Halloween Treats: Allergy Friendly Rice Crispy Treats

When I was little my grandma made popcorn balls for all of the kids in her neighborhood for Halloween and I used to help her. I wanted to make something similar for Cody, but we can't do popcorn. I decided to make rice crispy treats instead.

I couldn't find marshmallows that worked with Cody's allergies. One I looked at used fish gelatin! Not only are we both allergic to fish, but that just doesn't sound like something I want in my rice crispy treats - yuck! I tried to use brown rice syrup and butter. This wasn't bad, but just not quite as good as the marshmallow-y treats I remember.

I wanted this to be easy and I have no desire at this point to attempt making my own marshmallows. I already had a caramel disaster, but more on that in the next post. I went online and found that AllerEnergy sells marshmallows that are free of all top 8 allergens and also corn-free. Perfect!

Cody's cousin, Olivia, sent him a Halloween treat box. In it were some very cute cupcake decorations, so I decided to make rice crispy "cupcakes."  Thanks Olivia!

I used India Tree natural food coloring to try to make them purple, but I didn't use enough, so they're just kind of tinted!

These are delicious, easy and just like the rice crispy treats I remember. Enjoy!

This recipe is peanut free, tree nut free, egg free, dairy free, wheat free, soy free, fish free (had to throw that one in because of the marshmallows I saw), and corn free.

Rice Crispy Treats

6 cups crispy rice cereal
1 package AllerEnergy marshmallows
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt the shortening and salt in a large saucepan over low heat.
Slowly stir in the marshmallows until completely melted.
Remove from heat, add the rice cereal and stir until cereal is completely coated with marshmallow.
Press into a greased baking pan, let cool completely and cut.
To make rice crispy "cupcakes" spoon into decorated baking cups immediately after combining the cereal and marshmallow. Let cool completely.