Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats elevate an afternoon snack to a decadent dessert that will be perfect to serve at any party.
Each chocolate coated marshmallow cereal treat can be turned into a lollipop, bar, or bite-sized treat and be served plain or topped with sprinkles, candies, or nuts.
So, what can make our Best Rice Krispie Treats even better? A dip in some silky smooth dark chocolate.
A thin layer of decadently rich, semi-sweet chocolate will add such a lovely flavor to the marshmallow cereal treats and the addition of colorful sprinkles makes the treats look really festive for a party.
Add salty nuts for a nice contrast in flavor or bits of toffee to enhance the richness of this dessert.
You can even decorate your dark chocolate dipped rice krispie treats to look like cute black cats or penguins or you can dip your treats in milk chocolate and make turkeys or reindeer. White chocolate dipped treats look super cute decorated like snowmen or lambs.
Cereal treats are so versatile that they can be cut into just about any shape or size. You can serve them as lollipops, bars, or bites all dipped in chocolate.
Make the perfect cereal treats…
Before you can make chocolate dipped cereal treats you have to make a batch of homemade treats.
You can find the detailed recipe, and read about the very extensive taste testing process we used to finally come up with the absolute perfect recipe on our Best Rice Krispie Treats Recipe page, but here’s a brief description.
- Melt 6 tablespoons of European Salted Butter with 16 ounces marshmallows.
- Stir in 7 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal and gently pat into a well buttered 9 X 13 inch pan.
- Allow the treats to cool completely.
What chocolate should I use?
- pure dark, semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate bars, callets, or wafers (made with cocoa butter)
- If you use pure chocolate that contains cocoa butter you will need to temper it (see notes below).
- You can also dip your rice crispy treats in milk chocolate or white chocolate.
- confectionery coating, also known as, Candy Melts, almond bark, melting wafers, or compound coating (made with palm kernel oil)
- If you use confectionery coating, you simply need to melt it.
- Confectionery coating is available in dark, milk, white, and even a rainbow of colors.
For this tutorial, I chose to dip all my cereal treats in dark chocolate, but the same technique that I’m going to teach you can easily be used with milk or white chocolate or any type of confectionery coating.
Just note that every brand of chocolate has a different fluidity (viscosity), meaning some chocolates will melt and be thick while others will be thin and very liquid. When you dip your treats into the chocolate you may need to make adjustments accordingly.
I’ll talk about that more in the tutorial below.
How to temper pure chocolate?
If you use chocolate that contains cocoa butter, and that includes many brands of chocolate chips, it must be tempered. Simply put, tempering is a process of melting, cooling, and agitating the chocolate in order to get the crystals of cocoa butter to set up properly so that the chocolate has good snap, a nice shine, and good mouthfeel.
If chocolate is not tempered properly it may never set up and be too soft, may develop fat or sugar bloom (white spots and streaks), and may have a grainy or gritty texture.
Simple Chocolate Tempering Method:
- Chop 3/4 of your chocolate into really fine pieces or grate your chunks or bars of chocolate.
- Heat the chopped chocolate in the microwave on 50% power for 15 second increments, stirring after each, then allow the chocolate to rest for a minute, before stirring again, then heat for additional 15 second bursts of 50% power.
- Repeat this process until almost all the chocolate is melted.
- Remove and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted.
- Check the temperature of the chocolate.
- If it hasn’t gone above 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31° Celsius) then your chocolate will still be in temper and it’s ready to use.
- If it has, then continue to heat the chocolate until the temperature reaches 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46° Celsius).
- Then add the remaining 1/4 of your chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate cools to 89-90 degrees Fahrenheit (31° Celsius).
- Remove any un-melted chocolate chunks or pieces and test the temper of the chocolate by dipping the tip of a knife into the melted chocolate and setting it on your counter. If the chocolate hardens within a few minutes and is shiny, the chocolate is tempered and ready to work with.
- If needed, you can return the chocolate to the microwave and heat at 50% power for 5 seconds to keep it warm and at the right temperature, but note that if the temperature goes above 89-90 degrees (this temperature may vary slightly depending on the brand of chocolate you are using) then you will have to start the process again by raising the temperature to 115° Fahrenheit and tempering it again.
How to melt confectionery coating (Candy Melts)
- Pour the confectionery coating wafers into a microwave safe bowl.
- Heat on high power for short burst of time, stirring after each, until melted.
- If you are melting larger quantities, like 16 ounces, you can start with a 60 second burst of power, then remove and stir, then a 45 second burst of power, then remove and stir, then 30 second bursts of power, stirring after each, until melted.
- Smaller quantities should be heated at shorter, 15-30 second, bursts of power.
- I recommend, that once the wafers are about 50% melted, that you allow the bowl to rest in the warm microwave for a few minutes before stirring it again.
- The residual heat from the melted candy will continue to melt the other wafers.
Be careful not to overheat your confectionery coating!
- If you overheat your confectionery coating it may burn or become very thick.
- If you burn the candy, it must all be thrown away. The entire bowl full of candy will taste burnt.
- If the candy becomes thick, you can thin it out using Paramount Crystals (Wilton’s Candy Melts EZ Thin) which are flakes of the same palm kernel oil that is used to make the candy melts.
- If you don’t have any Paramount Crystals, you can use a small amount of shortening, just know that your candy may not set up quite as hard.
- As an absolute last resort you can use vegetable oil, but note that your candy will be a bit soft once dried.
- Whatever you use to thin out your candy melts, start by adding a very small amount, then stir it in, allow it to melt, then check the consistency of your candy. Add more only if needed.
How to dip bite sized cereal treats in chocolate?
- Start by cutting your pan of cereal treats into bite-sized pieces. I made mine about 1 1/2 inches square but you can cut your’s any size you like.
- Fill a small bowl with melted and tempered pure chocolate or with melted confectionery coating.
- Submerge one bite-sized cereal treat into the chocolate.
- Remove it using a chocolate dipping fork or a kitchen fork.
- Tap the handle of the fork on the bowl several times, allowing the excess chocolate to drip off the treat.
- If you actually dip the very bottom edge of the treat back into the chocolate, the chocolate in the bowl will stick, and as you lift the treat up out of the chocolate, more of the chocolate will be pulled off the treat, making this process go a little more quickly.
- As I mentioned above, every chocolate will a bit different. Some chocolate will leave a thick coating on your treats while other’s will leave a very thin coating on them.
- If you want, you can always double dip the treats if you want a thicker coating.
- It’s important to allow all the excess chocolate to drip off so that when you set the treat on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, you don’t end up with a puddle of chocolate oozing out from underneath the treat.
- If you do get a big footer (puddle of chocolate) you can lift up the treat and move it to another spot on the parchment paper.
- You can, once the chocolate hardens, peel up the “puddles” and re-melt them.
If you don’t want your bite-sized treats to be completely covered in chocolate you can simply dip the top half into the chocolate.
If you watch the video below (just above the recipe) you’ll see just how this process works.
You can even roll bite-sized cereal treats into balls and dip them in colored candy melts to create Rainbow Rice Krispie Treat Bites. They are so much fun to serve at a birthday party.
How to cool the chocolate dipped treats?
- If you are using pure chocolate you can either allow the treats to dry at room temperature, if your room is reasonably cool (about 68° F) or you can pop them in the fridge for just a few minutes until the chocolate hardens.
- If using confectionery coating it is best to freeze your treats for a few minutes just until the candy hardens.
PRO TIPS:
- If using dark colored confectionery coating, dip and freeze the treats immediately. If some of the colors, like green and red, are allowed to dry at room temperature, they will get spotty or streaky.
- So, I always use small baking pans, and dip just a few treats then place them in the freezer.
- Then I dip a few more then pop those in the freezer, etc.
- If you dip a whole tray’s worth of treats in dark colored candy melts, by the time you pop the tray in the freezer some of the candy coating will have already dried and it will probably become spotty or streaky.
- Also, if you allow confectionery coating dipped treats to remain in the freezer for too long (more than 10 minutes) the candy coating may become sticky. The moisture will eventually dry but may leave spots on the surface.
How to dip rice krispie treat bars in chocolate?
- Hold onto the bar in one corner.
- Dip it into a bowl filled with chocolate, lift it out, allowing the excess chocolate to drip off, then place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- You can either dip just the bottom half of each treat or you can angle the treat in the chocolate to cover the treat diagonally.
What toppings to put on my chocolate dipped treats?
- small candies like M&M Mini’s or Reese’s Pieces Mini’s
- rainbow candy-coated mini chocolate chips
- toffee bits
- chopped nuts
- edible glitter
- rainbow nonpareils
- rainbow jimmies
- colored confetti sprinkles
- white chocolate (or other color) drizzle
How to make Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispy Treat Lollipops?
- Fill a tall glass or jar with chocolate.
- Dip the tip of a lollipop stick or sturdy paper straw into the chocolate.
- Insert the stick into the center of the cereal treat bar, making sure the stick goes in straight about 3/4’s of the way into the treat.
- Allow that chocolate to dry.
- Then dip the entire treat into the chocolate.
- Lift the treat out of the chocolate then dip just the bottom of the treat back in the chocolate then pull up quickly.
- This process will help to drag the excess chocolate off the treat back down into the glass.
- Repeat the process several times until the excess chocolate drips back into the glass.
- If needed, you can gently scrape the chocolate drips off the bottom of your treat, before setting it down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- If the chocolate puddles underneath a lot, immediately lift up the treat and move it to another spot on the paper.
- Add toppings if desired.
- Allow the chocolate dipped treat to air dry or chill in the refrigerator, if using pure chocolate, and freeze, if using confectionery coating, just until the chocolate hardens. This may take 5-10 minutes.
PRO TIPS:
- You want the jar or glass to be at least an inch larger in diameter than your treats.
- Using a tall jar will allow you to get a really nice coating on the treats.
- Refill the jar as needed, stirring the chocolate well with each addition to ensure it all stays melted.
Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treat Video Tutorial
Watch to see just how to dip each of these treats in chocolate.
Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons European-style Salted Butter
- 16 ounces marshmallows
- 7 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
- 18 ounces melted and tempered chocolate or melted confectionery coating (Candy Melts)
- optional toppings: small candies, sprinkles, chopped nuts, edible glitter
Instructions
- Melt the butter and marshmallows together in a medium-large saucepan set over low heat until 3/4's of the marshmallows have melted.
- Remove from the heat and stir, smashing down on the marshmallows, until they burst and melt.
- Alternatively, heat the butter and marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl on high power for 1 minute then remove and stir vigorously. If needed, heat for 15 second increments, stirring after each, until melted.
- Pour the cereal into a well buttered, large mixing bowl.
- Pour the hot marshmallows over the cereal and toss to coat.
- Gently press into a well buttered 9 by 13 inch pan.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into 18 rectangles or smaller bite-sized squares.
Dip the bar partially in chocolate:
- Pour the chocolate into a bowl.
- Dip one half of the rice krispie treat into the chocolate.
- Lift the treat out of the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip off.
- Set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and add toppings, if using.
- If using pure chocolate, allow the chocolate to air dry or place in the refrigerator just until the chocolate hardens. If using confectionery coating, place in the freezer for a few minutes just until the candy coating has hardened.
Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treat Lollipops
- Dip the tip of a lollipop stick or paper straw into some chocolate.
- Insert the stick in a cereal treat and allow the chocolate to dry.
- Dip the treat into the chocolate, completely covering it, then remove and allow the excess to drip off.
- Set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and add any desired toppings.
- Chill or air dry.
Bite-Sized Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats
- Cut the pan of cereal treats into bite-sized pieces.
- Dip the treats partially in chocolate or completely in chocolate and add any desired toppings.
- Let dry.
- ENJOY!
Notes
If you love chocolate be sure to check out these other yummy chocolate rice krispie treat recipes…
Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Did you make this recipe and think it was great or do have any questions? Leave a comment below and don't forget to rate the recipe using the star rating system.
We love creating easy Rice Krispie Treats recipes to share with you and hope you find our tips and instructions helpful.
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