Make Richer Rice Krispie Treats With One Invisible Canned Ingredient

The best Rice Krispies Treats are gooey and delicious, with strings of melted marshmallow that slowly stretch with each bite you take. When eaten fresh, you'll have no problem biting into that tasty marshmallow square, but wait a couple of days and it's likely to have hardened into a stale, unsavory block. Luckily, there's a simple tip for keeping your treats soft for days — simply add sweetened condensed milk to your recipe. 

This pantry staple typically comes in a can and is often used to make desserts and confectionaries extra creamy and rich, like decadent fudge, luscious key lime pie or velvety cheesecake. It's also one of the three milks used in tres leches cakes and is used as a silky sweetener in Vietnamese coffee. Whether you're making classic Rice Krispies Treats or incorporating creative ingredients like jet-puffed Easter marshmallows, sweetened condensed milk will add richness to your crispy rice squares and maintain their gooeyness so you won't have to worry about cracking a tooth on one after a day or two. 

To make sweetened condensed milk, whole milk is first pasteurized and then heated to evaporate the water content, resulting in extra thick and creamy milk. Sugar is added to sweeten the milk and also acts as a preservative, making it shelf-stable for about two years in an unopened can. Sweetened condensed milk is sometimes confused with evaporated milk. However, unlike sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk can be used in both sweet and savory dishes since it is unsweetened. 

For a standard 8 or 9-inch square pan or a 13 x 9-inch rectangular pan of Rice Krispies, all you need is ⅓ to ½ cup of sweetened condensed milk for every 4 to 6 tablespoons of melted butter in a pot on the stove. After stirring and cooking the cereal mixture for just a minute or two, add your remaining ingredients and follow your favorite recipe. Don't forget to refrigerate the treats to allow them to set, otherwise you'll have trouble cutting them into handheld bars. 

You can store the treats in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days. Did you know you can even freeze your Rice Krispies Treats for up to 6 weeks? If you want to ration your bounty, portion them out before freezing them, then you can grab an individual square whenever the moment strikes you. Allow the treats to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so until thawed. 

If your pantry is bare, don't fret because there are plenty of easy swaps for sweetened condensed milk in a recipe. Add sugar to a can of evaporated milk or make your own sweetened condensed milk from scratch by heating fresh milk to evaporate the water and adding sugar. For a vegan option, use coconut milk instead of cow's milk.

Instead of adding sweetened milk, you can also bump up the quantity of marshmallows or butter to make your Rice Krispies Treats extra gooey and chewy. Immediately after stirring the cereal into the melted butter/marshmallow mixture, mix in an additional cup or two of mini marshmallows. The marshmallows will gently melt into the warm mixture but stay whole enough that you'll end up with larger pockets of fluffy marshmallows in your treats. 

You can also add an extra tablespoon or so of butter and use a tad less cereal than the recipe calls for to make them softer and chewier. Whether you add sweetened condensed milk or more marshmallows and butter, don't be afraid to go a little off script when it comes to making deliciously soft Rice Krispies Treats.