Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

Okay, so I think it was pretty obvious from the picture yesterday, that we pieced our pumpkin puzzle together out of plain old Rice Krispie Treats - the outer edges of the puzzle, anyway.

They were made using the standard, back of the box recipe, with the only change being, that once we had pressed them down into a greased, 8''x8'' pan, we cut out a 1.5'' square, and rolled it in green food coloring, before returning it to the pan.

Then, we turned the treats out onto a sheet of wax paper, and cut them into 1.5" squares, ready to be cut in half diagonally, or pieced as they were into the outline of our pumpkin.

BUT, the inside, pumpkin pieces were made out of Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats.  We were inspired by an original recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.  It had stove top instructions, and quite a few ingredients, that we pared down to -

• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree

• 4 cups of mini marshmallows
• and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice...

...melted together in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds, stirring after every 30 seconds until all the marshmallows were melted.

Per a tip from Sally, we let the melted marshmallow goo sit for 30 minutes, to cool to room temperature, before adding 6 cups of Rice Krispies.

Then, we pressed the treats into our now empty, but still greased, 8''x8'' pan, to cool, before being cut into squares, and triangles to fill in the center of our puzzle.

Despite allowing the goo to cool, we still found the treats a little chewy, if not exactly soggy.  We tend to like our Krispie Treats on the dry side, and so weren't "in love" with the texture.  The look, smell, and taste nearly make up for the chewiness, though.  They really are a pumpkin pie lover's delight. 

For now, they're going into our just-a-little-more-tinkering-and-it-will-be-perfect file, to save for another day, when we don't have the remains of two batches worth of Rice Krispie Treats in the middle of our table.