A no-bake pumpkin dessert that is low in added sugar and high in fun fall flavor
Despite temperatures still fit for the summer, I am all-for celebrating fall.
Which basically means one thing: pumpkin
And as much as I like pumpkin, I don’t love everything pumpkin.
There are some things pumpkin that I don’t like. Pumpkin Pie is a good example. It’s just not my fave. I’d much rather have Pecan Pie.
But that’s neither here nor there because I do love lots of different pumpkin things. These Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats are the perfect example.
These are incredibly delicious and make me excited for the cooler temperatures just around the corner in 6-8 weeks.
Last night, I was attending a little impromptu dinner with some girl friends, and I wanted to bring dessert. Everyone loves dessert and I like making it. It’s a win-win situation. Plus, it’s nice to have feed-back for recipes from my friends.
So I whipped up a batch of these treats, and I couldn’t stop licking the bowl. Then I went on a run, and came back to take photos of the Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats.
After the photo shoot, I treated myself to a bar and noticed that they were not crispy. Hmm… not good, especially when crispy is in the title of a recipe.
As I was racking my brain for what would make them soggy {too much pumpkin, not enough sugar, not enough cereal, …?}, I grabbed a handful of brown rice cereal right from the box and tossed it in my mouth. I was unpleasantly surprised to notice that they were not even remotely crispy. A quick glance at the “best by” date and I realized that the crispy brown rice cereal I used was, in fact, stale. Best by date: May 14. Oops!
I still brought the stale treats to my friends, and I think they were enjoyed {everyone said they liked them}. The flavor was really good. The lack of crunch was not.
Moral of the story: use crispy cereal. Or more importantly, use cereal that isn’t old.
That should be a given, but sometimes things slip your mind, right? 😉
On a redeeming note, today is Rice Crispy Treat day. So even though I forgot to check the date of my cereal, I subconsciously knew that I needed to make rice crispy treats to celebrate.
Enjoy!
Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup almond butter {or sunflower seed butter}
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/16 tsp nutmeg
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 5 cups crispy brown rice cereal
- 2 TBSP semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment, waxed paper, or foil. Set aside
- Add pumpkin, almond butter, honey, cinnamon, salt, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until completely combined. Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Add in crispy brown rice cereal and stir until completely combined.
- Press mixture into prepared baking pan.
- Heat chocolate chips in a very small bowl in the microwave for about 20-45 seconds. Stir and heat another 15-30 seconds until melted. Drizzle chocolate over pumpkin rice crispy treats. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes until chocolate has set and pumpkin rice crispy treats are cool. Cut into 16 squares. Enjoy!
Such an easy fall treat! Thanks!
It really is! Thanks for stopping by, Marjory!
These bars looked really good and I had all the ingredients, even recently purchased rice crispies. I made the bars exactly as printed, making no changes or substitutions. The bars looked fantastic and I chilled them in the fridge until the chocolate was set. The bars were AWFULL!! The bars were soft–no crispness and the cloves and cinnamon were overpowering. My DH didn’t like them either. I threw the whole batch out. I don’t remember ever having to throw out a whole batch of anything I ever made. I can’t even give this recipe one star!
Loving this recipe. I’m sitting here in a sweatshirt so autumn is in full swing here in New England. Bring on the pumpkin. And I’m with you; I don’t like pumpkin pie!
Thanks Liz! Can’t believe it’s sweatshirt weather up there. I thought it felt nice this morning at a “cool” 79 haha.
And I’m happy to know I’m not the only non-pumpkin pie lover
YUM! Can’t wait to try to make some of these! I’ve tried making pumpkin rice krispies treats before, but the cereal didn’t retain its crispness the next day, and I was so sad!
Thanks Lisa!! They are amazing 🙂
This look delicious! I’m always looking for “healthier” rice crispy treats… pinning now!
Thanks Cassie!! Gotta love rice crispy treats 🙂
Pin, pin, pinning to make asap! Brilliant Meme…love the pumpkin pie spices + chocolate!!!
Thanks Serena!! I couldn’t stop licking the bowl 🙂
So yummy! My daughter and I are on our own this weekend and she love to bake-I think these look just perfect to make together, but I will be sure and use fresh cereal 🙂 Happy TGIF!!
Fun!! And yes, definitely use fresh cereal haha. Have a great weekend 🙂
Intrigued by these – I’ve made PB krispy treats often but never thought to add pumpkin. Now I will happily share this on the first day of fall next week – I vowed no pumpkin social shares until summer was officially over (can you tell I’m a summer gal – ha!)
Thanks Deanna! I am a summer girl too but feel a little ready for cooler weather, so I finally broke out the pumpkin haha
I love the looks of these and that they are low in sugar! Scheduled to share on FB tomorrow and pinned 🙂
Thanks so much Julie! I appreciate the shares 🙂
Wow rice crispy bars definitely take me back to my childhood! These pumpkin flavoured bars look and sound incredibly delicious.. definitely a recipe that I need to recreate!
Thanks Thalia! I loooved rice crispy treats as a kid, but it’s hard to make them now {knowing all the junk that goes in them} haha. This are much better and fun for fall 🙂
Regular Rice Krispies are not gluten free, despite being made primarily of rice, as they contain barley flavoring. They do make and sell gluten free Rice Krispies. If these are being made for someone with celiac or gluten intolerance, this is important to know. Other than that, this looks like a fantastic recipe!
Thanks for your reminder. I buy the crispy brown rice cereal linked above that is gluten-free so I just forgot to mention that, but I’ll add it in
So glad you stopped by, and thanks again 🙂
I used a fresh bag of Rice Krispies and they came out tasting stale. It tastes like a stale sugary soggy Rice Krispies, kind of like cereal that’s been sitting out with milk too long. I followed the directions to a tee, but this recipe was a big fail.
Oh no, Katherine!! I’m so sorry they didn’t turn out well for you!! I’ve made these a few times successfully, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Again, really sorry that they did not work for you 🙁