Grown - Up Crispy Treats

I had part of a giant bag of brown rice crisp cereal sitting in my pantry after finally getting tired of eating it for breakfast (anyone else go on food jags like that?) and while light, they take up a lot of prime real estate. Not really having the heart to toss the bag before everything went stale, and with tiny jars of both Exotic Apple-Pear Butter and Zapple Butter hanging out in the fridge (the bits that wouldn't fit into the canning jars) I wanted to see what I could do. In one of my online wanderings, I found this recipe on Food52 and was intrigued - would a fruit spread actually work in a marshmallow-less cereal bar, without taking the "crisp" away?

I made some changes to keep the bars vegan, nut free and gluten free - obviously the brown rice cereal and fruit butter went in (I picked the Exotic Apple-Pear Butter this time), but I swapped in flavourful coconut oil for the (equally flavourful) butter, used agave nectar for the corn syrup and using toasted sunflower seeds instead of the walnuts. My home-dried apples added some extra interest and texture, and the whole mix was allergen-free enough to serve at one of my doctor's offices (where it disappeared in a flash!).

Shared with Waste Not Want Not Wednesday.

Grown - Up Crispy Treats
Makes one 9" pan, 12 pieces
1/3 cup coconut oil
¼ cup amber agave nectar
2 tbsp Exotic Apple-Pear Butter (or unsweetened apple butter)
185g brown rice crisp cereal
50g toasted sunflower seeds
30g diced dried apples (choose unsulphured / no sugar added if not homemade)

1. Line a 9” square pan with parchment and set aside.
2. Melt the coconut oil and agave together, then add the Exotic Apple-Pear Butter and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cereal, seeds and apples.
4. Press firmly and evenly into the pan. Let sit 1 hour before cutting.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 151.8
Total Fat: 7.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 88.9 mg
Total Carbs: 22.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
Protein: 1.9 g

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