Chewy, chocolatey, and super cute! These Christmas pudding Rice Krispie treats are the perfect no-bake Christmas treat!
How cute are these!! Seriously, I’m so happy with how they turned out. Such a simple decoration, but it’s so effective. I loved Rice Krispie treats as a kid, especially caramel flavoured ones! But combining them with chocolate and topping them with festive Christmas pudding decorations is definitely now my favourite. They’re sweet, chewy, the perfect size to eat and so simple to make! They actually make a really great treat to make with kids, as there’s minimal cooking time and lots of fun pudding shaping time!
Key Ingredients You’ll Need
- Rice Krispies – You can’t make Rice Krispie treats without Rice Krispies! Branded or home-brand, it really doesn’t matter for these, so just choose your favourite!
- Mini Marshmallows – You can make the puddings with regular sized marshmallows, but mini marshmallows are easier! They will melt down quicker and more evenly, so go for mini if you can!
- Fondant – The holly and berry decorations are made from fondant. You can buy white fondant and colour it yourself, or buy pre-mixed fondant for ease! You will also need a small holly cookie/icing cutter to stamp out the fondant. But if you don’t have one, you could also create a template from baking paper and cut around that instead.
How to make Christmas pudding Rice Krispie treats
Sometimes the simplest treats are the best, and this is definitely one of the best! Perfectly decadent for Christmastime and so quick and easy to make. Theres no oven time here – hooray – just a short cook on the hob as you melt down the butter, chocolate and marshmallows. Then its all about the decorating! So lets get going.
Making the Rice Krispie treat balls
The first step is to melt the butter and milk chocolate together in a saucepan. Now usually when you melt chocolate on the stove top, you would do this with a bain-marie (i.e. a heat-proof bowl with the chocolate in, placed over a pan of simmering water). This is because chocolate has a relatively low melting point and can burn easily; melting with a bain-marie is easier and safer. But with this recipe the chocolate and butter can be melted directly in a saucepan, as we will be adding in the marshmallows too and keeping the pan on a very low heat.
Remember, as Mary Berry says, chocolate will melt in a child’s pocket, so keep it low.
Once the butter and chocolate have melted, add in the marshmallows and stir them occasionally until fully melted. The mixture can then be taken off the heat, poured into a large bowl with the Rice Krispies and stirred together until well combined. You want all the Rice Krispies to be completely covered in the melted chocolate marshmallow mixture, so you don’t have any dry spots! Then leave it to cool for a few minutes, as you’ll be rolling the balls by hand, and the mixture can be quite hot!
Once it’s cool enough to handle, roll the mixture into 18 evenly sized balls. I found about a tablespoon scoop was enough for each. I wouldn’t advise you make them any bigger than this, unless you have a super sweet tooth!
Once your balls are formed, you can leave them to set in the fridge to firm up a little, while you get on with making the decorations!
Making the fondant decorations
To make the holly leaf decorations, you need to roll out the green fondant on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. This will help stop your fondant from sticking! Then either using a cookie/icing cutter, cut out the small holly leaf decorations. Or if you don’t have a cutter; draw the shape of a holly leaf on baking paper, cut it out and use this as a template to cut out the fondant.
To really make the holly leaves look realistic, you can then use the flat end of a spoon to create indentations in the leaves to look like veins. It’s totally an optional step, but I think it really gives the leaves that extra wow factor!
Then for the berries, simply roll small pieces of the red fondant into balls. Super simple!
Assembling the treats
Once the Rice Krispie balls have firmed up a little and your fondant decorations are ready, you can begin assembly!
First of all, you’ll need to melt the white chocolate. This acts as the ‘icing’ on our Christmas puddings. Once the melted chocolate has cooled a little, place it into a piping bag and cut off the end to make a small hole. Pipe over the top of each Rice Krispie pudding, in an uneven manner. Like I said, this is mimicking icing on top of a cake, so it won’t be perfectly symmetrical. The natural fall of the chocolate is what will make these treats super cute!
The final step is to press your fondant decorations onto the top of the Christmas pudding, securing with the melted chocolate. And then you can leave them to set!
Tips & Tricks
Yes! You don’t need to worry about getting pure white mini marshmallows. If you can only find pink and white mini marshmallows, they will work just fine.
Yes! The Christmas puddings keep well in the fridge (though the fondant may begin to crack a little), and at room temperature in an air-tight container.
You may have cooked the marshmallows on too high a heat! Or perhaps they’ve been in the fridge too long. Personally, I find they taste best at room temperature.
I really hope you love these Christmas pudding Rice Krispie treats as much as I do! I just love how easy and cute they are! And of course delicious too! They’re the perfect balance of sweetness, chewiness and chocolatey-ness!! And a super fun activity for a festive day in front of a Christmas film! I’d love to know if you give these a go!!
You can watch my Instagram Reel here, where I show each step!
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Christmas Pudding Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients
- 80 g Rice Krispies cereal
- 150 g milk chocolate
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 135 g mini marshmallows
- 100 g green fondant
- 25 g red fondant
- 75 g white chocolate
Instructions
- Firstly, place the Rice Krispies cereal into a large bowl and set aside.
- Then melt the milk chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan, over a very low heat, stirring often. Once melted, add the marshmallows and stir often until melted and combined. Take off the heat and pour into the Rice Krispie bowl, and stir to combine. Ensuring the Rice Krispies are completely covered. Then leave to cool a little (5 minutes or so) until you can handle the mixture.
- Using your hands shape the mixture into 18 balls, about 1tbsp mixture per ball, and place onto a baking tray to set. Then place the tray into the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up, while you start on the decorations.
- Dust your work surface with icing sugar, and roll out the green fondant using a rolling pin. You want the fondant to be a few millimetres thick. Then using a holly cookie/icing cutter, cut out roughly 36 holly shapes – enough for 2/3 for each pudding ball. Then roll the red fondant into little balls – around 30 or so.
- Finally, melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie (or in a microwave in 30 second increments) and place into a piping bag or a small freezer/sandwich bag. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then snip off the end to make a small hole. Pipe on top of each of the balls, coaxing the chocolate down the sides to mimic the icing on a Christmas pudding. Then place holly and berry decorations onto each ball and leave to set.
