Chocolate Christmas Rice Krispie Treats

If you're looking for an easy way to ring in the holiday spirit, these homemade Chocolate Christmas Rice Krispie Treats shaped like Christmas trees are perfect! Decorate them however you'd like with friends or family!

Chocolate Christmas Rice Krispie Treats recipe

The holidays are by far my favorite season of the year. I love fall and the changing colors but nothing compares to that magic spirit of Christmas.

Because we live in Arizona, I won't ever get to rely on freezing temperatures or snowy weather to help bring in the holiday spirit — something I am totally okay with. Instead, I know that we will have to have certain traditions to help begin the holiday season and spirit.

One tradition we have is holiday baking. I love baking any time of year but there's something extra special about doing it around the holidays.

This year I decided to make Chocolate Christmas Rice Krispie Treats with chocolate cereal. These are so much fun to add to a cookie tray or serve at a holiday party.

These treats are a great way for families to create holiday memories. Last year we tried to focus on experiences we could have as a family and mine was decorating cookies after dinner. It was really fun and brought up all kinds of cookie-decorating nostalgia.

Why you'll love this recipe

• Rice krispie treats are easy to make. You can use your favorite kind of cereal if chocolate krispies aren't your thing!
• They are fun to cut into tree shapes for Christmas, but you can do squares the rest of the year.
• Kids will love helping and decorating these family-friendly treats!

Ingredients

Here's what you will need at the grocery store to prepare these easy holiday rice krispie treats:

• crispy rice cereal (regular or chocolate)
• butter
• marshmallows or mini marshmallows
• icing
• toppings such as sprinkles, crushed cereal, chocolate chips and chocolate candies

You can use regular Rice Krispies cereal or the chocolate Cocoa Krispies cereal. You can even use other types of cereal like cornflakes.

For the frosting, I like to use buttercream frosting. You can use food coloring to dye it green if you want some festive color. But you can also use white frosting and let the toppings do the color work.

For the toppings, I think these Christmas sprinkles are fun, but you could also use red and green M&M's for "ornaments" or "lights." (And if you have any leftover M&M's you can make these M&M Christmas cookie bars.)

How to make Christmas Rice Krispie Treats

For this recipe, I followed the basic recipe from Kellogg's but swapped out the regular rice cereal for the cocoa-flavored one.

1. In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat butter and marshmallows on high for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth.
2. Add Kellogg's Cocoa Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well-coated.
3. Using a buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press the mixture into a 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Let cool slightly.
4. Using a parchment paper stencil or a greased cookie cutter, cut out tree shapes.
5. Decorate using piped icing, sprinkles and crushed cereal.

Decorating is the best part — but I had to slap my husband's hand away from eating them before I was able to finish decorating them!

How to cut Rice Krispie treats into shapes

Rice krispie treats usually get cut into squares, but cutting them into shapes is super easy to do.

First, make sure to cut the treats out when they are slightly warm, because the will be so much easier to work with.

You can create a stencil by tracing a tree onto parchment paper or by cutting one out freehand.

If you want to use a cookie cutter, spray it with cooking spray so that the marshmallowy goodness doesn't stick.

Toppings for Christmas Rice Krispie Treats

These Christmas Rice Krispie Treats have a nostalgic feeling and it is fun to set out tons of toppings to decorate them together. Here are a few ideas:

• colored sprinkles
• crushed cereal
• mini chocolate chips
• regular or mini M&M's
• mini marshmallows
• jelly beans
• sanding sugar
• pieces of cereal or crushed cereal
• icing

I like to use buttercream icing for mine, but you can also use store-bought icing that comes in a tube.

Tips for Success

Be sure to cut the treats out when they are slightly warm, they are so much easier to work with!

Create a stencil by tracing a tree onto parchment paper or by cutting one out freehand.

If using a cookie cutter, you can spray them with cooking spray.

If you are not decorating or eating the treats right away, make sure to store them in an airtight container immediately.

More Christmas cookies

• Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
• Peppermint Crinkle Cookies
• White Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
• Ginger Molasses Snickerdoodles
• Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies