Okay... good. I'd be so depressed if it wasn't. It wouldn't stop me from eating it though. If you've been following my blog, you know I have a love (and partial obsession) with ALL THE PUMPKIN foods. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I mean, I'm bringing you yet another pumpkin themed recipe, right? You also probably know of my love and partial obsession of coffee. I promise there's a connection here.
So a few weekends ago, I went home to Ohio to visit my parents and sister and had to make a stop at one of my favorite places in Cincinnati, Coffee Emporium (a coffee shop, obviously). I had to stop by, because in trying to fit so many things in to one day, I may have only had 4 hours of sleep the night before, so coffee was needed, obviously. I had also come to town that specific weekend because Alton Brown was visiting as part of his tour (sidenote: it was awesome, go see it when he comes to your city). This brings me to reason number two for stopping by Coffee Emporium. Rumor had it Alton Brown was going to pay a visit. Spoiler alert, I missed him by an hour. Sad day indeed. However, it seems Alton really enjoyed his honey late.
Coffee Emporium happens to be the place back home that also sells my all time favorite chocolate chip scones. Is your mouth watering? Mine is. Well they were out of them the day I stopped in. It's fine. They also happen to make these amazing pumpkin rice crispy treats. Except I was really lucky that day because they were out of those too. So instead of crying about my bad luck (because of course, on my way back to my parents house after the Coffee Emporium stop, I got a flat tire on the highway), I decided I'd just make my own version of the pumpkin rice crispy treats (plus chocolate, obviously) when I got back to Peoria. Seems my luck must have turned around at some point because they turned out pretty great, which is why I'm sharing the recipe with you. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Treats
Ingredients: Cooking spray 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 (10 ounce) bag mini marshmallows 3 tablespoons pumpkin puree 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 6 cups rice crispy cereal 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips. | Instructions: Grease a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside. Line a small mixing bowl with a paper towel. Measure out pumpkin puree onto paper towel. Use a second paper towel and ring out some of the moisture from the pumpkin. This is important because you want "crisp" treats, not soggy ones. Think of this the same way you would think of removing extra moisture from defrosted frozen spinach. Measure out 1/3 cup marshmallows (these are for mixing in later). In a saucepan, melt butter and remaining marshmallows together. Remove from heat and fold in pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. Allow mixture to cool completely (20-30 minutes). Not allowing mixture to cool will result in soggy treats. In a mixing bowl, combine cereal, cooled marshmallow mixture, reserved marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in greased baking pan and allow to set for 20-30 minutes before cutting in to squares. Treats should last about 1 week. Enjoy! |