Let the festive baking begin with these festive Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings. Easy to make, they are a fun Christmas recipe to make with kids. Ready in no time, they make great last minute treats or a cute handmade Christmas gift to share with family and friends.
Hands up the chocolate lovers out there; I see you! And you guys know how much I love chocolate as well!
Anything chocolate, from cakes to brownies, cookies to cheesecake. If there’s chocolate, I’m there!
So it should come as a surprise that every year, it’s a chocolate Advent calendar for the Christmas countdown. Resisting the urge to open all the doors at once is always a test of my willpower.
But I don’t. And after being sorely disappointed when I did open them all when I was 12; I think I’ve managed to find my self-control and stick with one calendar chocolate a day!
Anyway as we’re talking about Christmas chocolate, I wanted to introduce you to these guys, Rice Krispie Christmas puddings!
If you want to skip the essential info and handy tips for making the cutest Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings, then head on down to the printable recipe card.
Why you’ll love these Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings
Seriously, how cute are these? And they are so simple and so much fun to make!
And if you need more convincing to make these cuties, then here you go…
- Perfect bites of Rice Krispies, marshmallows and chocolate
- Lots of fun to make and decorate with kids
- Super quick to whizz up a batch in under 15 minutes
- All in one bowl so there’s minimal washing up
- Great last minute treats or even gifts for family, friends or neighbours
The only hard part is not eating the chocolate marshmallow mixture before making them into puddings!
What you’ll need to make these
View my shopping list with equipment and ingredients.
Not only are these Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings super simple to make, they also use basic ingredients and equipment. Here’s what you’ll need…
The Ingredients
- Milk Chocolate – Using milk chocolate gives the puddings the perfect colour but also balances the flavour. You can use dark chocolate if you prefer a richer taste
- Mini Marshmallows – The sticky part! The melted marshmallows bind the Rice Krispie balls together. You can use larger ones if mini marshmallows are not available
- Butter – When melted and added to the marshmallows, it helps to keep the cereal balls soft
- Rice Krispies Cereal – I’ve used Rice Krispies but Coco Pops would give you a little extra chocolate hit
- White Chocolate and Sugar Decorations – For drizzling and decorating the top of the Christmas Puddings
Recommended ingredients
The Equipment
A mixing bowl! Yes, that’s all you will need along with a rubber spatula and a spoon. Otherwise, just get stuck in with your hands!
To decorate the puddings a piping bag or Zip-loc freezer bag are handy for drizzling the melted chocolate; or you can use a spoon.
For the decorations, I use white sugarpaste fondant coloured red and green, and a holly leaf cutter. But if you prefer you can use pre-made sugar holly leaves.
Recommended decorations
How to make these Christmas Puddings
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card
Ok, so I’ve told you several times how easy these are to make; but I guess you’re now wondering how do you make them. Well, here’s how in three simple steps…
- Start by melting the chocolate and butter together in a large saucepan or in the microwave; then add in the marshmallows. Give the mixture a little more heat for 30 seconds and stir everything together until everything’s melted.
- Now grab your large mixing bowl, pour in the Rice Krispies and then add in your marshmallow mixture. Stir it all together and let it chill for five minutes, while you grab a cuppa.
- Then, this is the part you get stuck in with your hands… roll the mixture into bite-size Christmas Puddings. Chill them in the fridge for 30 minutes then decorate.
So there it is, three simple steps – unless you count the decorating if you’re making your own or using store-bought decorations. You can find sugar holly leaves in the baking aisle around Christmas time and these ones look perfect.
Step by step video
Frequently asked questions
The recipe will make approximately 18-24 Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings about 1-inch in diameter.
The Christmas Puddings are best stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. You can keep them in the fridge, but let them come up to room temperature before eating.
If stored in an air-tight container, they will keep for up to 5 days
Yes you can. I recommend making the chocolate cereal balls then freezing them. Decorate them when you take them out of the freezer. Store the balls into an air-tight, freezer-proof box and put greaseproof paper between them. They will freeze for up to 6 weeks. Just remember to bring them up to room temperature before decorating or serving them.
Top Tips for Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings
Lots of you love making these Christmas Puddings, and you’ve shared some of your handy hints with me. So to make sure you get the perfect puds every time, here’s my readers’ top tips…
- Dampen your hands – Add a little water to your hands before rolling out your Christmas Puddings; it helps them to not stick to your fingers. Alternatively give your hands a very quick spritz with spray oil, it will let you mold the puddings without everything sticking together.
- Loosen your mixture – If you find that the Rice Krispie mixture is too stiff, either cut down the chocolate to 100g, or add a little extra butter; about 15g should do the trick.
- Gently heat your Rice Krispie mixture – When heating the mixture, you need to have a little patience and take your time. A gentle, low heat will give your soft and chewy treats. If you go too high and you’ll end up with rock hard puddings.
- Don’t overheat the chocolate – When heating the chocolate and butter, be careful to not to let it get too hot. You want enough heat to melt the butter and chocolate, but not overheating it. If you let the mixture get too hot the chocolate can seize and become grainy. It should be nice and smooth.
- Cheat if you want to – If you don’t fancy making the recipe from scratch then cheat and use readymade. No one will know the difference! Try Chocolate Rice Krispie Squares or Rice Krispie Treats instead.
More Christmas recipes to try
If you liked these Rice Krispie Christmas puddings here are some other recipes that I think you’d enjoy…
Rice Krisipe Christmas Puddings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 200 g Milk Chocolate
- 50 g Butter Unsalted
- 180 g Mini Marshmallows
- 100 g Rice Krispies or Coco Pops
- 50 g White Chocolate
- White Sugarpaste or Pre-coloured Sugarpaste
- Green Food Colour Gel
- Red Food Colour Gel
VIDEO
Instructions
- Make the Rice Krispie puddings: Add the chocolate and the butter into a saucepan, and gently melt over a low to medium heat. Then add the mini marshmallows and gently stir until they've melted and combined. Alternatively, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, then add the marshmallows. Blast for 30 seconds and stir until fully melted.200 g Milk Chocolate, 180 g Mini Marshmallows, 50 g Butter
- In a large mixing bowl, add the Rice Krispies. Pour over the marshmallow and chocolate mixture and stir together until fully coated. Leave the mix to cool slightly.100 g Rice Krispies
- Using a tablespoon divide the mixture into equal amounts, and roll each into a pudding ball. Dampen your hands a little before rolling, it helps your puddings to not stick to your hands too much.
- Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Allow the puddings to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Make the decorations: Melt the white chocolate. Add the chocolate to a small heatproof bowl, place over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Heat until all the chocolate has melted. Alternatively, melt in the microwave. Place in a piping bag or freezer bag, and set aside to cool.50 g White Chocolate
- Colour white sugarpaste with red and green food colouring gels, or use ready coloured sugarpaste, Use the green sugarpaste for holly leaves, and roll the red into small balls for the berries.White Sugarpaste, Green Food Colour Gel, Red Food Colour Gel
- To assemble the Christmas puddings: When the puddings are chilled, snip the end off the piping bag or freezer bag and drizzle the white chocolate over the top. Decorate with the sugarpaste holly leaves and berries.
Notes
- The puddings will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
- Dampen your hands a little before rolling out your Christmas Puddings; it helps them to not stick to your hands.
- The mixture can be a little stiff so if you prefer a softer Rice Krispie treat, cut down on the chocolate to 100g instead.
- When heating the mixture, gentle, low heat will give your soft and chewy treats. Too high and you’ll end up with rock hard puddings.
- Be careful when heating the butter and chocolate as overheating the chocolate can cause it to cease. It should be nice and smooth.
- Dampen your hands a little before rolling out your Christmas Puddings; it helps them to not stick to your hands.
Nutrition
DISCLAIMER
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
Love this delicious recipe. My kids and I had a great time making these. We tailored the decorations to be Halloween theme and made pumpkins and mummies. Super easy, thanks!
What’s the US conversion for measurements ?? Thks !
Hi Jenifer, thanks for your comment. As I’m in the UK, I use weights and kitchen scales; these will give you the best results as volume measurements such as cups can be inaccurate. However, in the recipe card there is a converter for cups; just select the ‘Cups’ option next to the ingredients as this will convert the recipe weights into cups. Alternatively, if you have kitchen scales this would be the best way to make these.
Hope that helps.
Lou
Can not understand your measurements what is1.1 mean?
Hi Jeorjia
Thanks for your comment. I guess that if you are asking what 1.1 is you have used the conversion function. As I’m based in the UK, therefore my recipes are in weight measurements as these are how I develop my recipes and are more accurate. If you have a set of kitchen scales, I would urge you to use them for the recipe for best results. If you prefer to work in cups, then use the conversion measurements as you have found in the recipe card. Cups is stated at the 1.1 in the ingredients list. For this recipe, I would round this down to 1 cup of chocolate.
If you have any further questions, please do drop me a line.
Thanks
Lou
Enjoyed making your recipe very much.
Made them for our ladies Friendship Group as an after Christmas lunch treat! ???
Went down very well.
Handy hint:
Dampen your hands before molding the balls. ?
Awww thanks Hazel! It sounds like they went down well with your Ladies Friendship Group, they are such fun little things to make. And thank you for the top tip, I’ll add it to the post and recpie now… that’s a great idea!
Just made double mixture. Never done any thing like this before.
Easy and great result I am sure grandad will get the thumbs up for his efforts when secret Santa draw starts later. Thanks for the interesting treats here
Thank you Graham! I’m so glad that you found the recipe easy and that you gave it a go. I’m sure that whoever Secret Santa gifts them too will love them! Wishing you a Happy Christmas!
love these treats! super easy to make, and I’m making them for the second time this fortnight. They are the perfect, cute Christmas treat and my family loved them. I found my chocolate, butter and marshmallow mixture rather stiff and not quite ‘pourable’, but it still worked fine.
Awww thank you Sophie for your feedback; I’m so glad that you and your family love them. I find the mixture can be a little stiff sometimes, you can cut down on the chocolate in them or add a little extra butter allowing the mixture to be a little looser. I’ll update the notes in the recipe with this for others who are making them. Hope you have a fabulous Christmas!
Are we able to use any kind of chocolate? I have Hershey’s milk chocolate here in the US. Is that OK to use?
Hi Lily, you can use any chocolate that you prefer. Hershey’s will certainly work, just when melting do it gently either a double boiler over a low heat or 30 second blasts in the microwave. Have fun making them and have a great Christmas!
Made these yesterday. They’re great. Very easy recipe.
Made for a family get together tomorrow.
Adding the marshmallows the mixture went all gooey, impossible to add rice krispies into the mixture properly, when chilled came out like brittle toffee, could not get white chocolate to melt (used Dr Oettker chocolate chunks) what’s going wrong?
Hi Bob
Here’s a couple of things that might hopefully help…
The mixture by the nature of melting the marshmallows will go gooey; that’s how everything sticks together. The other important thing, do not overheat the mixture! Gentle, low heat will give your soft and chewy treats. Too high and you’ll end up with rock hard puddings. You need to be careful when heating the butter and chocolate as overheating the chocolate can cause it to cease. It should be nice and smooth.
For mixing everything together, make sure that you’re melting the butter, chocolate and marshmallows and pour this over the Rice Krispies rather than adding them to the mix, it makes it easier to mix together. The butter will help the mixture keep smooth. You can always increase the amount of Rice Krispies to a 1:1 ratio with the marshmallows.
With regards to your white chocolate not melting, without seeing how you did this I cannot say why it will not melt. Dr Oettker chunks, however, are bake stable, which means it should melt but it will hold its shape. For best results, I do prefer to use Callebaut chocolate as linked in the ingredients list of the recipe. or you can use a bar of white chocolate – you can usually pick up an own-brand bar in the confectionary aisle of the supermarket.
The Christmas Puddings are best kept chilled, but eaten at room temperature.
If you have any other questions, please drop me a line via the Contact page.
Thanks
Lou
My mum has just made these with chocolate truffles instead of Rice Krispies, they’re fantastic!
So cutely decorated, perfect crunchy treat for Christmas 🙂
Thank you, glad you like them 🙂 They really are the perfect treat for Christmas.
Hi, I made these last year and they were a hit! Just wondering if I can make them in advance and freeze them?
Hi Debra
Thanks for your question and I’m so glad that they were a hit last year!
Yes you can make them in advance and freeze them. I’d just make the RKT balls and then decorate when you’ve ready to. Pop them into an air-tight, freezer-proof box and put greaseproof paper between the layers. They will freeze for up to 6 weeks. Just remember to bring them up to room temperature before decorating or serving them.
Any queries, drop me a line.
Thanks
Lou