salted brown butter crispy treats

Josh and I, on occasion, like to revive old memories of being wee little runts on the school yard playground, throwing paper airplanes across the classroom and the religious making of macaroni necklaces. Despite having grown up together, our memories are vastly different, each of us having our own circle of friends, and he of course being a boy, and me a girl we didn’t want to have anything to do with each other. There is, however, one memory we both remember quite well — the cafeteria. The bigger, sweeter, and unfortunately more packaged your lunchbox items were, the more trading power you had. Lunch time was the time we put away our childish games, we stuck a pencil behind our ear and transformed into hard-core salesman-like seven year-olds persuading our class mates that this apple is more delicious than your Little Debby snack; I am only trying to be a good friend by giving you something better in return for something smaller, and less tasty. (Don’t worry mom, nobody ever took me up on my offer).

Now that we have grown-up we have moved on to bigger and better non-packaged treats, including this variation of that childhood classic we went berserk over. Now, I’m not going to tell you to make these, though you should, but I will tell you that your child, if anything like us, will have much more trading power at lunch if you stash one or two of these in their lunchbox.

Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats
Inspired from many places

Makes about 16 2-inch squares

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (10 tablespoons)
10.5 ounces mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
8 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Spray or butter an 8-inch square pan and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat melt butter and continue to cook until golden brown and gives a nutty aroma, swirling the pan frequently to prevent the butter from burning, about 3 minutes. Once browned remove from heat and add marshmallows.

With a spatula stir the marshmallows and butter together until the marshmallows have melted and creates a smooth thick batter (Meg note: I needed to put the marshmallows back over low heat until they melted completely). Stir in the salt until well combined.

Add the rice krispie cereal. Mix until thoroughly combined. Quickly spread the cereal in prepared pan. Use a piece of wax paper  sprayed with oil to firmly and evenly spread the mixture in the pan.

Let cool, then cut into squares and serve.