If you love the crispy peanut buttery goodness of a Nutty Buddy bar, these no-bake Rice Krispie Cookies are about to become your new favorite treat.
Light, crunchy, and packed with the irresistible chocolate peanut butter flavor combo, all without turning on the oven. Also, no corn syrup!
Nutty Buddy bars were one of my favorite special treats as a kid. If you've never had one, they're made of crunchy wafer layers filled with sweet peanut butter and coated in chocolate. Light, crispy, and hits that popular chocolate / peanut butter flavor combo (Reese's peanut butter cups lovers, I'm looking at you).
These cookies are wildly similar to those bars in terms of texture and flavor. They hit on all the happy nostalgic flavor memories just like my Cookies and Cream Cookies do for Oreo lovers.
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Why I Love This Recipe
- No Bake! This is especially appreciated on hot days when I don't want to turn on the oven.
- No Corn Syrup! I didn't set out to make this a healthy recipe. By happy accident, after the fact, I realized that these cookies are gluten-free (if you use GF crispy rice cereal) and naturally sweetened thanks to maple syrup.
Ingredients
- Chocolate Chips
- Peanut Butter
- Unsalted Butter
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Rice Krispies Cereal
- Optional: Marshmallows or other fun mix-ins
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
No need to preheat the oven! Just fire up a medium saucepan of water over high heat on the stove.
Once the water comes to a boil, place a metal bowl on top of the saucepan and add your chocolate chips to get started.
- Step 1: Melt the chocolate in a large heat proof bowl over the pot of boiling water. This is what's referred to as the double boiler method!
The steam from the water heats the bowl, allowing the ingredients to melt or cook gradually and evenly, reducing the risk of burning or overheating.
- Step 2: Mix in the peanut butter.
- Step 3: Mix in the maple syrup, butter, vanilla extract and salt.
- Step 4: Add the chocolate mixture to the Rice Krispies cereal.
- Step 5: Fold the chocolate mixture into the Rice Krispies. Fold in mini marshmallows or other adds in you might like at this step, too.
- Step 6: Scoop the "dough" onto a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet (prevent it from sticking to the pan once the cookies firm up).
- Step 7: Press down on the scoops to make them round cookies.
- Step 8: Put the cookies into the refrigerator to firm up for about an hour then enjoy!
Optional Chocolate Drizzle
I always love making food look extra cute when I’m photographing it. For the chocolate drizzle, I melted an extra half cup of chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, stirred, then continued heating in 15-second intervals until it was smooth. After that, I transferred the melted chocolate to a squeeze bottle and drizzled it over the cookies. The drizzle will firm up when you refrigerate the cookies like you see in step 8.
Hint: If you're not using chocolate chips and using a bar instead, be sure to chop the bar up into smaller pieces. This helps the chocolate to melt more evenly so that it's nice and smooth.
Substitutions
Feel free to add your own mix-ins with this recipe.
I added mini marshmallows for a rocky road meets snickers rice krispies treats vibe. Other fun additions could be white chocolate chips, toffee bits or rainbow marshmallows.
Want to make it dairy-free? Use coconut oil in place of the butter and select a dairy-free chocolate.
Top Tip
Be sure the butter is softened or melted so that it incorporates more quickly into the chocolate mixture and doesn't cause the melted chocolate to seize.
Chocolate No-Bake Rice Krispie Cookies
- Prep Time: 20
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 large cookies
- Category: dessert
- Method: cookies
- Cuisine: American
Description
No-bake rice krispie cookies are full of chocolate and peanut butter flavor. Crispy, crunchy, light and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 4 cups crispy rice cereal (100g)
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips (262g)
- 1 cup peanut butter (240g)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened or melted (56g)
- ½ cup maple syrup (120g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dash of salt
- Optional: 1 cup mini marshmallows or ½ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and set aside.
- Fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Place a heatproof bowl over the saucepan, ensuring the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and stir constantly until melted and smooth.
- Once the chocolate is melted, add the peanut butter and mix until smooth.
- Next add the butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and a dash of salt until well mixed.
- Add the chocolate mixture to a large bowl with the rice krispies cereal and fold everything together until fully incorporated. Fold in any additional mix ins at this time.
- If you're adding the optional chocolate drizzle, melt an extra half cup of chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then continue heating in 15-second intervals until it's smooth. After that, transfer the melted chocolate to a squeeze bottle or use a spoon and drizzle it over the cookies.
- Use a spoon or medium sized cookie scoop to drop portions of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, then press them down with your hand and form into cookie-shaped disks, smoothing out the edges.
- Once firm, enjoy. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 374
- Sugar: 27.2 g
- Sodium: 157.6 mg
- Fat: 23.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 39.9 g
- Fiber: 3.1 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 10.2 mg
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