Crisp, thin, chocolate coated puffed rice cakes bedecked with all manner of delectable toppings are ideal for kids at heart of all ages. As a snack, a treat, for hiking and camping, or just for the delight of making something seriously fun, Chocolate Rice Cake Treats are easy and endlessly customizable.
I love chocolate coated rice cakes, which don’t seem to be quite a thing in Toronto, but are definitely a common packaged snack food in places like the UK, where I have family. Around here, you can most often find them, imported, at health food stores. Unfortunately, like many prepared food products these days, many versions contain palm oil, something I go out of my way to avoid when I can.
And so, it occurred to me, I could make my own version, free of palm oil, with the kind of chocolate I prefer, and best of all, with various delicious toppings, something I have never seen in a purchased version. I also thought that these topping laden versions would make great energy boosting, sweet, yet still somewhat healthy snacks for camping and hiking, something I do a lot of. Win win!
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Ingredients
These Chocolate Rice Cake Treats are super easy to make, and a great way to include kids in your kitchen activities, if you have any willing smaller hands around. The key is to find readily available “thin” rice cakes. This variety of rice cake is more crisp than the standard, thicker kind, giving you the ideal ratio of crisp puffed rice to chocolate coating and toppings. There are many kinds of thin rice cakes out there, from round to square in shape, from salted to unsalted, and from plain brown rice to various grain combinations. Choose the ones you like best or just experiment!
In addition to the thin rice cakes, you will need chocolate for the chocolate coating. I prefer fair trade dark or semi sweet chocolate, although I have used everything from a clean out the cupboard mix of whatever I have, to pink-coloured ruby chocolate leftover from a special baking project. If your sweet tooth is even sweeter than mine, you might prefer to use milk chocolate or even white chocolate; it’s up to you!
The chocolate topping for these treats includes coconut oil for shine.
There are so many varieties of rice cakes available, just choose any "thin" variety.
As for the toppings, I detail various combinations below that I have tested and think work especially well, although of course there are many more that you may wish to try. The only trick with the toppings is to make sure anything you use is small enough to stick to the chocolate coating. For example, if using dried fruit or nuts, as I do in a few variations, chop them up into smaller pieces.
There are many more toppings than I include below that could easily be used, from various dried fruits, candied ginger or citrus peels, to chocolate sprinkles or other sweet decorations, and whatever else that you might find stashed in your pantry.
Instructions
As this recipe requires melted chocolate, it's worth noting the two main methods of melting chocolate. One is using a microwave, heating the chocolate for short bursts of time, stirring, and then repeating the process until the chocolate is thoroughly melted and runny. My preferred method, which may seem more complicated but is actually more hands off, is to use a bain-marie. In this method, a glass bowl filled with the chocolate is nested over a smaller pot containing barely simmering water until the chocolate melts. Just make sure the glass bowl you use does not touch the water, and that the heat level isn’t so high that steam escapes. Then just let the chocolate gently warm until melted, and give it a nice stir before using.
As I like to take my leisurely time making these snacks with my smaller sidekick, I don’t want the melted chocolate getting thick and hardening up as I work, so after I have melted the chocolate with a dollop of coconut oil for shine, in a bain marie set up, I simply pop the chocolate on top of the warmed pot periodically so that the chocolate stays viscous and spreadable.
I also like to get all of my ingredients ready and in smaller containers before I start assembling my rice cakes, so that everything is ready to go once the chocolate is melted.
It’s a great idea to set up a baking tray, lined with parchment paper, and have that nearby, so that you can pop your finished Chocolate Rice Cake Snacks onto the tray as you make them. That tray will then go into the fridge so that the chocolate can harden up nicely before eating or storing the treats.
Topping variations
While of course you can let your inner artist play and festoon these chocolate coated rice cakes with anything that you desire, there are a few combinations that I think work especially well and can serve as a guide to making these snacks a regular part of your household snack rotation.
Chocolate Cherry // Rice Cake Treats
I love anything chocolate and cherry! Here, spread melted chocolate on the rice cake, sprinkle on chopped dried cherries, then sprinkle on cacao nibs. Sometimes I have hibiscus powder around (pictured here) and that tastes lovely sprinkled on this combination as well.
Chocolate Coconut // Rice Cake Treats
If you love the flavour combination of chocolate and coconut, you will love this! Start by spreading the rice cake with coconut butter, then spread over a layer of melted chocolate, followed by sprinkles of shredded coconut, which could be sweetened or unsweetened, toasted or untoasted, as is your preference.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate // Rice Cake Treats
The classic combination! Spread peanut butter on the rice cake, followed by a layer of melted chocolate, and then a generous sprinkle of crushed, salted, roasted peanuts. If you can’t eat peanut products, substitute with a seed butter underneath and the matching seeds on top; sunflower butter and seeds would be a good substitute.
Tahini and Chocolate // Rice Cake Treats
Second only to the combination of peanuts and chocolate in my mind, tahini and chocolate is a winning combination. Spread tahini onto the rice cake, followed by melted chocolate, and then toasted sesame seeds - both black and white if you have them.
Nuts and Seeds // Rice Cake Treats
This is the fully loaded snack that I love to take hiking and camping. On top of a layer of melted chocolate, sprinkled roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and sesame seeds.
Storage
For short duration storage, such as taking Chocolate Rice Cake Treats on a hike or camping, or if you know they won’t last more than a couple of days in your household, just tightly wrap in wax or parchment paper or pile into a cookie tin on the counter. For longer duration storage, I have found these are best stored in the fridge, which seems to keep everything quite crisp. Once I made a batch, then was out of town for about 2 weeks, and the rice cakes stored in the fridge were just as good as when I had made them weeks earlier.
Looking for other easy snacks?
Chocolate Rice Cake Treats
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chocolate of your choice for melting
- 1 teaspoon virgin or refined coconut oil
- toppings, as per the variations suggested, or of your own choice! including but not limited to: coconut butter, tahini, peanut or seed butters, shredded coconut, crushed roasted salted peanuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, roasted sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Melt your chocolate either using a microwave or a bain-marie:
- For a microwave, heat the chocolate for short bursts of time, stir, and then repeat the process until the chocolate is thoroughly melted and runny.
- For a bain-marie, choose a small glass bowl that sits in and above a small pot, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the bottom of the pot or the water underneath it. Heat water in the pot until simmering, and then put the glass bowl on top. Add the chocolate and the coconut oil, let the chocolate gently warm until melted, and give it a nice stir. Just make sure that no steam escapes and comes into contact with the chocolate as it will seize up.
Get your toppings ready:
- Chop any large nuts or fruit, and put your toppings in smaller containers ready to sprinkle.
To make the rice cakes:
- Put about 4 rice cakes at a time onto a cutting board. Spread a generous layer of whatever butter you are using, if using, (i.e. coconut butter, peanut butter etc.) and/or spread a generous layer of chocolate on its own onto each rice cake going almost all the way to the edge of each cake. While the chocolate is still runny and wet, sprinkle whatever topping combinations you are using.
- Transfer the completed rice cake treats to a baking tray, and then pop the tray into the fridge until the chocolate has hardened. If you plan on eating these right away, take them out of the fridge, otherwise pack them into an airtight container and leave in the fridge until eaten. Enjoy!
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