Brown-Butter Salted-Caramel Rice Krispie Treats

For the caramel:

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

In a medium-sized 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 un-melted 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 4 tablespoons of the butter. It may not incorporate entirely but do your best. Stir in cream and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and return saucepan to the stove over medium-high heat. Bring it back to a simmer again and melt any sugar that solidified. Cook the bubbling caramel for a few minutes more, until it is a shade darker. Then immediately remove it from the heat.

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

Put the cereal into a large bowl.

Take the caramel out of the freezer. The goal is to have both chunks of caramel and swirls of caramel throughout the treats. Form half of the caramel into small marble-sized balls and roll the balls around in the Rice Krispies. They’ll act as a “shield” to keep the caramel chunk intact. Set the bowl of cereal with the marbles of caramel aside.

Form the second half of the caramel into larger marble-sized pieces. Set these aside. These will be incorporated as we stir the marshmallows with the cereal and act as the “swirl”.

Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch tall sides. Set aside.

In a large pot, melt the remaining stick of 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 eventually 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 of the pan 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 not, turn the heat back on low and heat until the marshmallows are smooth. Add in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Remove the pot from the stove and add the marshmallow mixture into the bowl with the cereal. Once most of the marshmallow mixture is thoroughly mixed with the cereal, stir in the remaining chunks of caramel. Try not to over-mix. You want to be able to see swirls throughout.

Quickly spread into the prepared pan using a piece of wax paper or a silicon spatula to press it into the pan. Let it cool and try not to eat them all yourself.

Recipe adapted from smitten kitchen.