Salted Brown Butter Rice Crispie Treats

So, after being told MANY TIMES from my colleague, Violet, I finally decided to give these "most delicious Rice Crispie treats in the world" a try.  I wasn't skeptical - Violet's an expert when it comes to amazing food - but I never make dessert so I never put ingredients on my store list.  I was in one of my "baking moods" but didn't want to spend a large amount of time in the kitchen so I turned to a jazzed up version of an oldie but goodie.

I turned to the ever-wonderful Smitten Kitchen blog and searched out the Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats recipe.  Looking at the recipe, there wasn't much difference between a regular rice crispy treat recipe and this marvelous version except for the addition of a little salt and cooking the butter a little bit longer.  But man, those little tweaks made all the difference in the world.

Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats
Makes 16 2-inch squares or 32 1- x 2-inch small bars

4 ounces (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)
Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. The residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. I liked to use a piece of waxed or parchment paper that I’ve sprayed with oil to press it firmly and evenly into the edges and corners, though a silicon spatula works almost as well.

Let cool, cut into squares and get ready to make new friends.


First I had to enlist one of my favorite helpers to test out a key ingredient.

Turns out, the little munchkin was testing out both the marshmallows AND rice crispies behind my back.  Every time I would look at her she would cover her mouth like she was fooling me....

We followed the directions exactly as mentioned and were done in a matter of minutes.  The longest step was making sure the butter was cooked long enough.

The butter turned a brown color as mentioned above and I was worried that it would make the treats turn out an unappetizing brown but I could hardly notice a different when it was all mixed together.

How did they taste?  Let's just say that if Lucky and I weren't already married I would have garnered a marriage proposal right then and there.

Magnifique!