Chocolate-Coconut-Caramel Crispy Bars
Chocolate, caramel and coconut: This is, admittedly, a flavor-combination weakness. I avoid baking German chocolate brownies; the desire to eat an entire pan single-handedly is real. And come the annual Girl Scouts cookie sale, I only wish I could avoid grocery shopping altogether, else I be seduced into box after box of the ubiquitous Samoa. So during a recent non-baked dessert binge, I decided to make something within the same flavor range but with slightly less guilt.
Rice crispy bars are one of the quickest, easiest desserts to make and even easier to manipulate. Toss in a few extra choice ingredients, and they can be crowd-pleasing for toddlers and gourmands alike. For my variation using the chocolate-caramel-coconut combo, I opted for slightly bitter semisweet chocolate chips to offset the sweetness of marshmallows and caramel, and left the coconut “uncooked” for a soft, sweet, textured bite.
Ingredients
- 5 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup caramel dessert topping
- 1 package (10 ounces) large marshmallows
Preparation
- In a large mixing bowl, combine rice cereal, chocolate chips and coconut. Set aside.
- In a four-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat caramel topping and butter, stirring constantly until butter is just melted. Add marshmallows and stir constantly until all marshmallows have melted.
- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in cereal mixture, making sure all ingredients are coated evenly. (Chocolate chips will melt.)
- Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish. With a lightly greased rubber scraper, press the mixture evenly into the dish. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Yields 12 squares