SK week 13 | Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats

Happy Spring Break! My kids have been off all week. We've done lots of lazy lying around, reading, playing outside, and both Jack and Leah had friends stay overnight. I do love a break from getting up early, making lunches, and helping with homework. ;)

Anyway, the low-key week called for a super easy recipe. We make rice crispy treats a lot--they're gluten-free and quick and easy to make. Deb has posted about her version a lot, and I kind of wanted to see what was that different about them!

(Here's the Smitten Kitchen post)

You'll need:
(Oh, and I doubled this and did it in a 9x13 pan--she does it in a smaller square pan--I'm giving you the doubled amounts)
2 sticks of butter
2 10-ounce bags mini marshmallows
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
12-ounce box rice crispies (***FYI: not all rice crispy cereal is gluten-free, so if that matters to you, read your label. Anything "malt" or "barley malt" is gluten. Aldi is the only brand I know of around here that is GF)

Begin to melt your butter over medium-low heat. This is the first place Deb's recipe differs from the original--double the butter. I know.

It will start to get foamy.

And it will darken in color and smell super nutty and yummy. I cooked it like this for a while. I think I could have gone darker, but I was nervous that I was going to burn it and ruin two perfectly good sticks of butter. So I stopped about here. I've never browned butter before. I think I need better instructions on that part and more practice.

Turn off the heat and dump the marshmallows in. Stir well to melt.

The residual heat from the butter should be enough to get them completely melted, but you can turn the heat back on too if necessary.

Stir in the salt and cereal and mix well.

The double batch is a kind of a lot to maneuver, so make sure you're actually scraping the marshmallow stuff off the bottom of the pan.

Pour into a greased pan (I just use cooking spray, but you can also butter it).

Then press it into the pan and let cool. (You can use a piece of parchment to press it down, but I've also sprayed my hand with the cooking spray and used that) :)

Final verdict: They were good, but not necessarily THAT much better than the classic recipe. I think I could tell the biggest difference from the extra stick of butter, but probably not enough of a difference to use two again next time. And maybe I would be able to taste more of a difference if I had browned the butter more. I could taste the salt, but it didn't blow my socks off. ;)

So there you have it! Have a wonderful weekend and and make some treats!