Recipe: Alicia's Brown Rice Treats

I wanted to share some of my fave recipes .. and since it's summer vacation and many of you have kidlings at home that are driving you insane, I decided to share a kid-friendly recipe from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet cookbook.

I usually halve the recipe. Shown in the photo is a half recipe put into an 8x8 pan so the bars are thick.. you can also use a 9x13 pan and get a thinner bar that will go further as far as pieces. 

This is not a cheap treat to make because healthy stuff costs more but giving this to your kids and yourself is far better than the crap most people eat and much better than the original of this recipe that uses CORN SYRUP or the recipe that uses marshmallows (not vegan), butter and white rice cereal.

Ick.

These are delicious and you can cut them small because they are rich but not overly sweet. You can regular chocolate chips or leave them out to make them healthier.

If you make a full recipe it will take an entire 15 oz jar of brown rice syrup so I suggest halving the recipe. I used 7 oz of syrup and 1/2 cup peanut butter, 4.5 cups of the cereal and used 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips. This made them nice and gooey and not dry at all. Yum! This would be good with crunchy peanut butter as well.

Alicia's Brown Rice Treats

1 box brown rice crisps cereal (look in the health aisle and choose one with the least amount of sugar)
1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup (health aisle - this is a whole 15 oz jar)
Fine sea salt
3/4 cup all-peanut, no sugar added natural variety of peanut butter (Smuckers has one for about $2.50)
1/2 cup vegan or grain-sweetened chocolate chips (I like mini)

Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.  You need room to mix it!

Heat the rice syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat.

When rice syrup liquefies, add the peanut butter and stir until well combined. Pour over the rice cereal. Mix well with wooden spoon.

Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature, stir in the chocolate chips. Makes sure the mixture is cool, or you will end up with melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips in your treats. (I couldn't wait so mine are a little melty but who cares? LOL)

Turn the mixture into an 8x8 or 9x13 baking dish. Wet your wood spoon lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan. Let cool for 1 hour before cutting into squares or bars -- if you can! You won't be able to.

Variation: Substitute almond butter for the peanut butter and raisins for the chocolate chips.

Excerpted from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (2009, Rodale). All rights reserved.