Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Have you ever browned butter? Get ready for a crash course. We thought the best way to introduce you to the technique is through a simple recipe everyone has probably made before, Rice Krispie treats. We know what you are thinking, how can you possibly make Rice Krispie treats any better or any different? But trust us, these are not your mom’s Rice Krispie treats. This is everything you remember about your childhood but BETTER!!!!! A salty, sweet, gooey, chewy snack with the most perfect nutty toasted flavor from the brown butter.

Lets talk Brown Butter

Browning butter (beurre noisette) is cooking butter gently until the water content in the butter evaporates and the milk solids separate and caramelize to a beautiful hazelnut color.

THE PROCESS: The butter will melt, then you will see it begin to foam and sizzle. The butterfat will turn from milky white to a transparent golden hue and the milk solids will separate and turn a toasted hazelnut color. Another sign besides the color of brown butter is the intoxicating nutty aroma that fills your kitchen. 

People are scared of browning butter, and let’s be honest the first time is a bit scary. But get your big girl pants on you are doing this. Yes, the time it takes from it being done to burning is less than a minute, but we promise once you get the first couple of times under your belt you’ll be making this with your eyes closed.   

Substitute this into any of your baking recipes that ask for melted butter for an elevated caramelized buttery note. This also works in a lot of savory food preparation; butter sauces for pasta, scallops, even vegetables. 

Things to keep in mind

The Rice Krispies part is pretty straight forward all you need to worry about In this recipe is browning the butter here’s a few tips: 

• Do not take your eyes off of this for the 10 minutes it takes to make. You need to be stirring it constantly to avoid burning
• Use a light-colored pan when making this. You will be able to judge the color much easier. 
• If you’re making this for another recipe you will need to quickly place it in a heatproof bowl to cool. If left in that pan it will keep cooking and burn. 
• Don’t get discouraged if you do burn it. We burnt this the first couple of times until we got it right. There is no saving burnt brown butter. Simply discard it and try again.
• Your butter cant be straight out of the fridge. It doesn’t need to be room temperature but it shouldn’t be frozen or too cold. The third time we made this we almost died. We used butter that had not fully thawed. There was so much extra moisture because it was frozen that it splattered everywhere and we were dodging burning hot butter in the kitchen.  

Here is what you will need

The salted brown butter Rice Krispie treats

Butter a 9 x 9in (23x23cm) square cake pan with 2in (5cm) sides.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Be prepared here it will start to foam and splatter. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan, and watch it. It will turn a transparent golden color. You will see the milk solids separate (small brown dots) they will start to turn a hazelnut brown color and smell nutty.

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As soon as it turns that hazelnut color turn the stove down to the lowest setting and quickly add in your bag of marshmallows. Do not stop stirring until the marshmallows have melted and are a smooth consistency.

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Remove from the heat and add in your rice cereal and salt. Mix them well and then quickly transfer them to your prepared cake pan. We like to give it a minute then butter our hands or a piece of baking paper and press them down into the pan, careful they are hot.

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Let them cool. Cut them up in even square and serve with an extra sprinkle of sea salt. Enjoy.