Amped Up Rice Krispies Treats

You know how certain foods can just take you back. Whether it’s to a time or place, sometimes even the scent of a food can really trigger a memory. One random memory I have is eating applesauce to the tune of Jeopardy. Every time I see a jar of applesauce, that song just runs through my head. I think it’s because Jeopardy was on around dinner time growing up. And I hated applesauce. Blech. But my sister Brooke loved it. She ate it by itself, one her hamburgers, on her spaghetti. She’s weird.

Anyways, the whole reason for my tangent was thinking how Rice Krispies treats take us all back to our childhood. But these Amped Up Rice Krispies Treats, a family recipe from my friend Cara, really kick things up a notch by adding a variety of flavors all into one bite. I threw some cinnamon chips into the mix because I had some on hand. I loved the combination of butterscotch, cinnamon, and chocolate.

Two Years Ago: Butternut Squash and Spinach Casserole
Four Years Ago: White Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes – take two

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Amped Up Rice Krispies Treats

Ingredients:

2 cups (1 12oz bag) butterscotch chips
1 cup cinnamon chips
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
12 cups (1 12oz box) crisp rice cereal
4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, cubed
2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp water

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and spray the sides of the pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, and peanut butter, stirring. When smooth, remove from heat and add the crisp rice cereal. Stir to coat. Place half of the cereal mixture into the pan and pat down evenly. Place in the refrigerator to let it firm up a bit while preparing the chocolate.

Place the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Melt together in the microwave over medium-low heat, stirring every 60-90 seconds, until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar and water.

Spread the chocolate evenly over the cereal layer in the pan, then gently pat the remaining cereal mixture evenly on top. Refrigerate for at least two hours, then cut into squares with a sharp knife.

Recipe from Cara's Cravings

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36 Responses to “Homemade Ding Dongs or Ring Dings or whatever you call them”

  1. #
    1
    SimplySweeter — May 24, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Jen, I think I just died and went to heaven! Long live the Ring Ding!! LOL

    http://www.simplysweeter.blogspot.com

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    Cara — May 24, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Love this theme, so fun! The whole menu sounds delicious 🙂

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    Jane — May 24, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Hi Jen,
    Wow! These babies look really authentic. I’ve seen a lot of faux Ding Dongs in my day, and yours rank right up there. Very nice job!
    🙂 Jane

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    bridget {bake at 350} — May 24, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    Oh, I LOVE Ding Dongs!!! And yours look fabulous!

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    roxan — May 24, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Even at 8a on a monday morning, I feel like I could eat a whole stack of those. Great job, they look delicious!

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    Kasey — May 24, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    There is a local baking partnership here in the Los Angeles area that makes individual sized cakes and treats. They also recreate classic favorites such as the Ho-Ho. Thought you might enjoy the link. http://www.cakemonkey.com/

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    Memória — May 24, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Oh your Ding Dongs look perfect. Absolutely perfect!! They make me want to jump up and make them now. Goodness!! Thanks for sharing the photos and recipe with us. I’ve yet to make the 7-minute frosting, so I’m looking forward to that.

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    Katherine — May 24, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    Oh my, what a great recipe!

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    Kara — May 24, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    You’re killing me! Now I have to think about when I can fit Ring Dings into my schedule this week! They’d be so much better from scratch than they would out of the box…

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    ellysaysopa.com — May 25, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    These & oatmeal creme pies were my absolute favorite as a kid. I think they were called King Dons when I ate them. I definitely need to try this!

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    oneordinaryday — May 25, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    Oh, how fun. WIsh I had a couple right now.

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    Ingrid — May 29, 2010 at 1:44 am

    Ring Dings! :)But that’s what they were called when Drake’s made them and we lived in NYC. Once we moved to FL they were Ding Dongs. Or do I have that backwards, hmm now I’m not exactly sure. Either way it wasn’t I that ate them but my Mom. I’ll have to give them a whirl for her and score some brownie points, hee-hee!

    Hope you have a safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend!
    ~ingrid

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    hannah! — May 29, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    omigosh YUM!! they sure do remind me of hostess cupcakes

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    Katherine — July 4, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Your ding dongs look perfect! Great job!

    I’ve been thinking of making these for my mother for her birthday next week…but since she LOVE chocolate peanut butter, I thought I would fill the cakes with a peanut butter version of the white cream. Any suggestions on what peanut butter cream I should fill them with??

    I would love your input, I trust you more than myself in this matter, haha.

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    GadgetGirl — January 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    FYI for anyone interested, I made mine into cupcakes since I don’t have round cake pans. The cupcakes take about 25 minutes to bake at the same temp. Really good but tons of work! Oh yeah I got 32 cupcakes using 1/4 cup batter in each cup. I had plenty of filling but I had to made a little more ganache, BUT I was a little heavy with it in the beginning so if you keep that in mind you could have enough.

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    Souffle Bombay (Colleen) — January 6, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    Love these…I am an East Coat gal and I knew what you meant lol! I will NOT buy these for my kids with what is used for ingredients, but you have inspired me to make them! Thanks!

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    Carol — February 12, 2012 at 2:35 am

    Sorry to say but mine fell apart and it was entirely to much work. Much better to just go to the store and buy them.

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    Kari@Loaves n Dishes — January 5, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    These look just like the original, but I bet they’re so much more tasty. Great job!

    • beantownbaker — January 5th, 2013 @ 11:44 pm

      They sure are better than the original – a lot more work though, but definitely worth it!

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    Anna — January 17, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Can the coffee be substitutes with anything else?

    • beantownbaker — January 17th, 2013 @ 4:51 pm

      The coffee just enhances the chocolate flavor. You can just use water instead if you don’t have any coffee or don’t like coffee.

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    20
    jennifer — February 2, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    I just made these for my mothers birthday(ring dings are the only dessert she enjoys) they came out great! Awesome recipe

    • beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2013 @ 9:46 pm

      So glad you enjoyed them. Happy birthday to your mother!

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    Kathy — February 21, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    hey.. made these.. testing recipes for a summer camp job I start this June.. so good, but might stick with cupcakes for kids..
    took cake chunks and extra frosting.. made cake balls! Rolled in melted peanut butter then dripped chocolate over… YUM… love your site.. looking for more camp ideas.. kid friendly!

    • beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:28 am

      Cupcakes definitely would be less messy for kids. I really like the portability of bars and brownies. I have tons of those on my blog too.

      Making cake balls with PB and chocolate on top sounds amazing!

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    Carmen — July 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    Never had these before but look good! I might just use the whole cake and cut out rings with the cutter and fill them up in the whole cake then cover in choc. What if you put marshmallow filling? Do you think it would be to soft to cut into pieces of cake?

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    23
    Virginia — August 3, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    OMG Jen, just saw this recipe linked from HuffPo article! Sorry, can’t get the link on my phone. 🙁 Slide show on manufactured foods that taste better homemade.

    • beantownbaker — August 4th, 2013 @ 6:43 pm

      Thanks for letting me know! I found the post.

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    Trisha — August 26, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    Amazing results. Rarely do I find the recipes that claim to be “just like” the original actually live up to those claims. This one did. LOVE.

    • beantownbaker — August 27th, 2013 @ 7:58 am

      So glad you enjoyed them!

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    Jody — March 13, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    The recipe says to use filling same day. I need to make the cakes a day or 2 ahead of party. If I fill them right away, will they hold for a day or so in the refrigerator ? I don’ t want them to get soggy.

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    Chaya — October 22, 2014 at 9:44 am

    Can these be frozen?

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    Lynmarie — January 26, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    Made these for a friend’s birthday party. Definitely time intensive…assembly took me forever. I made 16 cupcakes and 24 mini-cupcakes and had lots of extra cake batter. The cake is amazing, super moist and flavorful…but fally-aparty so hard to work with when dipping in ganache or spreading ganache over it. After I spent hours making these, they ended up smashed together in one side of the pan that I packed them in to the party. i would highly recommend transporting them in a cupcake tin or something where they will not move. The ganache never “dried” for me so mine were gooey on the outside too, and pretty much a mess to eat. Don’t get me wrong, they taste amazing and everyone enjoyed eating them…but if I was to do it over again, I would just use the ingredients to make a cake.

  28. #
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    Kimberly Westervelt — March 31, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Do you have to use hot coffee? Can you just use plain hot water.

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    Colleen — May 7, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    I don’t know what happened. I made Red Velvet “Fwinkies” (fake Twinkies), but covered them with chocolate so basically a hybrid or a Fwinkho. I have a delectovals pan. After piping in the 7-minute frosting, I dipped the bottoms in melted chocolate to seal and then covered the top in chocolate. The next day, I took them to a sorority luncheon as a treat. Well, the cream filling disappeared and I have to wonder did sealing the bottoms with the warm melted chocolate basically disintegrate the cream filling? I want to make something like this for a gender reveal next week, but I may have to change up the cream filling because I can’t leave the bottoms bare. Any advice?

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    30
    Stan — September 1, 2021 at 8:58 am

    Thank you!

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