Chocolate rice crispy treats

Do you like "rice krispies"?  Since I didn't arrive in the States until the age of eight, I came into rice crispy treats a little later in life.  I think I've been relatively ambivalent about them.  They're good but I thought they were a bit too sweet straight out of the packet.  But in the last year or so, I feel like I've been re-introduced to the simplicity and tastiness of simple American ingredients like peanut butter and crisp rice cereal. 

So I recently asked my six-year old if he thinks he'd like rice crispy treats with chocolate (he hasn't really been a fan of the plain version).  I told him I was thinking of making some and he said to me:  "I don't know but I think I'll like it since I like everything chocolate."  Well, that's true for both of us and it was my thought exactly.  This recipe comes from Martha Stewart  and it basically takes a cocoa-bittersweet chocolate spin on the classic.  You've still got that lovely gooey, chewy crispiness we know and love, but on top of that is the bonus chocolate flavor from unsweetened cocoa powder stirred into the mix and melted bittersweet chocolate poured over the top. 

This is a nice little treat to make with and for little ones.  But frankly, adults (like my husband and I) couldn't stop eating them.  They are goood.  I love the classic crisp/chewy texture and the cocoa-chocolate flavor in these.  I threw in a pinch of salt to liven things up just a little, and the result is not too sweet.  Should you want to make things even easier and skip the chocolate drizzle over the top, you could stir in some mini chocolate chips with the cereal instead, but I like how these looked and tasted.   

I recommend making up a batch and sharing with both young and old(er).

Hot chocolate taste test

This little experiment was so much fun!  For a while, I've been thinking about different ways of making hot chocolate (or hot cocoa - I'm just going to use the two terms interchangeably here since I think most of us do) and which my family and I would prefer the most.  So I decided to hold a tiny, totally informal and unstructured, hot chocolate taste test.  Our six-year old was very eager and excited to take part in this. 

When I think of winter, I think of warming up with cups of hot chocolate.  Ok, I also think of Christmas cookies, chestnuts, cakes, chocolates, and twinkling lights.  But back to the topic at hand.  I love making some hot chocolate to have with our "Christmas treats" throughout December.  We make a little time to gather round in the kitchen with a little plate of treats and some hot chocolate.  

The three types of hot chocolate are ready for tasting, along with some chocolate chip cookies

If you're like me and if we were to take it literally, your hot chocolate is really hot cocoa and you make it from a mix.  I've ripped open many a packet of Swiss Miss in my day (there's no shame in it); as a kid, pouring water over the powder and giving it a stir was as much cooking as I could muster and I was very proud of myself.  Nowadays, it's still a mix but our mix of choice has been Godiva's milk chocolate hot cocoa mix.  Convenience is the biggest draw since you only need to heat up some milk and stir.  We also think it's quite tasty.  But what about homemade hot cocoa using unsweetened cocoa as a base?  Or how about taking it a step further and making Parisian hot chocolate with actual chocolate? 

So this is how we came to our little taste test.  There were just 3 participants: my husband, our six-year old, and myself.  Scientific, it is not, and you could say I should be disqualified since I'm the one preparing the cups.  We just have to remember this is all in the name of fun.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the three contenders for favorite hot cocoa/chocolate in our household.  All three cups were made with whole milk.  Check out how different each look on appearance alone.

The first cup above is the Godiva hot cocoa mix.  Just add warmed milk to the mix and stir. 

Second, we have a cup made with unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar.  You can say it's our own cocoa mixl; essentially, we're making a chocolate paste as the basis for this hot cocoa. 

Third and last, we have the Parisian hot chocolate.  I guess we can say this is the authentic hot chocolate here.  It's the richest tasting one using bittersweet chocolate.  I have to say that on appearance alone, this would take the prize.  Would you agree?


*Now which cup of hot chocolate/cocoa do you think "won"?  The answer might surprise you.  You'll have to click on to read the results but I do have to say that overall, all three cups of hot chocolate were good.  There was a small difference of opinion (the little one takes a much firmer stance than the wishy washy adults) and we found that we might prefer one over another depending on circumstances.  But we did pick a winner.  The results were not unanimous but two tasters agreed in totality.