“Why would anyone only make one kind of rice krispie square?” was the thought that went through my head when I was deciding which recipe to make. I’d first seen OhSheGlows’ recipe awhile back and kept the recipe in mind for the next time I felt like picking up some gluten-free rice krispie cereal (aka never). I finally saw an enormous bag of organic rice puffs (they can’t be called “rice krispies” if they’re not from Kellogg’s, after all) and figured it was time for some honey-sweetened joy. I even had earth balance in my fridge (the soy-free version). But since I’d just made vegetarian marshmallows and noticed the note at the bottom that you could just pour the syrup over rice krispies and let them harden before cutting them into squares, it seemed like the best was to both use up extra boiled honey syrup from making marshmallows and to compare the two rice krispie square recipes.
The oh she glows recipe called for almond butter (I used just 3 tbsp tahini instead), which seemed a bit too savoury. It also had regular butter, so would be a creamier finish, I figured – more like traditional rice krispies made from nothing but cereal, butter, and sugar.
The oh she glows recipe also didn’t require a candy thermometre and was therefore a lot less effort. So I wanted to see if the extra effort was worth it. Here’s how they compared:
Taste
Oh Sh Glows Tahini Rice Krispies – a really subtle tahini flavour since I skimped, and I’m happy I did. They were plenty sweet and I wouldn’t want a really nutty dessert anyway. Personal preference. The honey flavour was also lighter.
GrenDivaMom: A rich, caramel-like syrup that was more intense than traditional rice krispies. After trying both of these recipes, though, I’ll never want to make rice krispie squares with plain white sugar again. Where’s the flavour? Oh right, the butter. This recipe didn’t have any of that, which would have mellowed it. I liked the almost malted quality of the krispies, and it was perfect with tea because the hot water leached the sugar out. So you had to chew the rice krispie before it disintegrated in your mouth. And every chew got sweeter and more flavourful instead of the other way around. This effect was no where near as pronounced with the OhSheGlows recipe. I kept going back to these ones for a hit of comma-inducing sweetness and firm crunch, but happily ate the OhSheGlows ones when I wanted to eat more volume and less sugar. I figured I could have a little of the GreenDivaMom before I turned into a cranky, sugar-high person but I could get away with a little more of the OhSheGlows version before the same happened. More crunching, but less flavour. If I was French I would have chosen the opposite (from “French Women Don’t Get Fat”, the idea is to have just a little very rich food so you’re never denying yourself but you’re never over-indulging either. It’s a tricky balance when you have two plates of rice krispie squares in front of you. That’s why I took some to friends, which rarely happens).
Set
GreenDivaMom’s boiled honey mixture set almost immediately, so there was minimal waiting required before eating. I could cut it like regular rice krispie squares and it didn’t all just crumble into a sticky mess. OhSheGlows was leaning more toward a soft cookie, which wasn’t ideal here. It was tricky to cut. All it needed was a few more hours in the fridge, though, and it caught up to GreenDivaMom’s hard set. On day two it cut like it was supposed to. But who wants to wait until day 2 for the best a cookie can give?
Level of Difficulty
GreenDivaMom needs you to feel comfortable with boiling syrup and a candy thermometre. I’m pretty comfortable with that, but if you a) don’t have a candy thermometre or b) don’t like the occasional splatter of boiling honey on your perfect hands, I’d say stick with the OhSheGlows recipe. I skipped the chocolate and coconut in it, so you can keep it simple like I did or dress it up as you see fit. It also doesn’t call for gelatin (which you could actually skip in the GreenDivaMom recipe if you’re vegetarian or don’t feel like buying agar agar – a seaweed-based gelling agent that acts like pork-laden gelatin). Because of the boiling. Both recipe only have 4 or 5 ingredients (you skip the cinnamon and raw sugar in the GreenDivaMom recipe, and could simplify either down to just rice krispies, honey, vanilla (I used real vanilla beans – see photo above – but you can use extract) and salt + tahini or almond butter in the OhSheGlows recipe).
Really, these are both easy desserts. They’re no-bake, they’re pretty quick, but they can be kind of messy with the syrup…deliciously messy, that is.They’re both delicious, but it just depends on what you’re craving that day – nutty, caramel-sweet, lighter, crunchier, faster, etc.
Fully informed, go make rice krispies!
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