These needed to be more sophisticated. Cereal bars can be fancy, right?

I mixed in some instant espresso and vanilla, just to pump up the chocolate flavor. Espresso is definitely fancy.

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The only question is: why in the world did I wait so long?

And when are you going to make them?

 

Chocolate Dipped Cocoa Crisp Treats

Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups cocoa rice cereal
  • 5 oz. marshmallows (about 1.5 –2 cups)
  • 1.5 Tbsp butter
  • 1/4 tsp instant espresso
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

  1. In large pot, heat marshmallows and butter until they’re beginning to melt together.
  2. Stirring constantly, mix the espresso, vanilla, and salt into the marshmallows.
  3. Once the marshmallow mixture is smooth, pour in the cereal and stir together until all the cereal is coated.
  4. Pour the cereal into a greased 8×8 baking dish and press down (using either your hands or a sheet of parchment paper). Flatten into the dish evenly and let sit to cool.
  5. After the bars have cooled and set (at least 30 minutes), place the dish in the fridge and let them cool for 10 minutes.
  6. While the bars are cooling, take 1 cup of the chocolate chips and melt, in 30 second increments, in the microwave.
  7. Once the chips are melted and smooth when stirred together, pour in the rest of the chips. Let this sit for 2 minutes, then stir together until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. *This is an easier, non-temperature-taking way to temper chocolate.
  8. Take bars out of the fridge, cut into 12 pieces, and dip, one at a time, into the melted chocolate. Cover as much of the bars as you want.
  9. Place the bars on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them sit until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

24 comments

  1. We are kindred spirits, my friend.

    And I am so upset you can find that cereal. I have freaking looked everywhere and can not find it. Today, I am headed to the local health food store and hope to find it there – even my Whole Foods doesn’t carry it so I have my chocolate loving fingers crossed.

    • I found it at our little local health food store – maybe yours will have it? I was lucky that day :) I had never seen them there before!

  2. I love crispy treats soooooo much. We can easily eat the entire pan over here. They look delicious!

  3. I love crispy treats! They are so good and dipped in chocolate..yum! I can only imagine how amazing they taste! I must make these asap! :)

  4. I used to love the chocolate milk leftover from cocoa crispies! These look delish!

  5. I loved chocolate milk too growing up. It was sometimes the only way I would drink my required glass of milk at dinner. Oh the sugar addiction!

  6. That is SO funny- I loved the powder growing up too! The syrup just never did it for me. These treats look so fun! I think they’d make awesome favors at a kiddo (or adult) bday party!

  7. Scott and I just had the exact conversation about chocolate milk. Both of us said you have to use NesQuik to get chocolate milk. Using syrup was sort of cheating and it wasn’t the same at all. Not really chocolate milk, but just a syrup milk. Ick!

    Nice recipe! Who wouldn’t love a chocolate dipped crispy treat! :D

  8. These remind me of a treat I had all the time in Pre-schoolEven better they’re made with espresso! I’ve been on a coffee kick lately. ;)

  9. Dude. I NEED one of those in my life. I have some erewhon brown rice cereal in the pantry right now.

    I like Nesquik better too!

  10. Confession of mine = I want those treats. NOW.

  11. I was all about the chocolate milk as a kid…ovaltine style!

  12. Aw, these are so cute! They’d be perfect for kids- or maybe I just have baby fever! LOL!

  13. My mom would never buy me coco krispies, so I would have the regular rice krispies and add Hershey syrup to them.
    I did it with corn flakes too!
    (love strawberry Nesquik powder)

  14. Well that certainly covers taking care of the cravings!

  15. so fun and so chocolately! I am craving chocolate right now…

  16. Oh boy, I haven’t had Rice Krispie treats in so long. I think these need to make an appearance in my stomach just for old times sake. I used to love the chocolately drizzle Rice Krispie treats the best! :-D

  17. I haven’t eaten these and I am already drooling and in love. I shall make these on Monday in celebration of the first day of summer vacation! =)

  18. Aw, man! I always went for Hershey’s syrup for my chocolate milk! We can agree on one thing though – these look amazing! :)

  19. I’m with you on the super dark chocolate milk. I rarely drink my calories, so when I do…I kind of go all out!

    These rice krispies treats sound like chocolate addict heaven!

  20. Ohhh good god girl! these look amazing

  21. and i have some brown rice crispies… you’re tempting me. dang it.

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