24.01.2008 Red Eye Rice Treats

I will be taking a long, long trip next week, so I know I’ll need all the caffeine I can get. Besides, the first word the husband ever uttered as a baby was “coffee” *, so these treats won’t know what hit them, they’ll be devoured so quickly.

They’re called Red Eye, but they don’t contain that much caffeine, really. it’s the 12’000 cups of joe that will help me get through the traveling day. The coffee in these is there to give the treats a mocha-like flavor, not to help you run a marathon and stay awake for the next 3 weeks, I’m afraid.

As much as I’d like to pretend I’m still rather young, my wrists tend to prove me wrong. They regularly make baking a big pain in the you-know-what when it comes to kneading bread dough, or stirring stiff batter like when making rice treats.
That’s where the good old stand mixer comes in: I always assumed that using it for that purpose would mean puffed rice = rice flour, but I was wrong.
So there you go, fellow sensitives-of-the-wrist, use your stand mixer and be proud.

* Not really, no…

1 cup (256 g) creamy natural peanut butter or any nut butter
1/2 cup (172 g) brown rice syrup, or (168 g) light agave nectar
1/2 cup (120 ml) pure maple syrup, or (168 g) light agave nectar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (4 g) instant coffee or coffee alternative powder
1/3 cup (40 g) carob or (27 g) cocoa powder
6 cups (96 g) puffed brown rice

Place peanut butter, syrups, vanilla, carob or cocoa, and coffee powder into your stand mixer bowl. Mix well until perfectly combined.
Add rice and mix well until all the rice is coated with the sticky mixture. You might feel the preparation looks like it’s trying to escape from the bowl, but the stuff is so sticky it won’t fall out of there.

Place into a parchment-lined, 9-inch (23-cm) square pan. Press down hard, using more parchment paper to flatten your treats.

Chill and let set in the fridge or freezer for about an hour, cut in however many pieces you want. Store in, and enjoy from fridge or freezer.

Yield: One 9-inch (23-cm) pan of treats