Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Roll

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like I've been seeing Rice Krispie treats everywhere lately. I've never really thought that I like Rice Krispie squares, probably because I'm not big on things with marshmallows in them. So I hadn't really been paying attention to all the Rice Krispie recipes I'd been seeing, until I came across this chocolate peanut butter Rice Krispie roll from Made that someone had pinned on Pinterest (can't remember who now, sorry!).

The pictures immediately brought back childhood memories of a very similar roll that my mom used to make and that I remember loving so much. Only a couple days after seeing that pin, I went out to buy the ingredients to make it myself!

This is probably the easiest dessert I've ever made - the only equipment you really need is a microwave, and the whole thing probably took me about 15 minutes to make. All you do is mix some Rice Krispies with melted marshmallows, peanut butter, and a bit of butter, then spread the mixture on a pan. Next you melt chocolate with more peanut butter (though the original recipe called for peanut butter chips) and spread that in a layer on top, then roll the whole thing up like a jelly roll, and slice! The hardest part is waiting for it to harden in the fridge before you can slice and eat it!

These didn't turn out exactly how I remember my mom's Rice Krispie roll to be because hers had a much more visible and solid chocolate swirl in it, whereas with these, the chocolate spread out a bit so that you couldn't really see the swirl as well. However, once I took a bite I didn't really care about whether you could see the swirl or not because they tasted amazing! My whole family couldn't stop eating them - they're quite addictive!

When I ate a slice straight from the fridge, I thought the chocolate taste was a lot stronger than the peanut butter, but the peanut butter seemed to become more noticeable after they warmed up a bit to room temperature. If you're looking for a really strong peanut butter flavour, you could probably just increase the amount of peanut butter in the filling, but I thought the balance was pretty good as is.

I'd definitely make these again when I need a really easy dessert to whip up for a crowd, as these would please both kids and adults! And now that I seem to have a renewed love for Rice Krispie treats (and tons of Rice Krispies left in the Family-sized box I bought), I'm eager to go back to some of those recipes I've been seeing lately and try one out! Here's a few recent recipes that I have my eye on:

Butterfinger Rice Krispie Treats from Recipe Girl
Chubby Hubby Rice Krispie Treats from The Sweets Life
Nutter Butter Krispie Treats from Cookies and Cups
Salted Brown Butter Cocoa Nib Rice Krispie Treats from Food + Words
Chocolate Butterscotch Marshmallow Treats from Gingerbread Bagels
Nutella Rice Krispie Bars from Sugarcrafter
Cinnamon Roll Rice Krispie Treats from Cooking Classy

If you have any other good ideas for using up Rice Krispies, let me know!

Happy Leap Day :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Roll

Adapted from Made

Makes about 25 pieces

Ingredients:

10 oz mini marshmallows
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter, divided
6 cups Rice Krispies
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Line a large jelly-roll pan (mine was 18 by 13 inches but I didn’t quite fill the whole thing) with waxed paper, and spray the paper with non-stick spray.

Place marshmallows, butter, and 1/4 cup peanut butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high in the microwave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Add the Rice Krispies and stir until coated.

Spread mixture onto the greased wax paper. Coat hands in non-stick spray and pat down the Rice Krispie mixture until even and smooth (I left about a 1-inch border on one long edge of the pan because my mixture didn’t quite cover the whole pan).

Add chocolate chips and 1/2 cup peanut butter to a separate microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 30 second intervals, for about 1 minute and 30 seconds total, until melted. Stir until smooth.  

Pour chocolate mixture over the Rice Krispies and smooth to cover the surface. Don’t spread it quite to the edge on the long edges.

Roll the mixture jelly-roll style into a log, starting with one of the longer edges and rolling towards the opposite long edge. Pull the wax paper from under the log as you roll towards the opposite side to help it along.

Place log in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, then slice into pieces about 1/2" thick.

For helpful pictures on how to roll the log, see the original post here.