RECIPES / DESSERTS
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Browned butter, smooth peanut butter and marshmallows folded in twice, so there are soft pockets running through every square.
BY MERYL KENNEDY
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT 4SISTERS / SEPTEMBER 3, 2026
PREP
10 min
COOK
15 min
SERVES
24 squares
RICE
Not used
What Makes These Different?
Two things, and neither of them is the peanut butter. The butter gets browned before anything else goes in the pot, and the marshmallows go in twice rather than all at once.
Browning the butter is the step people skip, and it is the one that changes the flavour most. Melting butter until it turns light golden brown toasts the milk solids in it, which is where that nutty, almost caramel note comes from. Their direction says to stir often so it does not burn, and the gap between golden and burnt is about thirty seconds, so stay at the pot.
The second trick is the double marshmallow. One full bag melts into the mixture to make the binder. Then, off the heat, two more cups of mini marshmallows get folded into the warm mixture and stay whole. That is what gives you soft pockets running through a finished square instead of a uniform slab.
Their recipe is generous about the second bag, and so are we: two cups, or the whole thing if you want.
A NOTE ON THIS ONE
This is the one recipe in the collection that does not use our rice. It is made with Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal, which is a different product from the rice we grow and mill in Louisiana. We are including it because it is on their recipe page and it is genuinely good, not because there is a bag of 4Sisters in it.
• 12 tbsps. (1 1⁄2 sticks) salted butter
• 1⁄2 cup smooth peanut butter, organic natural is preferred
• 2 – 10 oz. bags mini marshmallows
• 7 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies™
• Chocolate for drizzling, if desired
Directions
1. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray or coat with soft butter before you start to cook.
2. In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter until light golden brown, stirring often so it doesn’t burn.
3. Once the butter is completely melted, quickly stir in the peanut butter, stirring until smooth.
4. Then add one 10 oz. bag of marshmallows and stir constantly until melted and smooth.
5. Remove the pot from the heat, quickly fold in the Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Cereal™ until well blended with the marshmallow & peanut butter mixture.
6. To this warm mixture, fold in 2 cups of mini marshmallows from the 2nd bag, or the whole bag if you want!
7. Immediately add the entire warm mixture to the greased 9x13 pan.
8. Let the treats rest in the pan about 1 hour before cutting into squares.
*Drizzle with melted chocolate before cutting, if desired.
Makes about 24 squares.
Grease the pan before you start cooking, not after. Once the mixture is off the heat you have about a minute before it stops behaving.
Serving Them
Their hour of resting is not optional if you want clean squares. Cut them warm and they smear; cut them cold and set and you get edges. A knife wiped between cuts helps more than you would think.
The chocolate drizzle goes on before cutting, per their note, so it sets into a thin shell that breaks with the square rather than sliding off it. Milk, dark or a peanut butter chip drizzle all work.
Kept in an airtight container at room temperature they are best for two days and perfectly good for four. Do not refrigerate them, which turns them hard.
Questions We Get
Why natural peanut butter?
Their ingredient line says organic natural is preferred. Natural peanut butter has less added sugar and no hydrogenated oil, so it melts into the butter more cleanly and lets the browned butter come through. Stir it well before measuring, since the oil separates.
Can I use salted or unsalted butter?
The recipe specifies salted, and with this much sugar the salt is doing real work against the sweetness. If you only have unsalted, add a quarter teaspoon of salt with the peanut butter.
Mine came out hard. What happened?
Usually too much heat or too long on it. Once the first bag of marshmallows is melted and smooth, the pot comes off the heat straight away. Cooking marshmallow further takes it towards candy, and candy sets hard. Pressing the mixture into the pan too firmly does the same thing, so spread it rather than compact it.
Can I make these gluten free?
Check the cereal box. Rice Krispies are made from rice but the standard recipe includes malt flavouring derived from barley, so they are not gluten free unless the box says so. Several brands make a gluten free crisped rice cereal that substitutes one for one.
FEATURED POSTS
