sparkle kitchen: millet crispy treats
In this week's So Many Fairies story, “The House Hob of Apartment #3C,” Bing, the house fairy of apartment #3C, is lonely. He wants more voices, more conversation, more relationship. But the man who lives in the apartment is perfectly happy with things as they are.
That is, except for the noisy pigeon that has roosted on the air conditioner in his bedroom window. But Bing sees the pigeon as an opportunity, and begins to encourage a relationship that will change the man and the pigeon's lives forever.
This week's recipe is one that could be shared with your local bird friends, if they last that long!
These millet crispy treats look a lot like the marshmallow-y rice crispy treats that you probably grew up eating. But while both treats are based on crispy puffed cereal, these millet treats are not simply a knock-off rice crispy.
For one thing, using peanut butter and honey — instead of marshmallows — to bind them together, gives these millet treats a delicious peanut flavor.
For another, the millet also makes the treats a bit chewier than traditional rice crispy treats. I recommend cutting the pieces a little thinner than you might normally to keep them at pleasantly chewy — rather than jaw glueing-ly chewy — levels.
Whether you're trying to tempt a real bird to be friends or just feed a flock of small human fledglings, these yummy treats will hit the spot.
Millet Crispy Treats
Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups puffed millet cereal
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit (apricots or cranberries would both be good) butter or oil (for greasing the pan)
Directions
Begin by liberally greasing a baking pan. You'll want to use something close to an 8X8 pan for this recipe, but size isn't absolutely critical. (The pan in these photos, for example, is more like 6X8.)
Then, in a small saucepan, mix together the peanut butter, honey, and salt. Put the pan over medium heat, and stir constantly until the peanut butter just starts to bubble. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter mixture with the cereal and dried fruit. Stir until the mixture is well-incorporated, then press the cereal down into the prepared baking pan.
Refrigerate for at least an hour. Then, turn the pan upside down on a cutting board, and give the bottom a good “thwack”.
The crispy treats should come out as one big square, which you can then cut up and enjoy in smaller bites.
Download the recipe card HERE.
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About the Author
Meryl Carver-Allmond
The Sparkle Kitchen Series is created by Meryl Carver-Allmond.
Meryl lives in a hundred-year-old house near the prairie with her sweet husband, two preschoolers, one puppy, one gecko, and about ten chickens. While she's been writing since she could pick up a pen, in recent years she's discovered the joy of photography, too. She feels lucky to be able to combine those skills, along with a third passion — showing people that cooking for themselves can be healthy and fun — in her Sparkle Kitchen posts.
