These are a family favourite; I think they have a place in every family actually! If your family doesn’t have a variation, then you need to introduce them to these! My mum and auntie have been making these for as long as I can remember. There’s one memory that stands out in particular, my auntie had made a batch for us to take to Legoland some 14 or 15 years ago?! I think that might have been where my love affair with mars bar rice krispie bars started. I just remember sticky hands, a sticky face and wet wipes. Multiple wet wipes. Sigh. Good times.

Anyway, these require three very accessible ingredients. They’re also really customisable. You don’t have to make it in a square tin, you could make it in a round tin and serve it as a simple 20-minute birthday cake. Or you could do what I’ve done and be super extra with the toppings. I felt these had a Halloween vibe to them, with the neon rainbow drops (another blast from the past) and bright sprinkles. You could, of course, leave them completely plain and still watch them get devoured. It’s completely up to you.

They require a couple of hours in the fridge to firm up a bit but it’s no big deal. No need for overnight and mine had actually set within an hour! Considering you literally melt mars bars, butter and add some rice krispies, I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as ‘baking’ but you know, semantics.

Makes 15-20 bite-size bars:

5 regular sized mars bars

150g butter, salted or unsalted is fine

120g rice krispies

For the topping:

150g milk chocolate

Rainbow drops or other sweets

 1. Grease an 8” square tin or a slightly larger rectangular tin with butter and line with greaseproof paper. You can use pretty much any dish for this so whatever size you have is completely fine.

2. Chop the mars bars and the butter in to chunks and melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. The mixture will look kinda icky at first – the butter melts before the mars bar making it all a bit watery. Don’t panic, give it a good stir every so often and it will come together.

3. Once you have a smooth, glossy chocolate mixture, stir in the rice krispies until all coated.

4. Press in to your prepared dish and level out. Leave to cool in the fridge for a couple of hours until set and hard.

5. Melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals in the microwave. Pour across the top of the mars bar krispie cakes and press in any toppings. Let the chocolate harden in the fridge before cutting the whole thing in to bite-size pieces.

Store in the fridge for as long as they last.