Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats Recipe

Recipe: Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats

• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
• Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1 (10-ounce) bag marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• Garnish: chocolate chips equal to the number of pieces you are cutting

Lightly mist an 8-inch square pan (with 2-inch sides) with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large, heavy pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will first melt, then foam, then become clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. As this transformation occurs, add salt and stir frequently, scraping up any tiny brown bits from the pot bottom. Don’t walk away from the pot because once the butter begins to take on color, it browns quickly. It may burn in as little as a minute, so watch carefully.

As soon as the butter becomes nutty brown, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. The residual heat from the butter should melt the mallows, but if not, turn the heat back on low and stir until the marshmallows are smooth and glossy. (Then turn heat off if you have turned it back on to melt the mallows.)

Quickly stir in the cereal and scrape sticky contents out into prepared pan. Use your greased hand, an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to gently press the mixture evenly into the pan. Add point-down chocolate chips to the top, spacing them appropriately so each piece will get a chip (use chips equal to the number of pieces you intend to cut).  Chip demarcation is entirely optional, but adds additional interest!

Cool completely and cut between chips into squares.

Makes 16, 25 or 32 pieces, depending on how piggy you are.

Source: Adapted from Smittenkitchen ^[1]

Shockingly Delicious variation

• Add 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh rosemary along with the marshmallows. Omit the ch0colate chips on top. This is astoundingly good!