Salted Browned Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Pre-measure all of your ingredients and set them aside.

Place the butter in a large pot on the stove over medium-low heat. While the butter is melting, add the vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

The butter will first begin to foam. Make sure you are stirring it on a fairly regular basis, so that you can scrape anything that is sticking to the pot. Start keeping a close eye on it at this point. The butter will eventually start to smell nutty and then begin to brown. Once it starts to brown, take it off the heat.

Add in the mini marshmallows and salt (depending on how much salt kick you want). Stir with butter until marshmallows have completely melted. You might have to place it back on low heat if the heat from the butter is not enough to melt the marshmallows.

Once they are good and melted and everything is all mixed together, add the Rice Krispies. Stir until all of the Rice Krispies are good and covered in the marshmallow mixture.

At this point you can either scrape the treats into an 8×8 greased baking dish and smooth down with a spoon that is well greased OR you can move on for the nests.

For the nests:
Take a heaping spoonful (make sure it is with your large wooden spoon) and scrape with a spoon onto a greased piece of wax paper. Continue until all of the mixture is out on the wax paper in spoonfuls. Make sure your hands are always well-greased for this next part. Using your hands, create rounded-out nest shapes. I first formed a ball, then flattened it out and brought up the sides to look like a nest.

Once all of your nests are created, add your peeps and/or other nest toppings. Enjoy!