I’ve been doing a lot of baked treats recently, rice crispies included! I’ve always liked making these because you can make them with any cereal, any marshmallow type, and measurements don’t matter so much. The general “recipe” is as follows:

  • 3-5 tablespoons margarine (I usually just use half a stick, which is 4)
  • 1 package (10 oz) marshmallows
  • 6 cups cereal

Instructions

  1. Melt margarine on low heat
  2. Add marshmallows, melt completely
  3. Mix in cereal in large bowl, press into pan (use pam or margarine coated bags on your hands to press down)
  4. Let set and cut into squares!
  5. Package and send to people you like!

I’d like to briefly discuss the evolution of my baking, and the incentives for doing so, as they have evolved over time. The main incentive has always been being able to create something to give to someone else to show them that you value them. Baking is a way of expressing value and affection, even if the person is far away. In high school I regularly baked for my advisory and classes because it was fun, challenging, and fulfilling. In terms of my time constraints, I didn’t have many. I did what I was supposed to, school-work and running wise with still plenty of free time for playing computer games and family stuffs. I hadn’t yet stumbled on something that I loved so much that I would choose to do it not only for a full time job, but also in my free time.

Fast forward seven or eight years, and I’ve stumbled on that something, in a big way. I now have a rich life filled with work that I am passionate about, but that means that free time that I’m willing to allocate towards something like baking is minuscule. However, 1) the desire to make things for people that I care about, and 2) the love of being creative with color and design, and 3) the enjoyment of the process of creating something from nothing, still make me want to have baking as a part of my life. The compromise is the amount of time that I’m willing to spend on these projects. No longer will I devote 5 to 6 hours in a night to making a three tier cake or a perfect batch of decorated cookies. I also no longer have the bottomless pantry and complete set of tools that were present at my family’s home, or the desire to spend large amounts of money on very specialized ingredient lists. The result is that I make simple things that are fun and quick, like two layered pink and green cheerio-crispies :)

I’d also like to note that this is my hundredth post – hooray!



Suggested Citation:
Sochat, Vanessa. "Simple Rice Crispies Treats." @vsoch (blog), 23 Jan 2011, https://vsoch.github.io/2011/simple-rice-crispies-treats/ (accessed 16 Apr 24).