Toasty S'mores Rice Krispie Treats

Toasty S'mores Rice Krispie Treats
Toasting the marshmallows first makes all the difference.

I should title this post "How Do I NOT Weigh 300 Pounds?" because I've already made focaccia, gluten free rolls, cookies, ice cream and these over the last 32 hours. It sounds crazy when I say it like that, but I do have my reasons that I won't bore you with right now. Even the reason I made these is a little irrational, but my excuse is that I'm a teacher on summer vacation and I have guests coming over for dinner tonight. That said, here's how I came upon this recipe.
I know that the whole s'mores everything craze is well overdone, but you know what? S'mores are delicious. They just are, and I've had this mega-bag of crisp rice cereal on my hands for about a month now. I keep meaning to use them up, but rice krispie treats are so boring. Then today I thought about s'mores rice krispie treats. I was sure someone else had done it before, but I was wondering if anyone had gone to the trouble of actually toasting the marshmallows before assembling the treats. For me, the burnt sugar taste in a s'more is one of its most charming attributes. I looked up several recipes via Pinterest, and some common themes were Golden Grahams cereal, toasting marshmallows on top, and the use of chocolate chips. None of those would do for what I had in mind. I'm sure if I search harder, I'll find someone who's done the pre-toasted marshmallows, but for now, I'm saying I made this recipe up. If you've done something similar, or seen something similar, please comment, and I will revise with a link to that recipe.
Now, how do these taste? Better than I even thought they would--all the taste of s'mores in an ooey gooey square. The toasted marshmallows make the difference. I think I may even try regular rice krispie treats with toasted marshmallows. There's the classic Hershey's flavor, and a little graham cracker crunch, and the toasty burned marshmallow flavor. Oh my goodness. These are good. Really, really good. I think I need to stop now. You need to go and try making these. Do it.

Toasty S'mores Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 25 large marshmallows
• 3 cups crisp rice cereal
• 4 whole graham cracker wafers
• 1 large (4.4 oz.) bar of Hershey's Milk Chocolate

Instructions:
Turn your oven broiler on.
Place a large pot on the stove to wait.
Cut chocolate bar into small pieces and set aside.
Cut graham cracker wafers into small pieces as well and set aside.
In a non-stick brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9), place the butter and then place pan in the oven for about 1-2 minutes, or until butter is pretty much melted. Remove pan from oven and swirl melted butter all over and partially up the sides of the pan. Set pan down and arrange marshmallows flat sides up and down in a 5x5 array (check out my math word there). 
Place pan back in the oven for 1-2 minutes under the broiler until marshmallows are toasted to your liking. I like mine almost black, and they start to smoke a bit in the oven before I take them out. When marshmallows are good and brown, take them out and immediately scrape them and the butter into the waiting pot on the stove. Use a silicone spatula to get out all of the butter and marshmallow.
Turn burner on low, and then stir marshmallows and butter until thoroughly melted, but be sure not to over cook.
Add rice cereal and graham cracker pieces. Stir until completely incorporated and then pour carefully into the used pan. With the silicone spatula or a knife, roughly spread the mixture to cover the whole pan. Sprinkle chocolate pieces over the top as evenly as you can and then place a piece of wax paper over the top. Gently press everything into the pan to fill in the gaps. If you have too much chocolate in places, use a knife to reposition them and then press down again. 
Allow to cool completely before cutting.
Makes 16 servings