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A great festive snack for your upcoming holiday party or to treat everyone on Christmas day, these reindeer Rice Krispies cereal treats are well worth making. You will already know (and probably love!) Rice Krispie cereal bars, but this recipe elevates those to a festive level with the addition of candy eyes, an M&M nose, and cute pretzel stick antlers. So, if you love Rice Krispie squares, you will love these cute little bites!
These gorgeous Cocoa Pebbles or Rice Krispies Christmas treats are fun, festive and failproof to make. They’re ideal for Christmas Eve or to enjoy as a snack on Christmas Day. They’d also work as your holiday cookie swap.
Complement these cute treats with graham cracker toffee bars, Grinch Crumbl Christmas cookies and white chocolate cranberry cupcakes.
Why You’ll Love Them
Easy: If you’re looking for the perfect holiday treat which isn’t complicated to make, these Christmas cookies are ideal. You only need a few ingredients and there’s no cooking required either, just some melting and stirring.
Super cute: Just look how adorable these reindeer Rice Krispies cookies are. You could pay several dollars for one of these at the bakery or whip up a whole batch of your own for a fraction of the price per serving – and yours will be just as cute, or even more so!
Tasty: The blend of flavors and textures in reindeer Rice Krispies bars is perfect. Everyone will enjoy the combination of cereal, marshmallows, M&Ms, and pretzels. The crunchy, soft and chewy texture contrast is also special.
Ingredients for Rudolf Reindeer Chocolate Krispie Squares
You need Cocoa Pebbles or Rice Krispies cereal, along with mini marshmallows, butter, M&Ms, mini pretzels, candy eyes, and chocolate chips to make Rudolph reindeer Rice Krispie treats.
How to Make Rice Krispie Reindeer
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Melt some of the ingredients: Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave, and melt butter and marshmallows together in a pan on the stove over a medium low heat.
Add the cereal: Take the marshmallow mixture off the heat and add in the Rice Krispies or Cocoa Pebbles, stirring constantly.
Press the mixture into a prepared pan: Press it into a 13×9-inch cookie spray-greased baking pan.
Add the candy eyes and nose: Dip the back of the candy eyes into the melted chocolate chips and stick them on to the Christmas Rice Krispie treats, then do the same with the M&Ms and then the pretzels.
Cool and cut: Once your Christmas Rice Krispie treats are cool, cut them into squares and serve.
Substitutions and Variations
If you want to make tweaks to the chocolate Cocoa Pebbles Krispie reindeer, there are a few you can make.
Feel free to replace the chocolate Cocoa Pebbles with Rice Krispies cereal if you prefer it, adding more melted chocolate to the reindeer Krispie treats mixture for a darker color if you like.
Other optional ingredients include adding a splash of vanilla extract when you mix the cereal into the marshmallow mixture, or using coconut oil in place of the butter.
You can use wax paper or parchment paper instead of greasing the baking dish if you prefer, and you can also cut the squares out before adding the eyes, antlers and noses rather than afterwards.
How to Serve These Easy Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
These are a great treat for Christmas Eve, perhaps while sipping a festive mug of hot chocolate and munching on other holiday treats like Santa cupcakes or homemade nut brittle. Recipes like these are what Happy Holidays are all about!
How to Store Holiday Rice Krispie Treats
Store: These Christmas Rice Krispie treats should be stored in an airtight container or airtight Ziploc bag at room temperature for up to a week, although after about day 3 they will start to lose their crispy crunch.
Freeze: Freeze for up to 6 weeks if you want, although the texture won’t be as crisp when thawed.
Rice Krispies Christmas Treats FAQs
As the peanut ones are a bit bigger, they are a popular choice for the reindeer noses, but if you don’t want to eat peanuts or someone is allergic, you can use any other kind of Mu0026Ms or even another candy altogether.
You can if you prefer it. Of course that will make the Rice Krispie treats lighter in color.
The simplest way to get these is from Amazon. I love these candy eyes (here) and use them for Halloween treats and Christmas holiday season ones!
Reindeer Rice Krispie Treats Recipe
Reindeer Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients
- 4 Cup Cocoa Pebbles
- 1/2 Bag mini marshmallows
- 2 Tablespoon butter
- chocolate candies, Peanut butter M&M’s or other kind of M&M
- 1 Cup pretzels, iitty bitty mini
- candy eyes
- ¼ Cup chocolate chips, for melting
Instructions
- Melt the ¼ cup of chocolate chips in the microwave for 30 second intervals.
- In a medium sized pan over low heat, melt the marshmallows and butter together, stirring frequently until there are no lumps.
- Remove from the heat, and add the Cocoa Pebbles.
- Fold in the cereal until all of it is coated in the marshmallow mixture.
- Transfer the mixture into a 9×13 pan and press it evenly. You can butter the pan slightly to make them easier to remove later.
- While the treats are still warm, dip the back half of the eyes, M&M’s, and pretzels in the melted chocolate so they will stick to the cereal.
- Place the eyes, M&M’s and pretzels to arrange a face. Space all of the add-ins so that you will have three reindeer across and four down. There will be twelve total.
- Once the bars are cooled, cut them out making sure to leave space around the pretzels.
Nutrition
These Reindeer Rice Krispies cereal treats are so cute. They’re also very simple to prepare, using Cocoa Pebbles or Rice Krispies cereal, along with a chocolate chip and mini marshmallows mixture plus pretzels and candy eyes to add those unmistakable reindeer features – not forgetting the famous red nose of course! They’re full of sweet, wonderful flavor and this yummy treat will appeal to everyone who loves both candy and Christmas.
Other Recipes to Try
- Christmas Crack is a popular holiday treat that’s sure to be a hit at your holiday gathering.
- Make these Easy Holiday Reindeer Cookie Treats for a fun and festive dessert option.
- Create some holiday magic with Easy Reindeer Cupcakes.
- This easy Christmas Mug Cake is a delightful dessert for the holiday season.
- Whip up this Gingerbread Cheesecake Dip, perfect for holiday parties.
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
There was no leftovers. This has got to be my new favorite recipe from your site!!