Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie Treats fan? Then you have to try our Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats! It has all the flavors and texture you love in that OG treat, but with specs of brown bits that comes browning butter, bringing very unique and incredibly delicious nutty toasted flavors.

After having these gourmet brown butter Rice Krispie treats, I don’t think I’ll ever look at the regular Rice Krispie the same way ever again. These are SO MUCH tastier!

Why Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

We are Rice Krispie Treats aficionados in this house! We L-O-V-E them. While we like all the Rice Krispies treats we have made (check out Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats and Peppermint Rice Krispie Treats), and then we made our latest rice krispie treats with brown butter and now we are OBSESSED!

Brown butter Rice Krispie treats have a bolder taste, and that I love that deeper, caramelized and nutty flavor that makes it over-the-top delicious.

When you brown butter, you’ll be cooking out the moisture in the butter, and the solids in the butter will caramelized, creating a complex, toasty and nutty flavor.

When this happens, brown bits will form in the butter. This is why brown butter Rice Krispie treats will have those distinct brown specs, which is where all that incredible flavors come from!

Brown butter tastes completely different from regular melted or softened butter, and is brings about that unique taste and aroma in these Rice Krispie treats. We will have step-by-step guide below to show you how to perfectly brown butter! P/s: it’s much easier than you think!

So, for your next Rice Krispie treats adventure, try this brown butter twist! I personally think brown butter makes SUCH a difference and makes the most incredible gourmet Rice Krispie treats. I am in love with that gorgeous flavors brought by the browned butter, and I think you will too!

Ingredients

Our brown butter Rice Krispie treats use just FOUR simple ingredients:

• Rice Krispie cereal – typically referred to the famous Kellogg Company cereal that is made of crisped rice. You can use the name brand or store-brand.
• unsalted butter – use real butter, not margarine or olive oil spread…real butter all the way! I prefer to use unsalted to make sure there’s no additional salt in there. If I want that extra pinch of salt, I’ll add it myself (so that I can control the amount in there)
• mini marshmallows – It does take a few minutes to melt the marshmallows, using the mini ones just makes the process faster
• vanilla extract– to add just a touch of vanilla flavor. Pure vanilla extract always tastes best.
• salt – this will open up and really add to the depth of the flavors of these brown butter Rice Krispie treats.

Let’s make it!

The uniqueness of brown butter rice krispie treats is (obviously) the brown butter part.

Browning butter correctly will yield the most beautiful nutty caramelized flavor, so let’s start by talking about how to brown butter the right way.

How to brown butter

I always like to use a clear or stainless steel skillet to brown butter so that it’s easy to see when the brown bits form. Dark surfaces will make this harder.

You can also brown the butter directly in the pot that you will be making the brown butter Rice Krispies treats. However, if your pot is dark in color, I highly suggest browning the butter in a clear or stainless steel skillet first and then transferring to the pot. Doing this will also prevent the brown butter from burning because it will no longer be in the hot skillet after it is browned.

To brown butter, first, slice up the butter and add to the skillet. Use medium low heat so as to not burn the butter. It needs to be watched carefully.

The butter will melt and then bubble…swirl the pot occasionally so butter will melt completely.

Next, a layer of white foam will appear on the surface of the butter, then white foam will slowly reduce. Brown bits will form and will become darker in color. Lower heat at any point skillet becomes too hot.

At this point a toasted, nutty aroma should appear. Once the nutty aroma is very pronounced (and preferably before the brown bits are burned), switch off the heat and transfer browned butter into a large pot (where you will be mixing the rice Krispies ingredients together) so that it doesn’t continue to cook and burn.

Avoid overcooking and burning the butter. Note that brown butter is done once that the nutty aroma is fully developed. To check for doneness, you will want to go by the aroma more than the color of the butter.

Making the rice krispie treats

Now that we got the brown butter part down, let’s put these brown butter Rice Krispie treats together!

Pour brown butter into a large pot (one that will eventually hold all the rice Krispies) then add mini marshmallows to it. Turn on the heat to medium/medium low. Stir marshmallows for a few minutes until it is completely melted.

At the same time, add a splash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to really give it an extra depth of flavor.

Add Rice Krispie cereal to the melted marshmallow mixture. Fold to combine marshmallows with Rice Krispie.

This has to be done quickly, because if it sits out for a while, it will harden and it will be hard to form the Rice Krispie treats.

Pour that sticky Rice Krispie mixture onto lined 9×9 baking pan, then gently flatten it. Don’t press too hard as it will be hard to cut into if it is too packed.

You can use a spatula to flatten the brown butter Rice Krispie treats, and it helps to coat spatula with a few drops of oil or water so that Rice Krispie doesn’t stick to it.

Let Rice Krispie set and cool for 5-10 minutes, then use a knife to slice it into smaller squares.

Then serve and enjoy the gloriousness that is brown butter Rice Krispie treats!

It truly is the superior Rice Krispie treat. Mark my words…you won’t look at the regular ones the same way after this!

Tips and Tricks

• Be patient when browning butter: Browning butter needs your utmost attention because it’s easy to burn it. Keep stirring it and don’t leave it unattended. The process takes a bit of time, but the nutty flavor it brings to your rice Krispie treats is well worth it! To avoid burning butter, consider browning butter in a different skillet and then transferring it into a large pot to be combined with the other items (so that brown butter won’t continue cooking).
• Handling the melted marshmallows: Melted marshmallow will harden again once it cools, so make sure to quickly fold in Rice Krispie cereal and get it into the pan to mold into the shape you want while the marshmallows are still warm and moldable.
• Different size pans: If you like thinner brown butter rice Krispie treats, use a larger pan (such as a 9′ x 13′ dish) instead of a 9′ x 9′ dish to form your rice Krispies.
• Use greased spatula: use this to press down on gooey Rice Krispies to prevent sticking.
• Don’t overpack rice Krispies: When adding sticky rice Krispies into the pan to shape it, don’t press on it too hard or it will be hard to cut into.

Storage Instructions

Store your treats in an airtight container at room temperature. They should remain fresh for up to one week. Avoid storing them in the refrigerator as that may make them hard.

Frequently Asked Questions

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