Irish Rice Krispie Buns

Rice Krispie Buns are part of every Irish childhood. These little chocolate crispie treats are the centerpieces of Irish birthday parties, and a staple at school fund raising cake sales.

They're easy-to-make, no-bake, Irish children's favorites.

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Irish Vs American Rice Krispie Treats

Now when I first moved stateside I was surprised to discover American Rice Krispie Treats are something entirely different.

The American variety is an extremely sweet, sticky, marshmallow and rice cereal square. Not a morsel of chocolate to be found.

In Ireland, America's beloved Rice Krispie Treats are now available to be purchased as 'Squares Bars' made by Kelloggs. But they'll never replace our Irish Rice Krispie Buns.

These are a simple, but delicious mixture of melted chocolate and rice cereal, shaped in a muffin pan and given the title 'bun.'  No batter or dough required for these famous buns.

Rice Krispie Buns could not be easier to make. Melted chocolate mixed with rice cereal, that's all that is required, and if you want to make them a little bit fancy, you can add a candy on top.

Milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate is usually chosen, especially for children. This recipe also works with white chocolate chips rather than milk chocolate chips.

This is a perfect recipe for kids to try.

Making Rice Krispie Buns with Cooking Chocolate

When I was a little girl in Dublin in the 1970's there were no chocolate chips to be bought. Slabs of cooking chocolate were sold in supermarkets. Or if you were really posh, you could melt bars of dairy milk chocolate.

Times have changed in Ireland and chocolate chips are easily found in grocery stores. They're sold in 4 ounce bags not the larger bags sold in America.

Ratio of Chocolate to Rice Cereal for Rice Krispie Buns

The key to good rice krispie buns is getting the ratio of chocolate to cereal correct. Too little chocolate and the rice krispies will shine through, yielding a light colored bun.

Here is the ratio I like:

2 cups of rice cereal to 4 ounces of chocolate chips.

That translates to 6 cups of rice cereal for an 11.9 ounce bag of chocolate chips, as sold in America. Now that will yield around 36 rice krispie buns.

I usually use 4 cups of cereal to 8 ounces of chocolate or roughly ⅔'s of a bag of chocolate chips to make about 24 buns.

I don't bother weighing the chocolate chips but eyeball two-thirds of a bag. You can't go wrong with a little extra chocolate.

Ingredients for Irish Rice Krispie Treats

There treats are super easy to make. Here's all you need:

• Rice Cereal
• Chocolate Chips
• Candy Coated Chocolates (to decorate).

You'll find exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

For a gluten free version of this recipe use a brand of GF rice cereal. Regular Rice Krispies are made with malt which is derived from barley and contains gluten.

I don't use any melted butter or golden syrup in my simple rice crisy cakes.

I top my buns with Smarties or M and M's, but you could use some colorful sprinkles instead.

Mini marshmallows or chopped nuts can be added to the mixture for a little more interest and texture.

Directions for Making Irish Rice Cereal Buns

Place cupcake cases or liners in two muffin trays.

You don't necessarily need to use a muffin tray and can simply fill the liners with the mixture. However, I find the metal tray helps the buns to maintain their shape as they harden and become firm.

Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiled water, otherwise known as a bain marie.

Use a glass bowl that can withstand the heat.

Add the rice krispie cereal to a large mixing bowl.

Pour the melted chocolate over the rice cereal.

Protect your fingers with oven gloves as you handle the hot bowl of melted chocolate.

Use a spatula to scrape all the melted chocolate out of the bowl.

Use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix the melted chocolate and rice cereal together.

Be gentle as you combine the ingredients. If you stir too violently the rice cereal will crumble and your buns will lack their distinctive cereal air pockets.

You need to blend the chocolate and cereal thoroughly to ensure all of the rice krispies are fully coated in chocolate. Scoop down into the bottom of the bowl to mix the cereal hiding way down there.

Spoon the mixture into the lined muffin cases.

The number of buns yielded by this recipe depends on how much you fill each muffin compartment.

Top each bun with a Smartie, if you're in Ireland, or an M&M if you're in America.

Set the buns aside to cool and allow the chocolate to harden again. I prefer to let these crispy cakes harden at room temperature rather than placing the muffin tin in the fridge.

You can make them ahead and store them in an airtight container.

And that's all there is to it. Ireland's favorite children's treat are beyond easy to make, but will never lose their appeal.

Recipe Card for Irish Rice Krispie Buns

Here's a short video outlining the steps for making this Irish birthday party treat.

Here's the printable recipe card. Feel free to save, print and share this recipe.

When some Irish mother's hear there's a cake sale or bake sale at their child's school, they labor for hours over a hot stove baking their finest confectioneries.

Little do they know, the treats that sell out first and are in highest demand are these no-fuss, easy peasy rice krispie buns.

What's a cake sale without rice krispie buns.

At Halloween I love to get creative and I use this basic Irish rice krispie bun recipe to create chocolate spiders. These make a lovely center piece for Halloween get togethers. Here's how I make my Chocolate Rice Krispie Spiders for Halloween.

For those of you who were born in Ireland, I hope this post brought back happy memories of childhood birthday parties, and for all my Irish American readers I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial about Irish Rice Krispie Treats.

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