Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispies Squares

Rice Krispies Squares are the quintessential childhood treat. This isn’t just nostalgia, my-mom-made-it-and-therefore-it-is-special. They are simple, quick, delicious, satisfying for any sweet-tooth and devoured with fervor. And while you could grab the recipe off of the back of the cereal box and hit it out of the park with munchkins and grown-ups alike, a couple quick added steps really add nuanced, improved flavour. I was intrigued when I saw this recipe from my favourite cooking blogger- Smitten Kitchen. She adds salt- an obvious improvement. But the extra step of browning the butter before adding in the marshmallow and cereal dramatically improves the overall flavour with only a few additional minutes of time.

For those who are sadly staying in this Halloween, baking up tray of these treats will take the sting out of a lack of trick-or-treating. For us- we plan on masking up and braving the outside Superhero and princess style!

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispies Squares

From Smitten Kitchen

Makes 16 2-inch squares

1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 10-ounce (285 gram) bag marshmallows
Helping 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt
6 cups (160 grams) Rice Krispies cereal (about 1/2 of a 12-ounce box)

Butter or spray with non-stick spray an 8-inch square cake pan, with 2-inch depth sides.

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 take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on colour and the and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty colour, 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.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. Press down on the squares with wet hands, or a piece of waxed paper sprayed with oil.

Let cool and cut into squares.