Sometimes You Just Have to Make Due.. {Recipe: Hippie Crispie Treats}

We live in a fairly isolated community. As with everything, there are pros and cons that come with it. One of the most frustrating is trying to purchase specific items for projects and nowhere in town has these items. Whether it is for art projects, craft projects or recipes. So often we have to make due.

A few years ago, my son Bryce made these Hippie Crispie Treats while visiting his aunt's (my sister's) organic, gluten-free bakery. He had everything at his fingertips. But back home, we can't get a few of the items the recipe calls for. So it is either wait for a trip out of town or hope to find reasonable substitutes. 

Fortunately the substitutes for this recipe worked beautifully. I was apprehensive because the original recipe specifies not to use puffed rice, but that is all I could find that did not have all the additives of the typical crisped rice cereal found on the grocery shelves. It worked great! It may be a little chewier, but that is all the better in these bars. It gives it more of a chewy, caramel texture. 

Here is the original recipe with the substitutions italicized:

Hippie Crispie Treats

Original recipe is from: http://bojongourmet.com/2010/05/hippy-crispies/

The bars:

1/4 cup (3 ounces) maple syrup

1/4 cup (2 3/4 ounces) brown rice syrup or agave syrup

1/4 cup (2 ounces) almond butter

1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) chocolate wafers or coarsely chopped chocolate (preferably 70%cocoa mass) or 1/4 cup of the darkest chocolate chips you can find, in my case it was Guittard 63% cocoa mass extra dark chocolate chips-Bonus, they were on sale at Big Lots!

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) coconut oil

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups crisp rice cereal (not 'puffed' rice) as mentioned above, I used puffed rice

The chocolaty topping:

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) coconut oil I found this too much a bit too much, so I used 1 teaspoon and it worked great!

1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) chocolate again, I used the Guittard 63% cocoa mass extra dark chocolate chip

2 tablespoons chopped, toasted almonds I used slivered raw almonds, toasted and chopped up a bit

1/8 teaspoon flaky sea salt I actually had fleur de sel. Of course, I purchased it out of town, but I always keep it on hand

Unsweetened coconut, shredded-The original recipe does not call for this, but I think it is a nice addition

Line an 8x4 or 9x5" loaf pan with a sling of parchment or wax paper

In a large saucepan, bring the maple syrup and rice syrup (or agave syrup) to a rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon (be careful not to let it boil over). Remove from the heat and stir in the nut butter, 1/4 cup chocolate, 1 tablespoon coconut oil and 1/8 teaspoon fine salt until smooth and the chocolate is melted. fold in the rice cereal (puffed rice) and pack the mixture firmly and evenly into the lined pan (damp fingers can help here).

In a small saucepan ( or the same big one, of you've scraped it clean), melt the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate and 1 tablespoon (teaspoon) coconut oil together over very low heat, stirring constantly just until melted (be careful not to scorch the chocolate). Pour the chocolate mixture over the rice mixture, spreading to smooth. Sprinkle the nuts and flaky salt (and coconut, or any combination of the 3 or none!) over the top. 

Let the bars set at cool room temperature (about 1 hour) or in the fridge (about 1/2 hour) until firm. Lift the sling out of the pan, trim away the edges if you like, and cut into 8 squares. During summer months or warm weather, definitely recommend they be kept in the fridge. 

These treats are best the day they are made. They will keep at room temperature for several days, though the cereal will soften slightly. Again, I would keep them in the fridge during summer or warm weather. These are so good, though, they don't usually last that long in out house!

Enjoy!