Peppermint. Chocolate. Rice Krispie Treats. What’s not to love here? These are one of my all-time favorite holiday treats because they’re kind of fancy, yet so super easy to make and everyone loves them.
I first posted this recipe back in 2011 and it was long overdue for a little facelift.
Back when I originally posted this, I wrote the recipe with peppermint marshmallows, but I actually like them better with regular white marshmallows and peppermint extract. The color and flavor are better, in my opinion.
So first up, melt up those marshmallows with some butter. I always toss the mallows in melted butter and then heat everything up, it seems to be much smoother that way.
You know when you crush candy canes and you get some larger chunks and then lots of pepperminty “dust”? Save the chunks and toss the dust in the bowl, along with a little peppermint extract.
Then mix it all up.
One tip when you’re making Rice Krispie treats (or any bar cookie really) is to line your pan. It makes it SO much easier to cut out nice bars without having to smash half the pan in first. Make sure you use butter to grease the bottom of your pan as well. If you use non-stick spray, it will leave a foul tasting residue on your delicious little treats and then they won’t be delicious anymore.
After they’re all nicely patted on there, drizzle a little semi sweet or dark chocolate over the top and also a little white chocolate or almond bark. I like to use a spoon and let big chunks of the chocolate fall on there. It’s yummier that way.
If you really love peppermint, you can also add a little peppermint oil (not extract) to the chocolate, or use melted mint chocolate chips instead of regular.
Then just toss crushed candy canes on the top to stick to all of that chocolate.
And let it all set up. You can pop it in the fridge to speed up that process.
Quick, easy, no-bake, no-fuss. Might be the perfect Christmas treat!
I should also mention that I wrote this recipe for a 10oz bag of marshmallows, because that’s a common size. If you make them in a 9×13 pan as written, they will be on the thinner side. If you like your rice krispie treats thicker, you can make them in smaller pan, or do as I did for the ones photographed here and 1 1/2x the rice krispie part of the recipe. That works out perfect for the brand of Kroger marshmallows that I buy that come in a 15oz bag.
If you’re looking for more of our Rice Krispie Treats, be sure to check out our ENTIRE SECTION devoted to them!
Peppermint Bark Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients
- 1 10-11 ounce bag mini marshmallows
- 4 tablespoons real butter plus extra to butter pan
- 6 cups Rice Krispie-style cereal
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract more if desired; I like a little extra
- 3 tablespoons semi-sweet dark, or peppermint chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons white chocolate chips
- 1/4 teaspoon vegetable oil divided
- 3-4 medium-sized candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Line a 9×13 pan with foil and lightly butter bottom and about 1 inch up the sides.
- Place unwrapped candy canes in a heavy duty plastic bag and smash until crushed. Pour into bowl and gently shake so large pieces settle on top and “dust” settles on bottom. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a very large bowl in the microwave. Add marshmallows and stir to coat. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. (You can do that whole process on the stovetop as well.) Add Rice Krispies, peppermint extract, and a few tablespoons of candy cane “dust” and stir to evenly combine. With buttered hands, press mixture into prepared pan.
- Place white chocolate chips and 1/8 teaspoon oil in a small bowl. Heat in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Repeat same process with semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips. Drizzle both chocolates on top of rice krispie treats and sprinkle candy canes on top. Let sit until chocolate is set, place pan in fridge to speed process along. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Questions & Reviews
I am a new reader to your blog and have spent the past couple days or so trying to “catch up.” I saw this recipe and it looks delicious but I thought of something that would make it even better (at least to me). I absolutely love mint chocolate, so the idea immidiately came to me to use Cocoa Krispies intead of regular Rice Krispies…..HEAVEN!!!
These were fabulous – perfect for my husband whose favorite things were combined – rice krispies and peppermint bark! We loved them so much I decided to take the concept and try strawberry marshmallows and drizzle chocolate on top! 🙂
A friend made these and they are amazing! All I could find though was a 28 oz package of jumbo peppermint mallows & they are flat discs. Any suggestions on how to convert the measurements in place of the miniture sized marshmallows?
these are awesome! i love anything mint and these are so easy and tasty. I made these for a family Christmas party and they were a hit!
I once saw a recipe in a magazine for little Christmas Trees made of Rice Crispy Treats. You added green coloring and peppermint flavoring to the marshmallow and butter mixture. After mixing the treats, butter your hands and shape the treats into little cone shapes (about 1 tablespoon at a time). Roll them in green sugar and little colored candies. Stand them on the broad end. You can squeeze them a little to make them look more like a tree. These look very cute on a cookie plate.
I’ve looked EVerYWheRe for these peppermint marshmallows and can’t find them, the closest I’ve gotten is chocolate mint marshmallows which I did buy thinking they would be great in the creamy fudge (which is delicious). SO … if anyone out there in UTah has found these, please share where … thank you, I’m becoming obsessed with locating them now that I’ve been all over town looking.
So I just re-read all the comments and it looks like walmart is the only place to find these, and I’ve only tried one of those … so maybe I’ll venture out to a few more this week. BUT … if anyone in Utah has found them, I’d still love to know where 🙂
I will be making these for my family get together on Thursday! I already bought the marshmallows 🙂
Holy stinking cow! These are by far my favorite rice crispie treats ever. I too had the candy cane kisses and no white chocolate chips, so I substitutes the kisses. They worked wonderfully but it’s best to drizzle the chocolate first and then the kisses because the kisses turn the same color as the rice crispie treats, and then you loose the pretty factor. I had crushed candy canes left from the peppermint bark popcorn so that was easy-peasy.
Thank you for the great recipes.
I have made these 3 times already!! I made some for my son’s school party, gifted some, and am sharing them tonight at my MOPs meeting. I couldn’t find the peppermint marshmallows at first, so the first batch was made with regular. A Walmart in another county had them, and they DEFINITELY make the difference!! Yummmmmmo! I’m doing a blog post to share the recipe (and linking it back to you, of course!) Thanks so much for the idea!!
This looks AMAZING! I can’t wait to try it and share it with friends and my husbands co-workers 🙂
Oh gosh, I loooove peppermint! YUM! Funny thing is I was at WalMart earlier tonight and when I was by the marshmallows I saw a little green out of the corner of my eye. Got all excited because I thought they were mint marshmallows but they were lime. Then I came home and saw this post, how funny. Maybe I need to go back and look harder for peppermint ones!
I’m making these for my hubby’s work Christmas party tomorrow. I can’t try them because I’m gluten-free but I look forward to smelling them! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Dawn, just curious, where it the gluten here, I was going to mke them for my gluten less friend, should I not?
After much searching through Walmart I almost gave up on making this treat, thinking all your other loyal readers in Spokane had beaten me to the delectable marshmallows. But lo and behold there were a few bags of the jumbo flat peppermint marshmallows left and now the goodness is chillin’ in my fridge, waiting for the family to love them. (Oh and I used the special soft peppermint candy cane sticks for the top crushed stuff.) That was so much fun to make and even though the pink color kind of grosses me out I have to say they turned out pretty too! The next to try will be the chocolate peppermint marshmallows ’cause they had LOTS of those! Thank you and Merry Christmas!!!
These are soooooo good. I also found at WalMart Andes soft peppermint baking chips that I sprinkled on top instead of crushed candy canes. Yummy!!!!
Have you seen the Cinnamon Bun marshmallows? Used them in your recipe & drizzled with melted Hersheys Cnnamon Chips & white chocolate. Now I’m making the peppermint ones….YUM!!
I made these last night (though I couldn’t find the awesome special marshmallows so I added almost a teaspoon of not-very-strong peppermint extract and a couple drops of red food coloring) and they are SO AMAZING! I don’t know if I can go back to regular Rice Krispies Treats! They will also be great the rest of the year without coloring or dyed green and topped with just the semisweet chips – or Andes mints!
Just made these!! Except I mixed in the Christmas color mini M&Ms instead of putting the chocolate and candy canes on top!! SO GOOD!!!!
why vegetable oil instead of shortening?
no matter 🙂 I made these, ate one, and then dropped the rest of them off at my favorite radio station as a Thank You for the movie passes (and other stuff) that I won from them! 🙂 THEY ARE YUMMY!
I made these last night and they were DELICIOUS!!! I must not have put enough oil in my white chocolate because it wasn’t creamy, and I used milk chocolate–which I added the peppermint flavoring to. YUMMY. Thanks for sharing this recipe, it will definitely be on my holiday goodie plates!
I made these for a Christmas open house last night and they were a hit. I loved the easy and cheap preparation, and my guests thought the peppermintiness was a fun surprise. The drizzled chocolate and peppermint pieces on top definitely make them seem special—more than just your ordinary rice crispy treat. `I happened to use the Andes peppermint bark pieces, too, and they were great.
I made these today and they are delicious! I’m not a huge fan of candy canes so I think next time I will get the Andes peppermint bark pieces like someone else mentioned and top the white and dark chocolate with those! Thank you for another winner!
Which do you think would be better…the old school candy canes or the softer peppermint nugget thingies?
Made these today!!! So good!!! Shared them with friends and now I have to make them for my husband’s work Christmas party!!! Thanks for the great great idea!!! Took me 3 days to find the marshmallows! Nom nom nom!!!!
I made these this afternoon and they are DELICIOUS!! I found the marshmallows at Walmart; our grocery stores in Lawrence, KS do not have them.
I had to add a bit more oil to my white chocolate chips as they were chalky rather than smooth upon melting. Also I needed to melt my chips at 50% power.
YUMMMOOO!!!
I had the same problem with my white chocolate chips turning out a bit chalky and not melting like they should have. Instead of adding more oil (which I had already put up and got lazy about pulling back out)I added two tablespoons of milk (2%) instead. They melted up fine after that.
Thanks for inviting us into your lives, Sara & Kate! LOVE this recipe! You have inspired me! Thought about shaping the krispies into “ornaments”, dipping them in choc and sprinkling with crushed candy canes/colored sugar (kiddos love dipping and sprinkling). Looking for ideas on what to use as a loop for the top..Licorice?
Couldn’t find the Peppermint marshmallows but Jet-Puffed now has Chocolate Mint ones that I’m going to use in this recipe. I’m curious to see how they turn out!
If you are going for looks, definitely use either the peppermint marshmallows or the plain white ones. I discovered with my using the Chocolate mint marshmallows that they turned the Rice Krispie treats a very unappealing shade of gray. They tasted fine, they just looked funny in that color!
off to look for those marshmallows!
I just realized I have peppermint extract, not oil. Will that ruin the melted chips?
My Bad. I just read the recipe again. I won’t be mixing the peppermint oil with the chips. LOL
I am obsessed with making different versions of Rice Krispy Treats and I love this idea!