Foodie Friday - Crispy Marshmallow Treats

I love marshmallows and at this time of year they seem to be absolutely everywhere. There is only one problem 90% of the marshmallows on the market contain gelatin - an animal by product. I'm a lacto ovo vegetarian I don't want to eat bits of animal in my sweeties. Thankfully there are more and more veggie and vegan sweeties hitting the market - they aren't cheap though and the only ones I've found start at £2.49 excluding postage - wowsers! If you want that sweet marshmallow flavour there is an alternative.

Marshmallow Fluff, I kind of imagine that clouds would taste bit like this. Sweet and vanillary and now available in the UK in pretty much every supermarket there is. No gelatin in sight just a mixture of corn syrup, egg white and flavouring. I can easily eat it out of the jar with a spoon (terrible I know!) but my mum is a big of the Fluffernutter - a sandwich made with Fluff and peanut butter! - yum? As much as I love it on the end of a spoon there are loads of other ways in which you can use it. The Fluff website has loads of gorgeous recipes including a few for what we would call Rice Krispie treats. Yes I know you can buy them but again some aren't suitable for vegetarians. When you make your own you can do what you like :) This is pretty much the recipe from the Fluff website altered for us UK dwellers x

Crispy Marshmallow Treats

2oz Butter Or Margarine

6 ish oz Rice Krispies, Rice Snaps etc.

1 x 213g Jar Original Marshmallow Fluff 

Edible Glitter (Optional)

Chocolate (Optional)

1. Put your butter or margarine into a large non-stick pan 

heat gently until it's melted. As per usual I'm using butter.

2. Add the full jar of Marshmallow Fluff to the pan. Either wet your spoon or smear it with butter to stop the Fluff sticking - this is the stickiest substance ever 

Give it a stir and heat gently until the fluff has melted and combined with the butter

3. Then add your rice snaps, rice pops or whatever else the brand your using calls them. Mine are Sainsbury's Basics Crisp Rice which to be honest I wouldn't recommend

Add a few at a time and keep stirring them in - you might not need them all or you might need a few more. You want every bit of rice to be covered.

4. Lightly grease a tin with butter or margarine and pour in the contents of your pan. I'm using a silicone square brownie tin but I still greased it - this is sticky!

Press it down till it's compact and smooth on the top

5. Leave to cool for an hour and then you can either cut it into small squares straight away or you can decorate it. Half of mine is sprinkled with edible glitter 

and the other half has been drizzled with melted chocolate. 

Keep it in an airtight tin for a couple of days x You can pop it in the fridge too if you feel that it's getting a bit soft and sticky 

This is just a basic recipe at stage 3 you could add all sorts of things from dried fruit, and nuts, to chocolate chunks, toffee, or even fudge pieces, and then of course you can let your imagination run wild when it comes to toppings. I've used edible glitter, and melted chocolate but you could use anything sprinkles, toffee sauce, or you could be really daring and just dip the whole thing in chocolate but even I've got to admit that that's probably too sweet even for me . 

This is a great festive treat that is ridiculously easy to make and you really can make it the way you want too x Do you like Marshmallow Fluff ? leave me a comment and let me know x