These Unicorn Rice Krispie Treats coated in white chocolate and decorated with brightly colored modeling chocolate are going to be a big hit at your magical unicorn themed party.
This post originally appeared on my new HowToMakeCerealTreats.com site.
If your kids are absolutely crazy about unicorns you've got to make these adorably cute Unicorn Rice Krispie treats for their next party.
To make these treats, I suggest you start with the most delicious Rice Krispie Treat on the planet!
We had 20 people taste test over 20 different versions of the classic cereal treat recipe to find the absolute best recipe using salted European-style butter, Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Cereal.
Each cereal treat is then dipped in creamy white chocolate or white confectionery coating.
What is the difference between white chocolate and white confectionery coating?
- White chocolate contains cocoa butter and must be melted, cooled, and agitated in order to re-align the beta crystals in the cocoa butter so that the chocolate hardens properly. This process is called tempering.
- White confectionery coating (also known as, candy coating, Candy Melts, melting wafers, summer coating, and almond bark) contains palm kernel oil (or some other vegetable oil) and does not require tempering.
- Confectionery coating can simply be melted to between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit and will harden beautifully.
See my Chocolate Making Tips page for really detailed information about the various types of chocolate and learn how to properly melt them.
Which white chocolate should I use to make these unicorn treats?
Use a white chocolate or candy coating that you enjoy eating and that you are comfortable working with.
- Lindt, Callebaut, and Ghirardelli make nice pure white chocolate that can be used to coat these cereal treats.
- I personally love using Peter’s White Caps (Ice Caps) for most of my candy making but this brand is typically only available at cake and candy decorating stores or online.
- I love the flavor of this confectionery coating and actually prefer it’s flavor over pure white chocolate.
- Plus it melts easily and always has the perfect fluidity, allowing for a beautiful coating on treats.
- You can also use Girardelli White Melting Wafers, Mercken’s, Make 'n Mold Vanilla Wafers, Wilton Candy Melts, CandiQuik, and even store brand almond bark if you want to use confectionery coating.
Modeling Chocolate (also known as, Candy Clay)
You will also need to make a batch of white modeling chocolate.
If you have never made modeling chocolate, it is really simple. The basic recipe requires you blend together white chocolate or white confectionery coating and corn syrup to form an edible clay that is pliable enough to cut, roll, sculpt, and form.
How to make modeling chocolate:
You can find detailed instructions on my Modeling Chocolate Recipe page. Below is a brief overview.
- Melt 12 ounces white chocolate or white confectionery coating in the microwave using 30 second bursts of high power until about 75% of the white chocolate melts.
- Remove from the microwave and continue to stir until all the chocolate melts.
- Continue to stir it, scraping the bowl, until the white chocolate cools to between 91 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pour in ¼ cup light corn syrup and stir, slowly, just until well combined.
- If you over stir, or if you pour it into hot white chocolate, your modeling chocolate may become greasy.
- See the modeling chocolate trouble-shooting guide to fix your greasy modeling chocolate.
- Place it in a zip top bag and allow to cool for 30-60 minutes.
- If you are in a hurry, you can cool it on a marble or granite slab, as pictured above.
- Flatten it on the marble slab, then scrape it up and flatten it again. Do this over and over again, until it is soft and pliable.
- Then let it rest in a zip top bag or in a plastic bowl for at least 10 minutes before working with it.
- If the modeling chocolate feels dry, knead in more corn syrup, about a tablespoon at a time.
- Every brand of chocolate contains different amounts of fat thereby requiring varying amounts of corn syrup.
I love working with modeling chocolate (known as Candy Clay when made using confectionery coating) so I shared my expertise in my book, Candy Clay Creations. This is the ultimate guide to making perfect candy clay every time.
Color the modeling chocolate
Once you have the modeling chocolate made, you will need to color it:
- gold - about 1 1/ 2 ounces for the horns
- purple, blue, orange, yellow, and teal - about 1 ½ ounces for all of the flowers
- pink - ½ ounce for the inner ears
- white - 1 ounce for the outer ears
You can use just about any food coloring to color your modeling chocolate. I used AmeriColor Gold Gel Coloring to color the gold candy clay (pictured above).
Pro Tips:
- Be sure to wear food handling gloves (powder free are preferable) when coloring your modeling chocolate otherwise you will stain your hands.
- Knead in a drop of coloring to see how vibrant the color will be then add more as needed to achieve your desired color.
How to make rice crispy treat unicorns
- Make a batch of Rice Krispie treats and allow them to cool.
- Remove the treats from the pan and cut off the curved edges then cut the treats into 2-inch by 3-inch rectangles.
- You should get 12 rectangles out of one batch of cereal treats and have scraps from around the edges.
- If you have large craters in your cereal treats, pinch off pieces of the scraps and press the cereal down into those craters to smooth out the surface of your cereal treats.
- You don't want your cereal treats to be really lumpy otherwise the white chocolate will just sink into those craters.
- Melt and temper some white chocolate or melt confectionery coating.
- Dip the tip of a lollipop stick or sturdy paper straw into the white chocolate then insert that lollipop stick into the end of your Rice Krispie Treat, making sure the stick goes directly in the middle of the treat, up about three-quarters of the way into the treat.
- Allow that chocolate to harden for about 5 minutes.
- Then pour your white chocolate into a tall glass that has at least a 3 inch diameter.
- Dip a rice crispy treat into the white chocolate then lift it out and allow the excess chocolate to drip off.
PRO TIP:
- Dip the cereal treat in white chocolate then lift it out.
- Then dip just the tip of the Rice Krispie Treat back in, and pull it out again.
- Do this several times to help pull the excess chocolate off of the Rice Krispie Treat.
- You can gently scrape the excess off the tip as it's coming out of the glass for the last time.
- Then set it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
PRO TIP:
- If the white chocolate puddles or pools underneath your cereal treat, gently lift up the whole treat and place it on another clean spot on your parchment paper.
- I probably did not need to do this step with this particular treat, as it's coated nicely and doesn't have a big puddle underneath it, but I wanted to show you how you can avoid those blobs of chocolate around your dipped treats. You can see this process in the video below.
- Now pop the treat into the freezer for 3-5 minutes until the candy coating hardens, if you are using confectionery coating.
- If you dipped your rice krispie treats in pure, tempered, white chocolate, you can either allow them to dry at room temperature or you can chill them in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens for about 5 minutes.
- Repeat, dipping all 12 of your cereal treats, refilling your glass with more white chocolate, as needed.
PRO TIP:
- If you are using candy coating I suggest you dip one or two treats at a time then place them in the chill box.
- Candy coating that is allowed to dry at room temperature can become spotty and streaky.
How to decorate your Rice Krispie Treat Unicorns
Unicorn Horns
- Pinch off small pieces of gold modeling chocolate and roll them into pointed logs.
- Twist together two of the logs creating a unicorn horn.
- If you want, you may brush these unicorn horns with edible gold Luster Dust to give them a shimmer.
Unicorn Ears
- To make the ears roll out some white modeling chocolate to ¼ inch thickness.
- Then use a triangle or teardrop cookie cutter to cut out 2 ears for each unicorn.
- Roll out the pink modeling chocolate as thin as you can get it.
- Then cut two pink triangles or teardrops.
- Attach the pink to the white ear using a bit of water.
- Make sure the pink triangle is offset slightly, allowing a nice white border along the two sides of the triangle.
- If you used a teardrop cutter, be sure to cut the ears so that they have a flat bottom.
Candy Clay Flowers
- To make flowers, dust a silicone rose mold with cornstarch.
- Then pinch off small pieces of the brightly colored modeling chocolate and press it into the rose mold, flattening out the back, then peel the modeling chocolate flower from the mold.
For my unicorns I made one larger ¾ inch rose, two smaller ½ inch roses, and two tiny roses.
PRO TIPS:
- Once you dust the mold with corn starch be sure to pat out as much of the excess as you can.
- If your modeling chocolate rose pops out and it has too much cornstarch on it, simply use a soft bristle brush to brush it away.
- Use some melted white chocolate to attach a horn to the top of the Rice Krispie Treat in the center.
- Attached one ear on either side of the unicorn horn using white chocolate.
- Then attach 5 flowers in a row on the front edge near the top of the Rice Krispie Treat.
- Use a black food coloring marker to draw on some eyes and nostrils.
- I chose to make closed eyes with eye lashes.
How to store Unicorn Cereal Treats
- Individually wrap your treats in cellophane bags, allowing the horn to have plenty of room at the top of the bag.
- Then place them in an airtight container for the ultimate shelf life.
- These treats should stay fresh for several weeks.
PRO TIPS:
- Do not refrigerate or freeze these decorated cereal treats.
- Modeling chocolate does not like being in a moist refrigerator.
- If you do place the treats in the refrigerator, the modeling chocolate will become sticky and have beads of condensation on it.
You can find the supplies needed to make these Unicorn Cereal Treat Lollipops from amazon. I earn a small commission for any sales at no extra cost to you.
Watch the Unicorn Rice Krispie Treat Video Tutorial...
Unicorn Rice Krispie Treat Recipe
Decorate cereal treats using white chocolate and modeling chocolate to make these magical Unicorn Rice Krispie Treats for your unicorn themed party or event.
- 7 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal
- 6 tablespoons European-style salted butter
- 16 ounces Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows
- 20 ounces white chocolate, melted and tempered (or melted white confectionery coating)
- 1 ½ ounces gold modeling chocolate
- optional, edible gold luster dust
- 1 ounce white modeling chocolate
- 2 ounces colored modeling chocolate (pink, purple, orange, teal, blue, yellow)
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Grease a large mixing bowl, rubber spatula, and 9-inch x 13-inch pan with butter or non-stick spray.
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Pour the cereal into the bowl and set aside.
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Begin melting the butter in a medium-large saucepan set over low heat.
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Add marshmallows and continue to heat, stirring often, until about 75% melted.
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Remove from the heat and continue to stir vigorously until melted.
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Pour the melted marshmallows over the cereal and stir to coat.
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Spread into an even layer in the pan and set aside to cool for at least one hour.
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Cut into twelve 2-inch by 3-inch rectangles, saving the scraps to fill in any craters on the rectangle treats before enjoying as a snack.
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Insert the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted and tempered white chocolate or melted confectionery coating.
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Then insert the stick into a cereal treat.
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Repeat.
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Allow the chocolate to harden for 5 minutes.
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Fill a tall 3 inch diameter glass with white chocolate.
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Dip a cereal treat into the chocolate.
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Lift it out and allow the excess chocolate to drip off.
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Set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
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If using pure white chocolate allow the chocolate to dry at room temperature or pop in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. If using confectionery coating, pop in the freezer for 3-5 minutes until the candy coating hardens.
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Repeat, dipping all 12 rice krispie treats.
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Pinch off small pieces of the gold modeling chocolate and roll into pointed logs.
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Twist two logs together to create a unicorn horn.
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If desired, brush the horns with edible gold luster dust.
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Roll out the white modeling chocolate to about ¼ inch thickness and cut out 24 small triangles.
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Roll out the pink modeling chocolate really thin and cut out 24 small triangles.
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Use water to attach the inner pink ears (triangles) to the outer white ears (triangles).
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Dust a silicone rose mold with corn starch.
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Pinch off small pieces of your colored modeling chocolate and press them into the mold creating various sized roses.
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Attach one horn to the top of each of the rice krispie treats and attach two ears on either side using white chocolate.
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Then attach 5 flowers on the front, top edge, of each treat.
Each treat will be coated in approximately 1 ounce of white chocolate but you will need more white chocolate in order to dip all of your treats. You can use the remaining white chocolate for another use.
Package in individual cellophane bags and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
If you like this cute Rice Krispie Treat you might also like these...
- Homemade Chocolate Easter Bunnies - April 3, 2023
- Mini Basketball Cheeseburgers - February 15, 2023
- Snowman Popcorn Bucket - December 24, 2022
sonia wilkins
do you have a printable version of the instructions I can print for a later time?
Beth
Hi Sonia,
You can print the recipe instructions using the PRINT button in the recipe box (near the bottom of the post). You can also print the entire page with the pictures but it will take 46 pieces of paper to do so.
I would suggest printing the recipe card then bookmarking the URL to this recipe post to see the instructions later when you need them.
Carol
Hi,
Do u sell the unicorn rice krispies online?
Beth
Hi Carol,
I am sorry but I do not sell my treats, I only create them to share on my blog. I bet you can find something similar if you check Etsy.
The Partiologist
Absolutely ADORABLE! I love the bright colors and the stripe straws complete the cuteness!
Beth
Thanks! I think I bought those straws at Target at Easter time, but other rainbow straws are available on amazon.