Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Mmm. Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats. If there is anything that can make a Rice Krispie Treat better, it’s brown butter.

Trust me – the brown butter makes a difference. If you don’t already know the power of brown butter, you’re truly missing out.

for some helpful Tips before you begin, click here.

Makes 24 Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (2 sticks or 226 g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (32 g) full-fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) fine salt
2 10-oz. packages (580 g) marshmallows (about 80 regular marshmallows)
12 cups (12-oz. box or 340 g) Rice Krispies cereal

Helpful tools:

Silicone spatula
Cooking spray
Wooden spoons

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare the pan.

– Butter a 13″x9″ glass pan. Or, if using a regular baking pan, line with parchment paper (to protect your pan when you want to cut your treats into squares) and butter the parchment paper. (See TIPS.)

2. Brown the butter.

– In a large heavy-bottomed pot, (use a light-colored or stainless steel pot so you can see the progress of the butter browning) heat the butter over medium-high heat. (Set aside the wax butter wrappers for later use!)

– Swirl the pan around to heat the butter evenly. Allow the butter to sputter, bubble and foam.

– Once the sputtering starts to subside and the butter begins to turn clear beneath the foam, sprinkle in the milk powder and salt. (The butter will be foamy.)

– Turn the heat down to medium-low.

– Continue to swirl the butter around and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, scraping up any browning bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

– Once the milk solids have turned a deep brown (about the color of butterscotch) and the butter smells toasty and nutty, immediately remove from heat.

3. Melt the marshmallows.

– Quickly stir in the marshmallows.

– Place the pot on low heat and stir with a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon sprayed with cooking spray until the marshmallows are melted and smooth.

– Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the cereal, press into the pan…done!

– Add in the cereal and stir until evenly coated.

I use two wooden spoons sprayed with cooking spray and then I “toss* the cereal and marshmallow like a salad.

– Using the wax butter wrappers and your hands, press the mixture into the prepared pan. Alternatively, if you tossed the butter wrappers, use a piece of buttered parchment paper.

– Let cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.

How to store:

– After the treats have been cut, stack them in between sheets of wax or parchment paper in an airtight container.

– Keep at room temperature for up to 3 or 4 days.

– Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats can be frozen for up to 6 weeks. (But the texture is never quite the same.)

Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats in a plastic container — Store your Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats in an airtight container between layers of parchment.

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ABOUT THIS RECIPE

Rice Krispie Treats are wonderful as they are. This is true. But if there is one thing that can make them better, it’s brown butter. If you don’t already know the power of brown butter, you’re truly missing out. It’s buttery, of course, but with toasty, nutty notes that adds depth and interest.

Now this is the only way we have Rice Krispie Treats in our house.

Tips:

Here are 4 helpful tips:

1) Lining your pan:

Protect your beloved baking pans from scratches and knife-cuts! This is how I do it:

1) Lay your pan on top of your parchment paper.
2) Cut from the outer corner to the corner of your pan.
3) Tuck the parchment paper into your pan, letting the corners overlap.
4) Trim off any excess edges and secure in place with office clips.

2) Brown butter:

Brown butter adds a nutty depth, an irresistible back-note that is really so good. It takes something already delicious and brings another level to it.

If you are new to browning butter, just follow these steps:

1) Have a heat-proof bowl nearby where you can pour out the brown butter as soon as it is done. If left in the hot pot, it can go from brown to burnt pretty quickly.

2) Swirl the pan and keep an eye on the melting butter and the stages it will be going through:

It will melt.
It will bubble, foam and sputter.
The sputtering will subside and the butter will turn clear beneath the foam.
The milk solids will toast and turn brown….Done!

3) Make sure you keep stirring the milk solids and scraping up the bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

If at any time you feel the butter is browning too fast, just take it off the heat.

4) Once the butter smells nutty and the milk solids reach the desired toasty-brown color, immediately take it off the heat.

5) If you are not adding anything to the pot (like marshmallows…), then pour the browned butter into a heat-proof bowl right away to stop any further browning.

3) Milk powder:

The addition of milk powder to the browning butter practically doubles the amount of browning milk solids, which is where all the toasty, nutty flavor is.

Brown butter without the milk powder (LEFT) and with the milk powder (RIGHT). All those extra toasty milk solids are PURE FLAVOR.

Use full-fat or non-fat milk powder:

– I like to use full-fat (or whole milk) milk powder. But nonfat milk powder seems to be more readily available. Both are fine to use.

4) Halal marshmallows:

– Non-pork option: Halal marshmallows that are made with non-pork products can usually be found in middle-eastern grocery stores or can be ordered online.