A good while back I came across a recipe for Crispy Brown Rice Squares on Rachael Ray’s site, offered up by celebrity vegan Alicia Silverstone. They looked healthy, simple and interesting so I jotted the recipe down and put it aside ages ago. This lazy Sunday I finally got around to giving it a try.

I used organic brown rice cereal, organic brown rice syrup, organic peanut butter and a pinch of sea salt. These simple four ingredients comprise the recipe, with the option to add carob chips. I didn’t have carob chips on hand but I did have organic vegan chocolate chips so I used them instead.

The recipe was a cinch to throw together - so much so that I didn’t even bat an eye when I discovered that I was one cup of cereal short. I simply subbed one cup of rolled oats to make up the dry volume. At first, as I was liquefying the rice syrup and peanut butter on the stove, I wasn’t expecting that I’d like the end result - I didn’t much care for the scent that was wafting up from these two elements warming together.

I pressed on.

After combining the wet ingredients with the dry it was time to press the mixture into the pan. I panicked briefly when I realized that I’d forgotten to grease the pan first, but the squares still came out without a hitch after cooling. I used a glass pan so perhaps that helped matters.

The squares were a teensy bit crumbly as I was cutting them. At first I thought this was due to my not so clever choice of a butter knife to do the cutting. On closer inspection of the recipe however I realized that I had made somewhat of a transcription boo boo - notably my measure of 3/4 cup brown rice syrup in lieu of the 1 3/4 cups called for.

Good grief, no wonder the squares didn’t stick to the pan.

Given that error I’m amazed the squares stuck together as well as they did. Next time around I’ll increase the rice syrup but I think I might reduce the amount called for just a bit and find a happier medium - I think I can get away with using less.

Despite my on the fly substitutions and transcription mayhem the squares turned out great. Very tasty and filling - I will definitely make these again. I’m not sure how carob would feature against the very prominent peanut-iness, but the chocolate complemented it quite nicely. Is it possible to go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter? I think not. One thing is certain - hubby will be brown bagging crispy brown rice square snacks for the next few days.

Update: I’ve since remade the squares, this time using the full 1-3/4 cup brown rice syrup called for (I had initially misread the recipe and used only 3/4 cup). Well, I prefer my mess-up - with less rice syrup. 1-3/4 cups was way too sweet and gooey for my taste. I’m thinking no more than 1 cup rice syrup would be more than adequate - I’m currently experimenting on my own variation and will post when done.