These Christmas Rice Krispie Treats are easy to make and so delicious! Try these Santa Hat Rice Krispie Treats for an easy dessert.
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Santa Hat Rice Krispie Treats for Christmas
What's a holiday without these fun Christmas Rice Krispies Treats?
With only 10 minutes of prep time and a few simple ingredients like marshmallows, butter, and Rice Krispies - you'll have the cutest dessert that's awesome at holiday gatherings.
These Santa Hat Rice Krispies are definitely perfect when you're pressed for time in making something for parties or gatherings.
For variation, these Peppermint Fudge and Butterscotch Haystacks are also super simple to make while being a sure hit for your guests!
If you are looking for a traditional recipe, try these Gooey Homemade Rice Krispie Treats.
why we love Santa Hat Rice Krispie Treats
- Easy: Some of the easiest treats to make. Perfect for the kiddos, they can help too!
- Cheap: With grocery store costs on the rise, this is a delicious, budget-friendly dessert!
- Total Party Food: Need a treat for a kid's Christmas party? Your guests will love these cute Santa hat treats.
Rice Krispie Treats Christmas Ingredients
To make these rice krispie treats you'll need:
For the decoration you'll need:
How To Make Rice Krispie Christmas Treats
Here's how to make Santa hat shaped rice krispie treats:
- Butter a baking/cookie sheet.
- Measure your Rice Krispies in a large mixing bowl.
- In a saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and marshmallow. Mixing until you have a smooth, thick mixture.
- Once marshmallows are all melted, over medium heat, add in the candy melts, peppermint extract, and food coloring. Mix until you have the desired color.
- Once melted remove from heat and pour it over the Rice Krispies and mix.
- Pour the Rice Krispies treat into the baking sheet and spread in a thin even layer.
- Once cooled cut out 12 Santa hats with a cookie cutter.
- Pipe a wave on the bottom of the hat and a circle on the top. Then place a marshmallow on the circle and 5 marshmallows on the wave.
Storing Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
Storing: Store at room temperature for 3-4 days. Rice Krispie treats do not need to be refrigerated! They may, however, keep longer if stored in the fridge.
Refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Freezing: We don't recommend freezing rice krispie treats. They're best eaten fresh.
If you are going to freeze them, make sure they've cooled completely. I'd recommend wrapping them each in wax paper and then storing them in an airtight container.
This will prevent them from sticking and freezing together.
Substitutions for this Recipe:
Salted Butter: Butter is essential to this recipe. We haven't tried it with dairy-free butter but it might work!
Mini Marshmallows: Marshmallow fluff is a great alternative to whole marshmallows.
Rice Krispie Cereal: We don't recommend substituting rice Krispie cereal, if you'd like to use the chocolate cereal, that works well too!
Red Candy Melts: Helps to add more color, we don't recommend substituting this ingredient.
Red gel food coloring: We don't recommend using a different type of food coloring. Liquid food coloring may affect the structure of your rice Krispie treats, depending on how much was used. While red is the traditional Santa hat color, any color will work.
Peppermint extract: If peppermint isn't your thing, you can omit this ingredient altogether.
Royal icing: We recommend finding pre-mixed royal icing from your local grocery store.
Rice Krispie Treats for Christmas Variations
- Different shapes: Use any Christmas cookie cutter to cut out other festive designs.
- Shredded coconut: Swap out the mini marshmallow decoration for shredded coconut.
- M&Ms: Use M&Ms or other candy treats to use in place of the mini marshmallows for decoration.
Christmas Rice Krispie Treat Recipe FAQs
These Christmas Rice Krispies Treats can stay crispy and fresh at room temperature for 3 to 4 days when stored properly in an airtight container. If you want your Rice Krispies treats to stay longer than two days, you can store them in an airtight container and freeze them for up to six weeks.
Pressing the rice Krispie mixture into a baking sheet will allow them to be uniform and thin enough to cut out with a cookie cutter.
Your Rice Krispies Treats can fall apart if you used the wrong proportion of ingredients. Using too much butter will make it hard for your Rice Krispies to stick together. Allow to cool completely before handling.
Using high heat can cause the melted butter and marshmallows to penetrate too much into the rice Krispie cereal causing it to become softer than desired. Use low-medium heat. It is also recommended to allow them to cool completely before handling. This will allow them to dry out a bit and become crunchy again.
Rice Krispie treats do not need to be refrigerated! They may, however, keep longer if stored in the fridge. Refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Coating your cookie cutter in nonstick spray will help the cutter not stick to the treat and potentially ruin it. Allow the rice Krispies to cool for roughly 10 minutes before cutting so they'll maintain their shape.
More Christmas Desserts You'll Love
Rice Krispie Christmas Treats
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 10 oz bag of mini marshmalllows
- 6 cups rice krispies cereal
For decoration:
- 1.5 cups mini marshmallows about 72 marshmallows- you might need more if your cookie cutter is larger
- ¼ cup red candy melts
- ⅛ teaspoon red gel food coloring
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- Royal icing homemade or store-bought in a piping bag with a nozzle
Instructions
- Butter a baking/cookie sheet. Set aside.
- Measure your Rice Krispies in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat melt the butter and marshmallow. Mixing until you have a smooth white thick mixture.
- Once marshmallows are all melted, over medium heat, add in the candy melts, peppermint extract, and food coloring. Mix until you have the desired color.
- Once melted remove from heat and pour it over the Rice Krispies and mix until combined.
- Pour the Rice Krispies treat into the baking sheet and spread in a thin even layer. For this step, using a fork coated in butter helps, gently press down and out to make the layer. Let cool completely, 30 to 60 minutes.
- Once cooled cut out 12 Santa hats with cookie cutter.
- Pipe a wave on the bottom of the hat and a circle on the top. Then place a marshmallow on the circle and 5 marshmallows on the wave. Continue until every hat is decorated. (Note: you can use the leftovers and turn them into balls, ornaments).
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
CHEF’S TOOLS:
- Baking sheet: USA Pan
- David Burke saucepan.
- Food Coloring: Wilton
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