Pumpkin Spice Krispie Treats

5.0 from 5 votes

Rice Krispie treats are fun and nostalgic, which makes them perfect for the holiday season! They are over-the-top sweet (like any classic American dessert) with the most unique texture. Moldable yet fragile, simple yet versatile–what’s not to love?

I even had a chocolate rice krispie treat cake for my 8th birthday! However, I don’t often make rice krispie treats EXCEPT during the holiday season because of this recipe. These pumpkin spice krispie treats are so good and so much better than the originals that I have no desire to make the traditional krispie treats anymore.

What’s so Great About These Pumpkin Spice Krispie Treats?

I started out following the standard recipe on the rice krispie cereal box. While this is a classic, I’ve modified a couple of ways so these treats are extra gooey and delicious!

• Extra marshmallows. If you want that stringy goo (you know what I mean), then you need more marshmallows than the original recipe.
• Cinnamon, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice give dimension to extreme sweetness of the marshmallo.
• A little white chocolate goes a long way in this recipe to help the pumpkin spice krispie treats hold their shape and taste even better than the original.
• Adding the marshmallows in two stages. I add the majority of the marshmallows into the melted butter, but then reserve some to add after I’ve added the rice and removed the mix from the heat. This creates little mallow pockets that take your krispie treats to the next level!
• The cute pumpkin shape is so fun and impressive! These are show-stoppers at Halloween, Fall and Holiday parties!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 14 oz mini marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
• 14 chocolate covered pretzel pieces (I break about 8 pretzels to get enough long pieces to use for the stems!)

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Krispie Treats

Heat the butter in a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-low heat until it is completely melted.

Stir in the white chocolate chips, pumpkin puree, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and stir until uniform.

Stir in a majority of the marshmallows (about 10-12 oz of the mini marshmallows). Stir frequently to allow all of the mallows to melt into the spiced butter mixture.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rice cereal to completely coat.

Add the remaining marshmallows to the warm rice cereal and combine.

Use a rounded spoon to scoop the cereal into the muffin tins. I keep a little dish of water nearby to dip my finger into to keep the krispies from sticking to me (but not too much because you don’t want soggy cereal!) while I scoop them off of the spoon and round them into the muffin pan.

Add the chocolate covered pretzel stems and let cool to room temperature.

Tips and Suggestions for the Perfect Pumpkin Spice Krispie Treats

• Have everything ready and in an arm’s reach once the butter is melted because you don’t want to burn the butter or cereal.
• Stir, stir, stir! I like to use a flat, square ended wooden saute paddle and keep the mix in motion.
• If you don’t feel like shaping them into pumpkins, simply press the mix into an 9 in x 9 in or 9 in x13 in pan with wax paper. After they have cooled, you can cut them into squares with a buttered knife.
• This mix makes enough for 13-14 pumpkin spice rice krispie pumpkins, but unfortunately that does not perfectly match up with a 12 muffin tin. I generally give the girls the extra or just form a giant pumpkin by hand with the extra.
  • You can actually form all of the pumpkins by hand if you don’t have a muffin tin! Simply divide the mix into 14 even portions on wax paper and then wait until the rice krispie mix has slightly cooled enough to morph them into balls.
  • Make sure your hands are slightly wet or greased to make handling easier! Let them finish setting on the wax paper.
• Rice Krispie treats are notoriously sticky, so generously grease your muffin tin. I use butter, but a nonstick spray would also work.

• My favorite stems for the krispie pumpkins are chocolate covered pretzels broken into pieces, but you can use tootsie rolls, Pocky sticks, Rollos or normal pretzels. You can even add little jack-o-lantern faces and leaves with decorative icing!
• Many recipes for pumpkin rice krispies call for orange food coloring which makes these treats as bright orange as real pumpkins! I avoid using food coloring in my recipes, but if you’d like a more eye-catching color, add a couple drops of orange food coloring gel to the marshmellow melt (prior to the addition of the rice cereal).

Want More Pumpkin??

• Honey Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
• Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Blending Tradition With Nutrition

5.0 from 5 votes