Brown Butter Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats

My friend Chelsea said “do you want to try these brown butter -” then I stopped her and ate whatever she put in front of me. I love brown butter anything, and what she had for me turned out to be a salty deliciously gooey and sweet salted brown butter rice krispy treat. I was inspired, to say the least. Then I thought to myself…

“Self… how can we FMITK the ‘ish outta this?

Maybe add caramel. SALTED caramel. Yasssss”

So, that’s what we have here – salty gooey sticky sweet caramel rice krispy brown butter marshmallow deliciousness.

You’ll either make 15 new friends or gain 12 lbs because of these. Choose your own adventure.

salted caramel brown butter rice krispie treats

You’ll need Rice Krispies, sugar, marshmallows, butter, sea salt and heavy cream.

Start by making the caramel – melt the sugar until it becomes a copper color, incorporate room temp butter, cream and salt, then pour on buttered parchment and freeze for 10-15 minutes until soft and pliable and no longer liquid.

Form half of the caramel into marble-sized pieces. The other half of the caramel you can leave in larger sized pieces to be swirled in later.

Take those marble-sized pieces and coat them in the cereal. The cereal acts as a “shield” for the caramel, keeping the chunks in tact when you being to mix in the marshmallows.

Now we brown the butter. It takes about 5 minutes – please don’t leave it unattended or try to do it over high heat. You’re just asking to start over.
As the butter melts it begins to foam. As the foam subsides, you’ll see the butter solids at the bottom of the pan begin to brown. That’s what we’re looking for. Stir constantly and keep an eye on it.

Remove the butter from heat and add the marshmallows into the browned butter. The residual heat may be enough to melt all the marshmallows – if not just put the pan on low until the mixture becomes smooth.

See all those delicious little brown specs of brown butter deliciousness? YASSSS.

Combine the marshmallows and the cereal.

Add in the remaining chunks of caramel and mix just until combined – don’t overmix or you’ll lose all the caramel swirlies.

It’s sticky. STICKY sticky.
Use a silicone spatula or a piece of wax paper to press the mixture into the prepared 8×8 pan.

Ta-dasies!

Just big ol’ chooonks of salty caramel goodness. Mmmmmhmm.

Salted Caramel Brown Butter Rice Krispy Treats

adapted from smitten kitchen
makes 16 2-inch squares or 32 1- x 2-inch small bars
Ingredients

for the rice krispies

1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows
1/4 teaspoon (heaping) coarse sea salt
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)

for the caramel

1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon (heaping) flaky sea salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream, room temperature

Directions

for the caramel

Set a square of parchment paper over a medium-sized plate. Lightly butter or spray the parchement with non-stick spray.

In a medium, dry saucepan over medium-high heat, melt your sugar; this will take about 5 minutes. Try not to stir, but simply swirl the pan around to dissolve any pockets of unmelted sugar. By the time it is all melted, if should be a nice copper color; if not, cook until it is. Remove from heat and stir in butter. It may not incorporate entirely but do your best. Stir in cream and salt and return saucepan to the stove over medium-high heat, bringing it back to a simmer and melted again any sugar that solidified. Cook bubbling caramel for a few minutes more, until it is a shade darker.

Pour out onto parchment-covered plate and transfer plate to your freezer. Freeze about 10-15 minutes, until soft and pliable and no longer liquid.

The goal is to have both chunks of caramel and swirls of caramel throughout. Form half of the caramel into marble-sized balls and roll around in the rice krispies – they’ll act as a “shield” to keep the caramel chunk in tact. Divide the second half of the caramel into large marble sized pieces. These will be incorporated as we stir the marshmallows with the cereal and act as the “swirl”.

for the rice krispies

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 (note: resist the urge to do this over high heat, you’ll just burn the butter and have to start over). 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. Keep your eyes on the pot, as the browning process is pretty quick – it can go from perfectly nutty to a burnt mess in 30 seconds.

As soon as the butter smells nutty and takes on an amber 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 no turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth. Add in the salt.

Remove the pot from the stove and add in cereal. Once most of the marshmallow is thoroughly incorporated, stir in remaining chunks of caramel. Try not to overmix – you want to be able to see swirls throughout.

Quickly spread into prepared pan using a piece of wax paper or a silicon spatula.

Let cool and try not to eat them all yourself.

I mean, c’mon.