Crispity, Crunchity, Snackity Deliciousness

I love snacks that are light, crispy, crunchy, sometimes nutty - sometimes not, almost always chocolaty, with just enough sweet to make it sinful, but not enough to make it cloying.  I like having the option of enjoying a second piece without feeling I've totally overdone it.

This week I was cleaning off the top of my refrigerator - you know, the place where we store our nuts, nut butters, cereals, other pantry items that simply can't fit in a NY sized apartment cabinet.  I found that I'd stocked up on way too many nut butters, and I had tons of raisin bran and crispy rice cereal.  I found some sliced almonds in the freezer.  I looked in my actual pantry cabinet and found some organic brown rice syrup.  I decided to try and create a cereal bar from the raisin bran, sliced almonds, almond butter, brown rice syrup, organic sugar.

I combined the brown rice syrup and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.  I heated them until the sugar melted.  Then I removed it from the flame and added the natural almond butter.  The delicious, roasted nut aroma rose from the pan and the sweetness blended with it and the scent of it all was so completely scintillating.  I poured this thick concoction over the measured out cupfuls of raisin bran and a couple of handfuls of sliced almonds.  I combined the mixture and then poured it into a prepared pan lined with parchment paper.  I pressed it down and evened it out and waited for it to cool.  Then I removed the plank of goodness and placed it (along with the parchment paper) onto a cutting board. With a very sharp knife I cut medium sized (1.5") squares and took a bite out of one of the edge pieces.  That's my favorite part...sampling a new recipe...and the edges make it feel completely guilt-free.  They were dense and rich and filled with roasted nutty flavor.  They were chewy, but not overly so.  I definitely created a successful treat.

A few days later, right before Halloween, I decided to make one of my favorite standby treats.  Peanut butter crispy treats.  Mmmmm.  They just taste like a bite of autumn...crisp as the leaves crunching under your feet, a feel-good treat that is nutty and chocolaty and delectable.

I heated up sugar and corn syrup.  Then removed it from the heat and added the peanut butter...I use the creamy natural kind.  Then I poured the goop over the crisp rice cereal and combined.  Poured it out onto a prepared pan lined with parchment paper (yep - that is basically the way it's done for most of my bar treats).  Pressed it into the pan.  Waited for it to cool while melting chocolate with a bit more peanut butter and a handful of Reese's peanut butter chips.  And on the side I melted some ghoulishly green Wilton's candy melts with a bit of shortening to decorate the bars.

I poured the molten chocolate peanut butter blend over the crispy treats and then drizzled a spiral of green  over the pan.  I drew a spider in the middle and then, using a toothpick, created a web out of the spiral making a very whimsical Halloween design.  I then lightly sprinkled the entire pan with a bit of orange crystallized sugar.  It added just a tiny bit of bright sparkle.  Perfection!

And, just in time for friends who stopped by for a bit of relief after a very messy Hurricane Sandy, I had treats to make everyone feel good and enjoy their Halloween.