Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Rice Treats for Valentine’s Day

Crispy rice treats recipe | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

Need something quick and fun to make with your kids for Valentine’s Day? Really, the kids are just a foil for my own craving to make something silly and delicious. As you may remember, these are not the first crispy rice treats to appear on ZoeBakes. It’s a bit of a thing with me. I pretend I’m doing it for the kids, but I eat most of them. This version (my favorite so far) is inspired by the “compost” cookie at the Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. I added everything but the kitchen sink: pretzels, oreos, milk chocolate and potato chips. All those sweet and salty snacks tossed with buttery marshmallows are seriously tasty. You can add any of your favorite snack foods to the recipe, just chop them up fairly small, so you can press the treats into a heart shaped cookie cutter.

The winners of last weeks giveaway are announced at the bottom of this post.

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Valentine Cookies

Valentine cookies decorated with royal icing

Did you know that Saint Valentine’s Day dates back to Pope Gelasius in 500 AD, not the Hallmark Cards of 1910? The original holiday was a religious one, with nothing to do with romance, flowers, chocolate or red royal icing. The modern Valentine’s Day must have been recreated by a pastry chef. It is an excuse to make sweet, pretty, heart-shaped treats like this Valentine cookies. There really isn’t another time of the year when heart-shaped desserts are permissible. It’s a shame really, but Valentine’s Day owns the shape, so we must take advantage of the opportunity.

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