The Snickeroo. And I don’t mean a Snickerdoodle Cookie (though I love those cinnamon delights too). This recipe comes straight from my mother in law’s recipe box, with some allergy friendly modifications of course. Grandma Jeanne’s original Snickeroo is simply a rice crispie treat with peanut butter and chocolate. My husband, along with his four brothers LOVED this dessert, and it was a regular after school treat when they were growing up. I remember the first time I tasted these little squares of heaven; I had to have more.
The original recipe also used Special K cereal, but as many of you already know, that particular brand of cereal contains milk ingredients. I substituted rice crispies, soy nut butter and Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips; the end result is phenomenal.
Stored covered in an airtight container for a few days, but I can assure you they won’t last that long.
DAIRY, EGG AND NUT FREE SNICKEROOS
Yield: About 36 squares
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (15-ounce) container creamy soy nut butter (I like IM Healthy brand)
6 cups crisped rice cereal
2 cups dairy-free chocolate chips
Spray a 13×9×2-inch baking pan generously with dairy-free baking spray. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, simmer syrup and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in soy nut butter until thoroughly mixed. In a large bowl, combine cereal and soy nut butter mixture, and press into prepared baking dish using a rubber spatula.
Place chocolate chips into microwavable dish, and heat on high 45 to 60 seconds, or until melted. Using an offset spatula, spread melted chocolate over the cereal mixture. Let mixture cool completely at room temperature, and cut into small 1-inch squares.
Tip: Add more rice cereal if you like a crunchier bar, and less cereal if you want your Snickeroos to be chewier.
These look delicious. I love all the recipes you share, thank you so much.
Oh, I wish I could make these right now, so yummy!
My pleasure! I love sharing these recipes with all of my fellow food allergy mamas as much as I love making them!
These look great. I think I will try them out soon. I just ordered a case of Sunbutter–what better way to use it! Thanks!
Cathy
One more comment, (and you don’t have to post this one!!) I just noticed that our article from the Lancaster News made it on your food allergy news list. (I am Cathy DeVinney). Yay! Our food allergy support group was happy to see them run it in recognition of food allergy awareness week!
Cathy
Question- What brands (other than Enjoy Life) of chocolate chips are dairy free? TIA My local Whole Foods does not carry Enjoy Life chocolate chips but did have one vegan option.
Great recipe. My husband’s family also makes a similiar recipe for summer get togethers.
Maleah – I have never found another dairy free chocolate chip that isn’t made on the same line as or may contain dairy. I just ordered a bunch of Enjoy Life chocolate chips online at http://www.luckyvitamin.com.
Mmmms, these look delicious!
We use Trader Joe’s chocolate chips and I believe (but of course double check this), Ghiradelli has some too. I’ve seen it at the grocery store, but we haven’t used them.
Great tips guys. You can go to Enjoy Life’s website you can order a larger 5 lb. bulk bag of Enjoy Life chips.
Maleah – Divvies http://www.divvies.com also carries dairy, egg and nut free chips, but you’ll need to order online. I’ve done this before too with great success. The divvies chips are larger, similar to the traditional sized chip, while the Enjoy Life brand is a smaller, mini type chip. You can also always call your local grocery store ask them to order a case. If you request an item enough, some stores will regularly stock it for you. Good luck!
Congrats Cathy!! That is great news!
I recently had Sunbutter at the Thrive Expo…delicous.
My mouth is watering just seeing the pictures. I bet they taste amazing! Can’t wait to get some of your recipes on our site!
Oh my, these look delicious!! I cannot wait to try them out.
It is Food Allergy Awareness Week. Read my latest allergy post: Thursday Thanks Tank: Allergy Thankfulness
These look so yummy!! Quick question – I’m just curious about the soy nut butter. Is there a reason you use soy rather than say Sunbutter made out of sunflower seeds? I’ve tried soy nut butter ( I can’t remember the brand) and it left me less than impressed taste wise. I’ve been ordering the unsweetened organic Sunbutter on line for quite a while now and have been happy with their product. Also, since so many substitutes are soy based (soy milk, yogurt, margarines etc….) I try to find other substitutes when possible. I figure variety must be good. Just thought I’d ask your take on things.
Thanks!
Thanks Anya! I’ve tried and really like Sunbutter too, but I happen to like IM Healthy Soy Nut Butter a smidgen better. Just a matter of personal taste I guess. You could certainly use any nut substitute you like.
We have soy allergy here, too, so would probably try these with sunflower seed butter. They look great! Haven’t tried Sunbutter brand; we ususally use the Trader Joe’s brand.
These sound fantastic! I’ve just started giving our toddler Enjoy Life chocolate chips this week. If we continues to tolerate them fine, I think we’ll be ready to move up to a treat like this. They look like a great choice to bring to parties. I’m starring this in my googler reader to try soon.
Hi Lynne! Great! Try the banana chocolate chip muffins (using the chips too), your toddler will love them.
We are trying to avoid corn syrup here, purely preference. Do you think this would work with real maple syrup?
Hmmm…I’ve never tried it or thought about. It just might work, but the flavor will be different. Give it a shot and let me know; I’m curious too!
I tried these out yesterday. I brought them to my son’s preschool graduation reception. They were fantastic!! There weren’t any left.
soooo happy to hear that jane! its so great that the kids enjoyed them! thanks for letting me know!
Hi – These look great, I am going to try them for my husband’s birthday this weekend. Thanks for the recipe, baking is much harder than cooking, it’s great it is your passion.
I can’t wait to make this for my husband’s birthday, thanks for the recipe, it’s great you have a passion for baking!
The maple syrup isn’t quite sticky enough to bind these together. They were very crumbly. Guess I’ll use corn syrup next time! (The flavor was good though… maybe we’ll use them for yogurt and ice cream topping!)
Well at least you tried Tanya! I think the corn syrup is the glue of the treat…like marshmallows is to rice krispies. Like the ice cream topping idea though!
Thanks so much Lisa! I think your husband will love them!
I loved the pictures Jane!!! So glad everyone loved them!
OOOH!!! These look amazing- I will have to make these for my husband, he absolutely loves this kind of treat. I almost had a heart attack when a friend came in from out of town and brought a whole box of the peanut butter version of these that she had made to our house. Actually, it was more of a panic attack- my friends all started digging in and I think I almost stopped breathing. Fortunately my husband came to the rescue after I burst into tears. . .all of our friends know about our son’s allergies but maybe since we just don’t talk about it a lot it is easy to forget? That is specifically why I never let people bring a dessert to my house, I always say I have it covered! Sometimes it is hard to be a gracious hostess and a food allergy mom! Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it once I get some dark corn syrup!
Oh my gosh, I would have totally reacted the same way. I’m always the “dessert mama” because of that very reason…you never know what’s in any baked good. What did you end up doing to handle the situation? I can promise your husband will LOVE these…everyone (including those without allergies) love them. Use soy or sunflower butter…whatever you like best.
I got the dark corn syrup and I am ready to make these today- can’t wait to surprise my husband with these!
Once my friends realized they were stuffing a peanut butter treat in their faces, they felt awful! Everyone washed their hands and they ended up taking them home to enjoy, I didn’t even have to ask them once they realized what happened- it is just so hard for people to remember who don’t live with a food allergy every day! Another thing we realized we had to be careful of is our friends who have dogs- a lot of dog treats have peanut butter in them, which we realized when our friend’s dog licked our little guy in the face and he broke out in hives everywhere!
Awesome Jen!! Good luck and let me know what your husband thought!
Hello Kelly.
I just made these last night and they were FANTASTIC!!. My daughter devoured three portions late at night. I did replace the soy nut butter with sunbutter(creamy) since my kids are allergic to soy. I even brought it to work today and everyone was WOWED by the simpleness of the recipe, yet richness of the taste. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful recipes.
Thanks so much Mandy!! That is so kind of you to say. I love the taste of sunbutter too, and many other readers have done the same substitition with fabulous results. This is one of my favorite recipes for the holidays…
Where do you find the IM Healthy brand?
Hi Kim, You can find IM Healthy at your local grocery story near the organic or peanut butter section. I buy mine at the local Jewel/Albertsons and Whole Foods. If your grocer doesn’t carry Soy Nut Butter, as the purchasing manager to add a case to their shelf. They want to keep you happy, so if you want a new product introduced, they usually will oblige. Hope that helps!
Hi Kelly, this is my first time to your site. I love it! Anyway, I have found a brand of chocolate chips that is dairy free, nut free as far as the ingredients are concerned, and my son has had no issue with them. I don’t know where you live, but these are the generic brand at my local grocery store and are only about $1.50 per bag (way cheaper than the $5 vegan ones I was buying). They are Kroger Value Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and I have found them at my King Soopers in Colorado and at a Kroger store in Georgia. I hope this helps someone!
I love this recipe!!! I am not a food allergy mama, but my son’s best friend has a life threatening peanut allergy. We tried this recipe out at a family reunion this past summer and it was a HUGE success!!! And because of this, we have one more thing that my son can have as a snack at school to “help keep his friend safe” as he likes to say.
Thank you!
What a FABULOUS friend you are Jennifer! That was so sweet of you to make these for your son’s best friend!!! I made these for the WGN segment I did too, and the entire crew loved them. Allergen free or not…they taste great! Thanks for sharing your story!
This sounds great. I just need something to replace corn syrup. My DD is allergic to corn and corn products. I have so far enjoyed your ideas. Thank you so much!
[...] At the bookstore this weekend I browsed the vegan cookbooks, as I always do. There was only one I hadn’t seen before, and it didn’t inspire me to purchase it (as if I don’t have enough cookbooks to last a hundred years, anyway!), but there was one recipe that I was drawn to: the Snickeroo. [...]
I just made substituting soy nut butter for Sunbutter. I also used gluten-free crisped rice. I’m baking for a crown on Christmas eve and had to avoid dairy, eggs, nuts, tree nuts, soy, sesame, flaxseed and gluten. They turned out fantastic!
Amanda