Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are a staple American dessert, and are often used as a easy first cooking lesson for children. I'm a total novice at cooking so this seemed like a good place to start!

I know nothing about cooking, and I reluctantly joined Sunday dinner group (through marriage). I must confess that after a few weeks I'm actually starting to get into it.

As I was picking such an easy dish I decided to add a little excitement by throwing some Oreos into it.

One baking dish of rice krispie cake yields about 10 to 12 decent sized servings, all for about $5. You will need:

• 12 oz (340g) standard size box of Rice Krispies - $2.50
• 18 oz (510g) bag of Marshmallows - $1.50
• 15 reduced fat Oreos - $1
• 4.5 tbsp of butter (about half a stick) - $0.25

I try to eat reasonably healthy food, so I adapted the recipe accordingly. The standard recipes suggest having 6 tbsp of butter, but almost all the saturated fat and cholesterol come from the butter, so I just reduced the amount. The reduced fat Oreos have half the saturated fat of the normal ones, and they honestly taste just as good.

I put all the nutritional information into a spreadsheet and crunched the numbers. Each rice krispie treat serving (about the size of a soda can) contains:

		RDA%
Calories	400	16%
Saturated fat	3.7g	18%
Cholesterol	14mg	5%
Sodium	338mg	14%
Carbohydrates	79g	26%

If I can find a substitute for butter that doesn't ruin the flavor then this would be a really healthy dessert - you could reduce the amount saturated fat significantly, and there would be no cholesterol. I'll definitely investigate that next time I make it.

As for cooking, the only tricky bit is stopping the mixture from sticking to anything it touches. Apparently you should cover your hands and stirring implement with cooking spray (e.g. 'Pam'), but I only found this out afterwards.

The instructions are simple:

• get a baking dish ready and spray it with cooking spray
• chop the Oreos
• melt the butter in a huge pot on the hob on low heat (e.g. level 2 of 10)
• add the marshmallows, stir constantly until they are liquid
• add the rice krispies and stir furiously, this is damn hard work!
• once mixed, add the Oreos and stir until mixed
• remove from heat and force contents into a baking dish
• smooth the top for a nice finish
  

You can eat it warm, or at room temperature. I wouldn't recommend putting it in the fridge, apparently it loses some of its crunchiness. Enjoy!