Rice Crispy Treats are a staple of classroom events, family get-togethers and office potlucks–at least in my area. You’ve got your sugar, your marshmallow and your snap, crackle and pop all pressed together into a portable square. What’s not to love?

A lot, if you’re gluten-free or following macrobiotics. We want our sweets too, doggone it! Fortunately, there’s a whole lot of us out there who want the same thing. Grab your sweet tooth and try the Hip Chick’s Crispy Rice Treats!

Ingredients (quantities may differ from the link above):

• 1 cup brown rice syrup
• 2/3 cup peanut butter (or almond, cashew, hazelnut)
• Healthy dash umeboshi (plum) vinegar (try an Asian or organic food store)
• Healthy dash vanilla (optional)
• 3 cups crispy brown rice cereal
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, roasted almonds, peanuts or cashews to taste (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot over a medium flame, heat up the brown rice syrup, peanut butter, vinegar and your optional vanilla.
2. Stir constantly until the mixture is smooth, thin, and bubbling a little at the edges. Turn off the heat.
3. Pour cereal into the pot and blend well with a wooden spoon. A silicon spatula works quite well also. Add in your optional cinnamon, et al.
4. Pour into an oiled pan (square if you want fat bars, rectangular if you want thin bars) and flatten with a wet spatula if needed.
5. Let cool. Slice and serve.

My notes:

• I put in more than a healthy dash of vanilla
• I skip the cinnamon line to keep it simple
• A pie server may be your friend when it comes time to pulling these sticky treats off the pan.
• The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics has saved my taste buds, stomach, reasoning and sanity. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook and spiritual library.

Hall of Fame ingredients:

My beautiful syrupy peanut butter mix:

Incoming! The cereal has landed…

…and has been indoctrinated into the fold.

The toothsome result: