Easy Christmas Tree Rice Krispie Treats (with Video!)
Posted: 12/16/2015
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Christmas tree Rice Krispie treats are SO simple to make and kids adore the fun shape and color. If you’re scrambling for a last minute holiday treat, these are it!
Last minute Christmas parties or school events… they happen to all of us. I’m not going to lie; this food blogger often defaults to Rice Krispie treats. They’re SO easy to make (ridiculously easy), they’re okay for my nut-free kids, and they’re relatively neat.
Meaning when my toddlers eat them, I won’t have to change their clothes. Or their teacher won’t have to spend 10 minutes cleaning up the table. And chairs. And floor.
I’ve seen a couple versions of Rice Krispie treat Christmas trees, but they’ve all been cone-shaped. These are way easier to make, and I’d argue they are just as cute. It’s as easy as dyeing them green, cutting them into triangles, and sticking a pretzel stick in them.
The hardest part is getting the pretzel stick to not break.
Seriously, that’s the hardest part. I think you can handle this. Gentle but firm pressure is the key to the pretzel sticks. If you break any, you have two options: a shorter tree trunk or a delicious pretzel snack.
I’d say this is a win-win situation, wouldn’t you?
If you can’t quite imagine how to cut the pan of Rice Krispie treats, I made this little graphic to help. You end up with a couple of half trees to use for quality control and taste testing. It’s still way easier (and way less waste) than cutting them with a cookie cutter.
Note: Yield will depend on how skinny you cut your trees. You should be able to cut 16-20 trees from one pan.
My kids adore these – they are absolutely obsessed. The cookies do turn the kids’ mouths green, but that’s part of the fun! They also turn other things green but maybe we won’t talk about that? Okay, good.
If you’ve got a few extra minutes on your hands and you really want to impress the other parents at the school Christmas party, give snowmen Oreo Pops a try. Another quick and easy holiday treat is cookies and cream fudge. Holiday Oreos give it a fun and festive color.
If you’re looking for more of a chocolate fix, try Christmas tree brownie bites. They start with a boxed brownie mix so making them is seriously easy.
These Santa hat brownies are pretty close to the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Okay – reindeer cupcakes definitely are putting up some strong competition for cutest holiday treat. Let’s just eat both and call it a tie, okay?
If you don’t have time to fuss over whimsical treats, good ol’ puppy chow (Muddy Buddies) is always a popular treat and so are plain Rice Krispie treats. Sprinkle them with multi-colored sprinkles and they look pretty festive. Rolo pretzels are festive and only take three ingredients (and about five minutes!).
Now there’s no excuse for not being that mom that brings darling treats into school. Well, besides kids, sleep, and general life craziness. Those are all fantastic excuses. But you can definitely handle these adorable Rice Krispie treat Christmas trees.
You can do it!
PS: This gel food coloring is the type I like to use.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
cookies
Christmas tree Rice Krispie treats are SO simple to make and kids adore the fun shape and color. If you’re scrambling for a last minute holiday treat, these are it!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pkg. (10 oz.) marshmallows ( about 40 regular sized, or 4 cups mini marshmallows)
- green food coloring
- 6 cups Rice Krispies toasted rice cereal
- sprinkles
- 20 small pretzel sticks
Instructions
- Grease or spray a 9×13-inch pan and set aside.
- In a large pan, melt butter and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Once it almost smooth and melted, add green food coloring little by little until you achieve desired tree color. Once completely smooth and perfectly green, remove from heat and immediately stir in Rice Krispies. Continue to stir until all the cereal is coated.
- Press evenly into prepared pan (I always spray my hand with nonstick cooking spray to do this, but you can also use a piece of wax paper). Immediately sprinkle with sprinkles. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
- Make a cut down the middle of the pan (the long way). Then, cut each of those rows into triangles (you should have 4 scraps leftover, one at each side of each row).
- Insert pretzel stick into bottom of triangles to form trunk.
Notes
- Normally, I advise pressing Rice Krispie treats into the pan very lightly. However, with these trees, press them in a little more firmly so they hold together well and keep their shape.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1Christmas tree, Calories: 162kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 5mg, Sodium: 403mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 2g
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
I originally developed this recipe as a freelancer for Food Fanatic.
Kristin says
I love these treats! They are festive and easy to make. I used a wooden skewer to make a pilot hole for the pretzel. (Similar to the paintbrush idea above). And this year I can share them because I didn’t come down with the flu right after making them like last year. :)
Rachel Gurk says
Oh man! Being sick at the holidays is the worst! So glad you like these (I’m making them tomorrow too!). Thank you so much for taking the time to come and leave a comment – it means so much to me!
Linda says
I made these for my grandsons. They loved them. I made some red ones too just for a more festive look. I found in putting the pretzels in, it made it very easy by first making a hole with the end of a craft paintbrush. Worked out very well.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m thrilled to hear these were a success for you, Linda! Thanks for the paintbrush tip!
Erin Clarkson says
Wow these are so clever!!
Heather says
I used 40 large marshmallows, should have used 50 to make them more chewy.
Rachel Gurk says
These need a touch more structure than traditional square rice krispie treats. I’m sure 50 marshmallows would taste great, but they might not hold the triangle shape as well.
Richa Gupta says
Looks cute, kids are going to love it!
Brittany K Brines says
Am I correcin seeing that these make about 32 trees? I need at least 23 for my son’s school classroom and just wondered if I need to do a double batch.
Rachel Gurk says
The photo is only to show how to cut them – the yield of this recipe is about 20 trees, but it will depend on how skinny or fat you cut them. You might be able to squeeze 23 out…
I’m making them for my son’s classroom Wednesday, too. :)
Michelle says
How did you attach the Xmas tree trunk?
Rachel Gurk says
Just stick the pretzel in and it stays there :)
Randi says
When do you push it in? I haven’t started yet but I’m guessing after it cools 30 mins and gets hard I won’t be able to do that. Just about to start so fingers crossed. Baiting charging the drill in case I need to drill a hole out to put the pretzel in. Yes it is panic time lol. If you read this soon please let me know.
Thank you
Rachel Gurk says
Haha! It’s not hard, you’ll see! You push it in after you cut them into triangles.
Mere says
I’m soo excited about making tree treats
Rachel Gurk says
I hope you loved them!
Jenn says
This is perfect for the double batch of holiday treats I need to make for my kids’ holiday classroom parties. Thanks for thinking of us “real” moms!
Rachel Gurk says
I’m a real mom too, let me tell you! ;)
denise says
so fun!
Kelly - Life Made Sweeter says
Aaw your kids are SO cute and so are these RKT!! I love how much easier they are to make without the cones! My kids will have a blast making these!
Cyndi says
I love the Christmas tree idea!
If you want to make these a little more ‘gourmet’, stir in 3 Tablespoons of flavored gelatin (Jell-O, etc). You could also skip the green dye and enrobe the trees in white chocolate and then sprinkle on the candy sprinkles. As an example, stir in strawberry Jell-O, dip in the white chocolate and they become a ‘strawberry shortcake’ flavor. Another idea, stir in lime Jell-O and keep the green dye – you’ve got ‘Christmas in the Florida Keys’ (Key Lime…).
Oh my stars, you’ve got my creative juices flowing!
Erin@WellPlated says
CANNOT HANDLE THE CUTENESS of your kids or the krispies! Love, a food blogger who occasionally defaults to boxed brownies ;-)
Sues says
These are so cute! And I love that they’re rice krispies treats on sticks :)
Lauren says
Aww these are adorable! Love the pretzel tree trunk ;)
Rachel Gurk says
Thank you Lauren!