Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Name: Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: ¾ cups unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks or 6 oz); 2 10 oz bags mini marshmallows, 2 cups divided; 3 tsp vanilla extract; ½ tsp kosher salt; 10 cups rice cereal

PREP TIME: 15 MIN

COOK TIME: 15 MIN

TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN

Rice Krispie treats are a childhood favorite! Were taking it up a notch to give them a more complex flavor without changing what works. These brown butter rice krispie treats have gooey marshmallows and crunchy cereal. *arm workout required*

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Recipe Index – Desserts

There’s just something about rice krispie treats that’s so GOOD – I’m obsessed. I think it’s the satisfying crunch combined with it’s marshmallow gooeyness and a sweet and rich buttery flavor.

I wanted to come up with a recipe that would have people asking you to make rice krispies for every event. For that, there had to be a secret ingredient. That’s were browned butter comes in. Plus this recipe is quick to make (some arm workout is required 🙂).

What Is Brown Butter?

Brown butter originated in France (buerre noisette) and is used to add flavor to both sweet and savory dishes. To brown butter, it’s melted slowly over heat until it starts to bubble, sizzle, and foam. The heat brings out a rich nutty and caramelized flavor which happens to compliment rice krispies perfectly.

How To Make Brown Butter

All you need is a pot, wooden spoon, and low heat. Brown butter takes about 6-8 minutes to cook and once it starts browning it will go quickly. Then, gently stir and keep an eye on it when it starts foaming. One sign that the butter is close to browning is bubbling and foam forming on the surface.

Browning Butter Tips To Avoid Burning

Keep an eye on it! It goes from its golden hue to brown very fast and can easily burn and will turn black.
As soon as you see the brown specks on the bottom of the pot, remove the pot from the heat and add your marshmallows.
Don’t let your brown butter sit in the warm pot by itself for long because it will continue cooking.

What Are The Brown Specks?

Those brown specks that you see in the bottom of the pot are toasted milk solids. You don’t want to strain these out because this is where the best flavor comes from!

Ingredients

Unsalted butter
Marshmallows
Vanilla extract
Salt
Rice cereal

Watch the video

I enjoy ASMR videos and I’ve always wanted to try it myself. But I bake, I don’t cut soap or squish slime lol. So naturally I had to try baking ASMR! The recipe and tips are included as subtitles in the video!

How To Make Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Place unsalted butter in a large deep pot over low heat (a 5.5 quart dutch oven or larger works!). You can cut up the butter into cubes for faster melting. Occasionally stir the butter and after about 5 minutes it will foam – this is a sign its getting closer to browning.

After the butter has started to foam, gently stir the butter and look out for the golden hue to turn brown with brown specks. As soon as you see the brown specks on the bottom of the pot, remove the pot from the heat.

Measure 2 cups of marshmallows and set them aside (you’ll stir them in later). Then, add the rest of the marshmallows into the pot. Add vanilla extract and salt and mix everything with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.

Stir until the marshmallows have started to melt and look a bit lumpy. Place the pot back on low heat and continue to stir until the marshmallows are melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

This recipe calls for 10 cups of rice cereal in total. Add half of the cereal into the pot and stir. Then add the remaining cereal. Adding the cereal in two parts helps to incorporate the cereal in smaller amounts and not spill over the pot.

Stir until the cereal is fully coated and your arm is tired! 😅 (The pot will be warm, so use a potholder or towel to help you hold the pot while stirring)

After the marshmallows have been mixed with the cereal, add the remaining 2 cups of marshmallows and gently stir them for a short time so they don’t melt completely. The whole marshmallows makes the treats look extra tasty once we go to cut them and adds some more texture.

Preparing The Treats

Prepare a 9×13-inch pan by covering with tinfoil, then spray it with cooking spray. If you do not use spray, they treats will stick to the tinfoil when you cut them (I learned the hard way).

Pour the warm cereal mixture onto the pan.

Using a rubber spatula (so they don’t stick) gently spread the cereal mixture into all 4 corners of the pan. You want to spread the treats evenly, but don’t push them down too down too hard or it will create dense treats.

Let the rice krispie treats sit for 1 hours or more at room temperature to firm.

After the treats have sat for 1 hour, lift them from the pan by grabbing onto the tinfoil. Gently undo the foil from the sides. Either eyeball or measure how many squares you’d like.

I cut 15 medium sized squares by cutting 4 sections on the short side, then 2 sections on the long side. For 20 squares, cut 4 sections on the short side, then 3 sections on the long side.

Finally, gently peel the squares from the tinfoil and eat!

How To Store Rice Krispies

Brown butter rice krispie treats can be stored in an airtight container for 5 days. (If they last that long, I’d be amazed!)

They can also be frozen for 1 month in an airtight container with wax paper between the layers. Make sure to bring to room temperature before eating.

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5 from 8 votes