Our Christmas Tree Rice Krispie Treats recipe is a fun and festive edible activity to make with kids during the holiday season.
The base of these Christmas tree Rice Krispie treats can be made in minutes using only butter, mini marshmallows, cereal, green food color, and a cookie cutter, then you can decorate your dessert with homemade icing garland that glistens with sprinkles.
Holiday Rice Krispie Treats
Christmas Tree Rice Krispies Treats take a classic rice krispie recipe and turn it into a cute kid-friendly edible holiday craft.
You only need a handful of ingredients to make our homemade Rice Krispie treats for Christmas, then give it a seasonal spin by dressing up your dessert as a Christmas tree adorned with a drizzle of icing and sprinkles.
Our simple cereal and marshmallow mixture is perfectly pliable for spreading in a pan, shaping with cookie cutters, and customizing with colorful candy, stars, and sanding sugar; it’s always fun for the whole family to trim a tree with tasty toppings.
Edible Rice Krispie treat Christmas crafts are my favorite form of entertainment, especially when it’s acceptable to play with my food and eat it with my fingers!
Why We Love This Rice Krispie Christmas Treats Recipe
- Quick and easy to make.
- No-bake base uses only 4 ingredients.
- Fun holiday project to make and decorate with kids.
- Delicious Christmas dessert with a festive twist on the traditional store-bought treat.
- A school-safe snack if made with all nut-free products; food allergy-friendly.
- Perfect for a Christmas cookie platter, holiday dessert table, classroom party, cookie exchange, or wrapped up as an edible gift for friends and teachers.
Other Easy Christmas Recipes
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Mini marshmallows
- Rice Krispies cereal
- Green food coloring
- Powdered sugar
- Water
- Meringue powder
- Christmas sprinkles
Substitutions and Additions
- Choose Your Cereal: Any brand of crispy rice cereal will work for this recipe. You can even use brown puffed rice, white puffed rice, or a holiday version of Rice Krispie cereal.
- Swap Shapes: Instead of cutting your treats into trees, you can use almost any cookie cutter shape. Customize your treats in the shape of candy canes, stars, bells and snowflakes. You can even roll them into Rice Krispie balls.
- Skip The Stick: Feel free to use a mini tootsie roll, piece of pretzel rod, candy cane, or a straw instead of a stick at the base of your tree. You can even skip the stick altogether!
- Trim Your Tree: Decorate your Christmas trees with ornaments made of M&Ms, nonpareils, sprinkles, coconut flakes, or any other festive food.
Recommended Tools
- Large pot
- Cooking spray
- 4”treat sticks
- Christmas tree cookie cutter
- Sauce dispensing bottle
See Full Recipe Card Below
Jump to RecipeHow to Make Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
- Make The Marshmallow Cereal Mixture: Add the marshmallows to melted butter and stir until melted. Add the green food color, then the Rice Krispies, and stir to coat.
- Press Into The Pan: Empty the cereal onto the baking sheet and press down to cover the entire pan.
Pro Tip: To avoid sticking, use cooking spray on the baking sheet and your hands. - Shape Into Trees: Use a cookie cutter to cut out as many shapes as you can. Push a stick into the base of each treat.
- Make The Icing: Mix together the powdered sugar, meringue powder and warm water.
Pro Tip: You may need to add a little more water at a time or powdered sugar if it’s too wet. - Decorate: Add the icing to a sauce dispensing bottle and drizzle over each tree. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle with the Christmas sprinkles.
- Serve: Allow the icing to harden and serve. Enjoy!
Tip From Our Recipe Developer
- Make sure you completely melt your marshmallows, otherwise it can cause the Rice Krispies to lose all of the classic crunch.
- When melting the marshmallows, make sure to use low heat and not turn it past medium! If marshmallows are heated too quickly, the sugar in the marshmallows will turn into candy which means when they cool, they will be hard.
- I used 3 teaspoons full of food coloring for this shade of green. Depending how dark you want your trees, you can adjust accordingly.
- These treats make adorable edible Christmas gifts. Put them in a little clear gift bag, tie them up with a pretty ribbon, and add a printable gift tag.
Storage
- To Store: You can store the Christmas tree treats at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week.
- To Freeze: Wrap each treat in wax paper and place them in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Other Easy Rice Krispie Treat Recipes
- Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispie Treats
- S’mores Rice Krispie Treats
- Grinch Rice Krispie Treats
- Reindeer Rice Krispies Treats
- Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
- Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
Serves — 24
Christmas Rice Krispie Treats are an easy, edible Christmas craft to make with kids during the holiday season. It's fun to turn the traditional square dessert into green trees and decorate them with icing and sprinkles.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Butter unsalted
- 10 oz Bag Mini Marshmallows
- 6 cups Rice Krispies
- Green Food Color
- 1⅓ cups Powdered Sugar
- 1⅔ Tablespoons Warm Water
- 1 Tablespoon Meringue Powder
- Christmas Sprinkles
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the marshmallows and stir, continuously until they have melted.
- Add the green food color. Depending how dark you want to go, for the trees – I used 3 teaspoons full for this shade.
- Add the rice krispies and stir to coat evenly all of the cereal.
- Use cooking spray and spray a baking sheet lightly. Also, spray your hands.
- Empty the cereal onto the baking sheet and press down to cover the baking sheet.
- Using a Christmas tree cookie cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can.
- Push a treat stick into the base of the rice krispie treat.
- In a small bowl add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and warm water. Mix well.
- If you need to, add a little more water at a time (or powdered sugar if it’s too wet).
- When you lift the spoon out of the icing and let it drizzle back into the bowl it should somewhat hold it’s shape on top of the rest of the icing for 5 seconds before melting back into the rest.
- Pour into a sauce dispensing bottle (if you have one). Drizzle the icing over each Christmas trees.
- While the icing is still wet sprinkle with the Christmas sprinkles. Allow to harden.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: You can store the Christmas tree treats at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week.
- To Freeze: Wrap each treat in wax paper and place them in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Make sure you completely melt your marshmallows, otherwise it can cause the Rice Krispies to lose all of the classic crunch.
- When melting the marshmallows, make sure to use low heat and not turn it past medium! If marshmallows are heated too quickly, the sugar in the marshmallows will turn into candy which means when they cool, they will be hard.
- I used 3 teaspoons full of food coloring for this shade of green. Depending how dark you want your trees, you can adjust accordingly.
- These treats make adorable edible Christmas gifts. Put them in a little clear gift bag, tie it up with a pretty ribbon, and add a printable gift tag.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 103kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 60mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 0.04g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 509IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 2mg
