Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Here's the story. Grammy randomly requests I bake her things. She recently brought me a Better Homes & Garden magazine article with a recipe (some coffee cake type thing) she wanted me to make but was unsure whether I would have all ingredients, specifically buttermilk. So, she said she would buy me some, like it's a bigger inconvenience for me to pick it up at the grocery store or something. The next day, she said she bought rice krispie cereal and marshmallows for me to make rice krispie treats but left them at her house. [Typical Grammy, jumping from a berry coffee cake desire to a kiddie favorite.] The following day, she made them herself and brought me the leftover ingredients. [Fair enough.] Always loving a good rice krispie treat and not wanting to waste what Grammy gave me, I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and tried it out. (You all know by this point I can't turn down an opportunity to brown butter, right?)

Since rice krispies are probably one of the most straight forward recipes ever, give this method a shot because it only takes a few more patient minutes (if that) and the taste is soooooo worth it. Promise.

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats Yield 8 inch pan, 1+ inch thick
via Smitten Kitchen

4 ounces (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows (or 35-40 big marshmallows)
1[/4  heaping teaspoon coarse sea salt
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)

Prepare an 8 inch square pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large pot. Stir frequently. As it melts, it will progress as follows: foam, clear golden color and finally start to brown and smell a little nutty. Not crazy, just nut-like. :) Make sure you are scraping the sides and bottom of the pan. This is the critical moments of browning butter. Do not take your eyes off it, as I mentioned a few days ago, it will burn fast. You will smell the burnt butter; it stinks, so don't let it go there. Before it burns, as it is golden brown, remove it from the heat.

Immediately, mix in the marshmallows. You might be able to stir them in smooth from the heat of the butter. However, I couldn't, so in that case, turn the burner back on to low and stir until well combined.

Remove from heat and stir in salt and cereal until evenly coated in buttery marshmallowy goo. Proceed as normal and quickly spread into your pan.

I lightly sprayed a little oil onto a piece of parchment paper to press the mixture into the pan and well into the corners. Worked like a charm.

Allow to cool before cutting or you'll wind up with a sticky mess. Not that I know or anything.

And from now on, this will by my go to rice krispie treat method for the rest of my life. You know, cause I'm always being asked to make rice krispies.


This post is linked up to some of the parties listed under my Show & Tell tab at the top of the page.