Chocolate-Raspberry Rice Krispies Treats

February, and the blog has become a rhythm — the weekly writing, the weekly sharing, the weekly conversation with a community of readers who cook what I write and who write back about the cooking. The writing-back is the gift that the cookbook could not provide: the response, the human connection, the stranger in another kitchen who says "I made your she-crab soup and it reminded me of my mother," and the reminding is the purpose, and the purpose is the blog, and the blog is the new form of the old practice.

Valentine's Day was celebrated with Robert's annual gift — this year a cutting board with an inlay of cherry and walnut, a geometric pattern that required, Robert said, "more precision than the average legal brief." The cutting board is beautiful and functional, the dual-purpose of every Robert creation, the philosophy of a man who considers beauty and function to be the same thing expressed through different senses.

Mama has been gone for nearly three years. The three years have changed the grief from acute to ambient — not less painful but less present, the way a scar is less present than a wound, the scar still there but the bleeding stopped. The scar is the shape of the love. The love is the shape of the scar.

I made chocolate mousse — the Valentine's dessert, dark, rich, the annual tradition of sweetness shared between two people who have been sharing sweetness for twenty-nine years and who will share it for however many more years the sharing is granted.

The mousse was our ritual, but what I brought to the table this February was something I could also wrap up and share — with a neighbor, with a reader who wrote back about her mother, with whoever needed a piece of sweetness handed through a door. These Chocolate-Raspberry Rice Krispies Treats carry that same Valentine’s feeling: dark chocolate, a note of raspberry bright enough to cut through grief, and the kind of simple pleasure that doesn’t ask you to be anything other than present with whoever is beside you.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min (plus 30 min cooling) | Servings: 16

Ingredients

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 package (10 oz) mini marshmallows
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips (60% cacao or higher)
1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable shortening
1/4 cup freeze-dried raspberries, lightly crushed

Instructions

Prepare the pan. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with butter or nonstick spray and set aside.
Melt the base. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the mini marshmallows and stir constantly until completely melted and smooth, about 4–5 minutes.
Add flavor. Remove from heat and stir in the raspberry jam, vanilla extract, and salt until fully incorporated.
Fold in the cereal. Add the Rice Krispies cereal all at once and stir quickly to coat every piece evenly before the mixture begins to set.
Press into pan. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Using a buttered spatula or lightly greased hands, press into an even layer. Allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Make the chocolate topping. Combine the dark chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and glossy.
Top and finish. Pour the melted chocolate over the cooled treats and spread to the edges with a spatula. Immediately scatter the crushed freeze-dried raspberries over the top.
Set and slice. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature for 20 minutes, or refrigerate for 10 minutes. Cut into 16 squares and serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate-Raspberry Rice Krispies Treats — The Sweetness We Share Each February