Browned Butter Sea-Salted Rice Crispy Treats
I went on a baking marathon last week in preparation for two events – a surprise Sho-Yu baby shower for Crystal and Dave, and a potluck dinner for my best friend Leslie’s birthday. I’ll delve deeper into the former in my next post, but treats for this post were made with the latter in mind. If my vice is sugar, Leslie’s is salt. I decided on a dessert that incorporated the savory and remembered the rice crispy treats that one of Shirley’s friend’s made for her Super Bowl Party a few weeks ago. When I asked her where she got the recipe from, and she said Smitten Kitchen. I should have known!
I ended up burning the butter the first go-around while trying to get a photo of the browned butter. Yup. Everything had to be done really quickly before the ingredients burned or cooled too quickly, so alas there are not many pictures for this post.
Happy Birthday to my dearest friend of over 20 years! ♥
Six of us got together at Leslie and Tri’s new house for dinner, but we each brought enough food to feed twelve. Tony made 16+ ounce steaks, and everyone else brought sides. Leslie had never tried my Apple Pie Cookies, so I whipped up a batch of those to go with the rice crispy treats, as well as what I had made for the shower. And Jason made a huge vat of his famous Sangria to make sure the birthday girl had a lot of fun. I also came to the conclusion that aside from Corgis which I’ve always loved, not ALL dogs are evil. Leslie and Tri’s very sweet dog has instilled hope! I still think 90% of them are blood-thirsty biting bastards.
As an aside, I had a bit of a revelation this past week. With the obsessive frequency with which I work out, I wondered aloud at work as to how it could be possible that I was gaining weight. After a few minutes of thinking about what I had been doing differently the last couple of weeks, it hit me: I need to stop finishing all of my food… and then finishing everyone else’s.
True story. Time to start exercising some control!
As for the rice crispy treats, they’re pretty easy to make as long as you’re patient with browning the butter. They have the perfect balance of sweet and savory, making them really addicting! Here’s the recipe from Smitten Kitchen!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 10-ounce bag marshmallows
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 6 cups crispy rice cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)
DIRECTIONS:
- Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides, or line with parchment paper.
- 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 make the mistake of taking your eyes off the butter because the butter will quickly go from beginning to brown and to burning.
- 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.
- Take the pot off of the stove and and stir in 3 cups of the cereal together. Then stir in the salt and rest of the cereal. Quickly spread into prepared pan. I use a piece of parchment paper to press it firmly and evenly into the edges and corners.
- Let cool, cut into squares and enjoy!