pop, crackle, and snap

Do you know the mascots for Rice Krispies by name? I didn't. Now I do.


Now you know too. Poor Pop--not only is he always named last, but he's also forced to look like some sort of silly train conductor.


I also didn't know they had their names on their hats. Doh.

Moving on. I found some stale-ish once-crispy rice cereal at work and swiped it before it got tossed into the trash--I knew I could put it to good use. Waste not, want not, right? I found a flexible recipe for some cereal bars and tweaked it to my heart's content. It called for pie filling, but all I had on hand was some delightful chunky applesauce that I thought would be a suitable replacement, and it was. Also, there were no spices in the recipe, and that's just a travesty. Guess which spice I added.


These bars were pretty soft, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with my decision to replace corn syrup with caramel sauce. Also, the applesauce wasn't as thick as a pie filling would've been, so that was probably a contributing factor as well. No matter, this dessert was still quite tasty. Apples and cinnamon and caramel tend to be like that.

Chewy Apple Streusel Bars
(inspired by these)

4 cups crispy rice cereal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup caramel sauce
2 cups applesauce (I like mine chun-kay)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, combine cereal, flour, sugar, margarine, and caramel sauce. Remove 1 cup mixture and set aside for topping. Press remaining cereal mixture evenly and firmly in bottom of 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and spread apples over hot crust. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon and remaining cereal mixture. Return to the oven and bake 20 minutes longer. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting into bars.