Christmas Tree Rice Krispies Treats

These Christmas Tree Rice Krispies Treats are fun and festive, and you don’t have to put a lot of time into making them.

» For more Christmas time treats try this Winter Hot Chocolate Sharing Board or Easy Microwave Peanut Brittle.

These treats are a huge hit at a party, because everyone loves Rice Krispies Treats and they’re just so cute. We made them recently for a party and everyone was talking about them. These were so much fun to make that we made spider web treats for Halloween.

All you need, beyond the normal tools, is green food coloring and some frosting pens or sprinkles. They come together quickly and can keep for up to 2 days, if you want to make them ahead.

» Find more Christmas cookie recipes here.

Ingredients You Need

Rice Krispies Treats are super easy to make. You’ve probably made them dozens of times already, so this will be easy. All you have to do extra is add food coloring.

• Butter – I always use salted butter.
• Marshmallow – about 1 full bag of jet-puffed marshmallows
• Rice Krispies cereal
• Green food coloring – Be sure to get one that has no-taste or it will add a sour taste to the treats. I used a natural food coloring in Moss Green.
• Kit Kat bar – I use Kit Kat pieces for the tree trunks. You could also use pretzel sticks, a piece of chocolate, or a piece of tootsie roll. Get creative!
• Sprinkles and other decorations – I bought a pack of 4 icing pens with primary colors to decorate the treats. You could also make your own icing and use a frosting bag with a small tip. For decorations, you can use little candy buttons or stars or sprinkles instead of icing if you want.

Equipment

• Large stock pot
• Rubber spatula
• Knife or Christmas tree cookie cutter

How to Make Rice Krispie Treats Trees

Line a 9″x13″ baking tray with parchment paper. Spray or butter the paper. This will keep the Rice Krispies from sticking. They can be very difficult to get out a pan with no parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. I used the inner pot from my 6-quart Instant Pot Pro, which has a flat bottom and can be used on the stove top. It’s just the perfect size.

Add the marshmallows and stir them frequently until they are mostly melted. It takes about 5-8 minutes for them to melt down. Medium heat is good for this. Too hot will scorch the marshmallows and too low will take forever.

Add the food coloring. I had to add about 4 healthy squeezes of the bottle to get this dark green color. You can go lighter if you want, but keep in mind that the Rice Krispies are light colored and will make the color lighter when you add them.

When all the marshmallows are dissolved and the food coloring is evenly mixed in, take the pot off the heat and add the Rice Krispies. I dump them all in at once and start folding gently.

Fold the cereal in with a spatula until it’s evenly coated with the marshmallow. Go easy on it and try to do it quickly, so you don’t break up the cereal too much and so it doesn’t harden before you’re done stirring.

Pour the mixture onto the baking tray. Put some butter on your hands and pat down the Rice Krispies until uniform and even. Allow it to cool for an hour. This will firm it up so you can cut it easily.

Use a knife or cookie cutter to cut out the trees. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, the easiest way to cut them is to half the sheet lengthwise, then cut zigzag across the block to make even triangles.

Decorating the Rice Krispies Treat Trees

Step 1: Put on the trunk

The first thing you need to do is put the trunk on your Christmas Tree. I use a Kit Kat bar, broken into little pieces, with the side chocolate shaved off, so it looks like a piece of wood. There are lots of other options. Use whatever you like.

To adhere the trunk, just squeeze on a little bit of icing and attach the trunk.

Step 2: Put on the star

I’m not much of a perfectionist, as you can tell from my “star”. At first, I tried to cut out stars with a cookie cutter from the Rice Krispies Treats, but that didn’t work well, so I just balled some up and decorated it with some yellow icing. You can get as precise and perfect as you wish. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

Step 3: Decorate the tree

For the decorations, I used icing pens to make red and yellow ornaments and then sprinkled on some white crystal sprinkles. You could use white icing to make garland. You could sprinkle on powdered sugar to make snow. You could use candy buttons and stars for the ornaments, instead of icing. Anything goes.

How Long Will They Keep?

Rice Krispies Treats have a way of becoming stale pretty quickly, so don’t plan to keep them for more than 1-2 days. If you aren’t going to serve them right away, refrain from decorating them until you are ready to serve them. Otherwise, the decorations will stick to each other when/if you stack them for storage.

To store, put them in an air-tight container or bag and don’t open it until you’re ready to serve. That will preserve them the best.

Tips & Notes

• Use a fresh bag of marshmallows for this recipe. We all have half used bags in the pantry but they will not melt as well. Grab a new bag at the grocery store.
• Try adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the melted marshmallows. It adds more flavor.
• You can coat your fingers or spoon in butter to keep the rice krispies mixture from sticking to your hands while you are pressing it into the baking tray. You can also wet your finger with water and press the mixture into the baking sheet both options should keep your hands clean.
• Add a cup of mini marshmallows to your mixing bowl as you are stirring the cereal into the melted marshmallows. The mini marshmallows will melt and add extra little texture and chewiness.

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