Rice Krispie Treat Sandcastle

Build a Rice Krispies Treat Sandcastle using caramel rice crispy treats and beach toys as molds.

This caramel cereal treat castle would be a perfect snack to bring to the beach or to serve at a beach-themed or pool party.

The walls of this castle are built with Caramel Rice Krispie Treats.

Making caramel treats is a bit more effort than making traditional marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats but it's totally worth the effort. 

The caramelized cereal will make a sturdy structure that will hold up beautifully when formed into castle walls. It isn't too sticky so it comes out of the mold easily and it tastes amazing! 

For years I have been using a set of crispy treat molds that I purchased from Mouldings, Inc. back in the early '90s to make cute caramel cereal treats like bunnies and bears.

Sadly the company quit making the molds many years ago, but I found plastic sand molds, the beach toys you use to build sandcastles at the beach, work equally well. 

When I purchased the original crispy treat molds, they came with the recipe to make caramel rice krispie treats. It was love at first bite! Whenever I make treats using molds, I always make this recipe. 

Let's make sandcastle cereal treats.

Ingredients

• Rice Krispies Cereal
• butter
• brown sugar
• sweetened condensed milk
• corn syrup

Supplies

medium saucepan with lid
heatproof spatula or wooden spoon (it is best to butter it)
sandcastle molds, washed and dried
optional, plastic wrap

Molds that could be used for this project are available on Amazon.com. I earn a small commission when you make a purchase using the links below at NO extra cost to you.

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Instructions

1. Pour 19 cups (one 18-ounce box) of Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal into a very large heatproof bowl.
2. Cut 2 sticks of butter into small pieces.
3. Place butter, 2 cups of brown sugar, and 1 ¾ cups of corn syrup in a medium saucepan.
4. Heat on medium, stirring as needed, until the butter melts and the mixture begins to bubble around the edges.
5. Place the lid on the pan for one minute.
6. Remove the lid and allow to boil for 2 more minutes, without stirring.
7. Remove from heat and pour in one (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk.
8. Stir to combine.
9. Return to medium heat and allow to boil for three minutes.
10. Remove and immediately pour over the bowl of Rice Krispies Cereal.
    • NOTE: Do not scrape the bottom of the pan.
11. Use a greased, heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to stir the cereal until it is well coated with the caramel.
    • This mixture will be extremely hot, so be careful not to touch it. It may burn your skin if you do!
12. Allow mixture to cool for 5-10 minutes, stirring it frequently, until you can easily touch it.
    • Just don't let it cool too much or it will get too hard and won't be easy to press into the molds.

Fill the sandcastle molds with rice krispie treats.

• Spoon some of the cereal treats into your plastic mold.
• Press down firmly making sure the caramelized cereal fills all the crevices.
• Fill each mold to the top and press down using your spatula or spoon to really compress the cereal in the mold.
• Turn the mold upside down and gently shake until the treats fall out of the mold. 

Tip

I started by using a sandcastle mold that was about 4" long (the first four pictures in the collage), but found the features of the castle wall were just too small to really show up well, so I decided to use a larger set of molds (the last two images in the collage). The larger molds worked much better as the features are really pronounced. 

Sand molds are not made of FDA-approved plastic, so you may want to line the mold with plastic wrap before filling them with the cereal treat mixture.

The cereal will only be in the mold for a few seconds, so I wasn't terribly concerned about using the molds without the plastic wrap, but when I originally shared this recipe on Hungry Happenings back in 2012, I had a reader express concern, so I shared the option of using the plastic wrap.

I just washed my molds with hot soapy water and dried them well before filling them with the cereal treat mixture. 

Optional Mold

You could use a Nordic Ware Castle Bundt pans to create a Rice Krispie Treat castle.

The pan is definitely more expensive than a set of sand molds, but the shape is really nice and it would make a great cereal treat castle. 

To un-mold the cereal treats, just turn the mold upside down and shake.

The Rice Krispie Treat castle walls should fall right out.

If the cereal treat won't come out you can pull the sides of the plastic mold away from the cereal treat and shake gently and it should fall out.

• Assemble your castle however you'd like.
• My sand mold set really didn't have much to work with so my castle is just a large rectangle with a large courtyard.
• Each set of sandcastle molds will be different, so you can get as creative as you'd like with your castle.
• I added some links to a few sand castle molds below and a few will make more interesting-looking castles. 

Turn your crispy treat castle into a sandcastle on the beach.

You can display your cereal treat sandcastle on a large cutting board or cake board or you can serve it on a beach.

To create the beach you can crush Rice Krispies Cereal, cookies, or graham crackers then sprinkle them around the castle to look like a sandy beach. 

Add some tiny seashells to give it a realistic look. 

Serve the castle for:

• a beach or pool party (use sand and seashells)
• Father's Day (add some flags that say, "Dad, you are the king of our castle)
• princess party (eliminate the sand and add some colorful flags or banners)
• Renaissance festival event  (eliminate the sand and add a moat)
• Halloween party (use Cocoa Krispies to make a dark and sinister-looking castle)

Related Recipes

Here are more beach-themed recipe ideas.

Caramel Rice Krispie Treat Starfish

Peanut Butter Sandcastle Lollipops

Sandcastle Cookies

Chocolate Seashells

 Recipe

Rice Krispie Treat Sandcastle

Beth Klosterboer

Use sand molds to create this Rice Krispie Treat Sandcastle for a beach-themed party.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 20

Calories 381 kcal

Equipment

• medium saucepan with lid
• sandcastle sand molds or cake pan

Ingredients

  

• 19 cups (18-ounce box) Rice Krispies Cereal
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 ¾ cups light corn syrup
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• optional, sand (crushed cereal, cookies, or graham crackers)

Instructions

 

• Pour the Rice Krispies Cereal into a very large heatproof bowl.
• Cut the butter into small pieces.
• Place the butter, along with the brown sugar, and light corn syrup in a medium saucepan.
• Heat on medium heat, stirring as needed, until the butter melts and the mixture begins to bubble around the edges.
• Place the lid on the pan for one minute. Condensation will build up and will wash the sugar crystals down the side of the pan.
• Remove the lid and allow the caramel to boil for 2 more minutes, without stirring.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the sweetened condensed milk.
• Return to medium heat and bring it back to a boil.
• Allow it to boil for three minutes without stirring.
• Remove and immediately pour over the cereal.
• Use a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to stir the cereal until it is well coated with the caramel.
• Allow the caramel cereal treat mixture to cool for 5-10 minutes, stirring it frequently, until it's cool enough to touch.
• Spoon some of the cereal treat mixture into your plastic mold.
• Press down firmly making sure the caramelized cereal fills all the crevices.
• Fill each mold to the top and press down using your spatula or spoon to really compress the cereal in the mold.
• Turn the mold upside down and shake the mold until the cereal treat sandcastle pieces fall out onto your work surface.
• Arrange your sandcastle on a cutting board, serving platter, or cake board and sprinkle edible sand (crushed cookies, graham crackers, or cereal) around the castle.

Notes

This is best eaten the day it is made but it will keep for up to 10 days.

Keyword caramel rice krispie treats, rice krispie treats