Hippie Crispy Treats + A Fair Trade Giveaway
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Aptly described in Food52 Baking as “what happens when your favorite childhood dessert grows up, goes to college, and joins a commune,” hippie crispy treats take 10 minutes to assemble, call for healthy-ish ingredients, and are completely irresistible.
Friends, it’s October, the month we celebrate all things Fair Trade. Many of you know what Fair Trade means, but to review:
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- • Fair Trade helps farmers (more than 1.2 million worldwide) in developing countries build
sustainable businesses
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- >that positively influence their communities.
• Products that bear the Fair Trade logo come from farmers and workers who are justly compensated.
• Fair Trade ensures that farmers follow internationally monitored environmental standards and also provides financial incentives and resources for organic conversion, reforestation, water conservation and environmental education.
• Fair Trade empowers women to play an active role in their families and in their co-ops by starting businesses with guaranteed access to health care, certain job rights and freedom from harassment. Fair Trade certification ensures that women have a voice, a vote, and a leadership role in the community.
• Fair Trade supports education with revenues set aside to build schools and maintain enrollment.
To help tell the stories about the people behind their food, Fair Trade has reached out to bloggers and paired each with a farmer. Meet my match: Maria Elva Correa Torres, a coffee farmer & member of the Cenacor Cooperative in Peru:
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- Maria Elva Correa Torres, 40, knits an alforja, or market bag, inside her home along with her four-year old son Yerson. Maria Elva is a member of the local Agua Azul chapter of coffee co-op ASPRO along with her husband Primitivo Hernandez Cueva, who is the president of the local chapter.
Maria Elva joined as a coffee producer in 2012. “I saw all the benefits my female neighbors were achieving through the Cafe Femenino program,” states Maria Elva, “that I decided to join as well. With the Fair Trade prize money, I plan to startup a small venture selling groceries at the Sunday market. Usually only a husband or a wife are members of the coffee co-op, but we are making the efforts to get ahead and help our four children study, so the efforts are worth it.”
Maria Elva and Primitivo have four children aged 23, 17, 14 and 4.
Finally, attention Pinners: These Hippie Crispy Treats are entered in a Fair Trade Pinterest competition – if you feel like participating, pin it from the Fair Trade pinboard.
UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED: Winner is Gabriella. The contents of the giveaway are pictured at the end of the post. Please leave a comment to enter the giveaway. Thank you to Fair Trade and to all of the Fair Trade vendors for donating the contents of this giveaway!
These treats take no time to assemble. Boil maple syrup and rice syrup for a minute, then add almond butter, coconut oil, chocolate and sea salt:
Pour it over crispy rice cereal:
Dump it in a parchment-lined pan:
Press it down:
Cover it with a layer of ganache and a sprinkling of sea salt, then stash in the fridge to set up:
Meanwhile, have your helpers clean up:
After an hour or so, cut the block into squares:
Hippie Crispy Treats
- Total Time: 1 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings
Description
Source: Food52 Baking: 60 Sensational Treats You Can Pull Off in a Snap originally from The Bojon Gourmet, who makes hundreds of them every summer to feed her fellow hippies at a music camp in Northern California. I want to go to band camp.
Ingredients
for the bars:
- ½ cup (120 ml) maple syrup
- ½ cup (120 ml) brown rice syrup
- ½ cup (130 g) almond butter
- ½ cup (3⅓ oz | 95 g) chopped bittersweet (70%) chocolate
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 cups (110 g) crisp rice cereal
for the topping:
- ½ cup (3⅓ oz | 95 g) chopped bittersweet (70%) chocolate
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ¼ cup (25 g) toasted sliced almonds
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, allowing it to drape over the edges.
- In a small saucepan, bring the maple and rice syrups to a rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon (be careful not to let it boil over). Remove from the heat and stir in the nut butter, ½ cup chocolate, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, and ¼ teaspoon fine salt until everything is smooth and the chocolate is melted. Place the rice cereal in a large bowl and pour the syrup mixture over top. Stir to combine, then pack the mixture firmly and evenly into the lined pan (you may want to dampen your fingers to prevent sticking).
- To make the topping, in a small saucepan melt the remaining ½ cup chocolate and 2 tablespoons coconut oil together over very low heat, stirring constantly just until melted (be careful not to scorch the chocolate). Pour the chocolate mixture over the rice mixture, spreading it smooth. Sprinkle the nuts (if using) and flaky salt over the top. Let the bars set at room temperature (about 2 hours) or in the refrigerator (about 1 hour) until firm.
- Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into 16 squares. These treats are best the day they are made. They will keep at room temperature for several days, though the cereal will soften slightly. (I’ve been storing mine in the fridge.)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
Giveaway contents. Thank you again to: Wholesome! | barkThins | nutiva | LARABAR | SUNSPIRE | Cascadian Farm | Lake Champlain Chocolates | NUMi | FRONTIER | BAREFOOT & Chocolate | ALTER ECO | truRoots | S&D COFEE & TEA | Spectrum
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
132 Comments on “Hippie Crispy Treats + A Fair Trade Giveaway”
Awesome prize contents, way to support fair trade! My family lives abroad and make their living through selling their home made goods. I wholly support fair trade! These bars look amazing 🙂
Looks delicious! I can’t wait to make them! What would you recommend as a substitute for the brown rice syrup?
Fair Trade is such a wonderful cause to champion!
They look super tasty
Oh man…these look amazing! I’m living the dairy-, egg-, and gluten-free life over here, so these are such a beautiful surprise.
And I loved hearing about the farmer you were partnered with. Fair trade products/programs are definitely a step in the right right direction.
Look so yummy… I am going to try them soon. Any suggestion on what I could replace the brown rice syrup with? It’s not something I normally would keep around. Thanks, love your posts!
Love Fair Trade products! Thanks for the chance to win these goodies!
Informative post, thank you…..and wonderful give away and recipe today! YUM!
I love the Fair Trade concept! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
awesome giveaway… and the treats look amazing 🙂
I love all the helpers cleaning up!
These look so yummy! I’d love to win the prize package – thank you!
I want to win some awesome fair trade products! Thanks for supporting fair trade – your blog is the best!
These look delicious! Great products- thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
That’s a generous giveaway. I like buying fair trade items when I find them. I’m a sucker for rice krispy treats so adding chocolate is a bonus- they look delicious.
This looks like a fun recipe and a great selection of Fair Trade items.
Yumm. All of that looks so deliscious. I was unaware that some of the items I usually buy are among the fair trade lot. Thanks for bring that to my attention. Win-win for everyone!
Made my weekly batch of your mom’s peasant bread today with flax, cornmeal, oatmeal and millet. Thanks for the great recipes.
Lovely post as always, can’t wait to make these for my little hippies 🙂
Those hippie bars look fantastic! I don’t think storage is something I would need to worry about…they’d be eaten up right away!
Lovely! I’m anxious to try these with our favorite Kamut Puffs. They’re not as crispy as the “rice crispie”-style cereals, but perhaps a quick run in a warm oven will do the trick. Thanks for sharing!
these look delicious – and will be a good variation from my go-to browned butter and sea salt krispies! Thanks for sharing and for your support of women around the world!
Wonderful post and the bars look amazing! Can’t wait to make some.
yummy!
I,ve been making a non chocolate version of these….but oh I can’t wait to try these and celebrate fair trade goodness!
This recipe looks healthy and delicious. The giveaway is healthy and clean.
These look delicious!! 🙂
These look amazing!
Love a quick treat!
Crispy AND chocolate-y, your treats look so yummy! I’d love to create some treats with the giveaway items.