These puffed brown rice cereal treats are a slightly healthier alternative to Halloween candy. Even though my diet was healthy before becoming vegan, we always bought a bag of Halloween candy for us each year. This year we didn’t want to go off the deep end, so we’ve tried to think of reasonable snacks that are real treats for us. These are lower in sugar than candy and made with vegan ingredients – no surprises.
I wanted to make two colors of them originally – green and black – but only found plant-based food coloring in a few colors, so black and orange it is! The black turned out to be kind of gray when mixed with the marshmallows. Luckily, I had bought a chocolate rice cereal to try along with the regular puffed brown rice cereal, so that was fine. The chocolate cereal was sweetened and that was too much sugar for me. If I make them again, I probably will forego the food coloring altogether and use only the unsweeted cereal I used for the orange ones.
The first few days after making these, we only ate about a quarter of them. I was worried they might go bad, so I wrapped a few of them in plastic wrap, then put those into freezer bags and popped them into the freezer. After freezing them a few days, I tried one and they are great after freezing.
People who are much more clever than me have used icing to make monsters and other Halloween creatures out of these. I had some Wilton (also vegan) sprinkles and colored sugar on hand, and those added a bit of color to the top when sprinkled on after pushing the treats into the pans.
We’re slightly addicted to these now, and they should carry us right up to October 31st with no problems at all!
You might also be interested in Vegan Naan Pizzas with spiders as toppings.
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 5 minutes |
| Servings |
treats
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- 2 tablespoons vegan butter I use Earth Balance
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 6 cups puffed brown rice cereal Use Nature's Path or Erewhon rice cereals for gluten-free treats (I used Nature's Path)
- 10 ounces vegan marshmallows I used Dandies
- plant-based food coloring I used Color Garden
Ingredients
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- Over low heat, melt the butter and the coconut oil in a dutch oven.
- Add in the marshmallows all at once, and stir constantly until melted. The marshmallows will all clump together and the lumps should mostly be gone when melted. Add food coloring at this point, if using, and stir to combine well.
- Add the puffed rice cereal one third at a time, stirring until mixed well each time.
- Once blended, pour immediately into a 13" x 9" baking dish and push into place with oiled or buttered fingers. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.
- Let cool before slicing into bars. Decorate with icing if desired. Store in a covered dish; leftovers may be frozen.
- Repeat to make additional colors!
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