I love Rice Krispie Treats. Love. Them. I was flipping through one of my newest cookbooks, Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe, and I saw this recipe. I immediately knew that this was the recipe I would christen my cookbook purchase with. If it is possible to make a Rice Krispie treat elegant, this is how you do it. And on a side note, this is a great cookbook. I was hard-pressed to find something that I didn’t want to make in it. If you like to bake, and maybe want to try some more advanced things, this is a great book to have. I digress.
Browned butter. Vanilla bean. Marshmallow. Heaven.
Not only is the flavor amazing, from the browned butter and vanilla bean, but the marshmallow/Rice Krispie ratio is perfect. One of my peeves is a weak marshmallow-to-cereal ratio. I like heavy marshmallow, and this recipe delivers.
If you have never browned butter before, do not let it scare you. It is really easy, but is a lot like caramel. You have to pay attention. You cannot leave it to fold a load of laundry or step away to get the mail. It goes from perfect to I-need-throw-away-two-sticks-of-butter-and-start-over-this-stinks in about 2 seconds flat.
1 cup butter
1/2 vanilla bean
2 (10-ounce) bags marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
9 cups Rice Krispies
Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Find a really big bowl and measure out 9 cups of cereal. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
Cut the vanilla bean in half, and scrape the seeds with the back of a knife.
Add the vanilla to the melting butter.
The butter will foam and make some noise. It will bubble and crack.
It will start to turn a golden brown color. Watch it carefully because it can burn very quickly.
When the butter is ready, the bubbling will stop and will be brown. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the marshmallows and salt.
Stir over low heat until marshmallows are completely melted.
See the flecks of brown butter and vanilla beans? You have no idea that a Rice Krispie treat could be this good.
Pour the mamarshmallow over the Rice Krispies. Coat completely with marshmallow.
Press into the prepared 9×13 pan. A trick that makes packing them into the pan easy – I always have disposable gloves on hand. I use them for everything. Spray your gloved hand with cooking spray and press the treats tightly in the pan. Let sit for 2 hours at room temperature before slicing.
Rice Krispie Treats (with Vanilla Brown Butter)
Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Rice Krispie Treats -- consider these grown-up Rice Krispie treats. Brown butter and vanilla make these really special.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 2 (10-ounce) bags marshmallows
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 9 cups Rice Krispies
Instructions
- Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Find a really big bowl and measure out 9 cups of cereal. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Cut the vanilla bean in half, and scrape the seeds with the back of a knife. Add the vanilla to the melting butter. The butter will foam and make some noise. It will bubble and crack. It will start to turn a golden brown color. Watch it carefully because it can burn very quickly. When the butter is ready, the bubbling will stop and will be brown. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the marshmallows and salt. Stir over low heat until marshmallows are completely melted. Pour the mamarshmallow over the Rice Krispies. Coat completely with marshmallow.
- Press into the prepared 9×13 pan. Let sit for 2 hours at room temperature before slicing.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0Total Fat: 0g
Shawna
Tuesday 11th of June 2019
Getting ready to make these as a birthday gift. They are my go-to recipe and the BEST I've ever had (so long as I don't burn the butter. Ahem.).
bakedbree
Tuesday 11th of June 2019
I am so glad, I love them too!
Tim
Saturday 9th of February 2019
Good but the ingredients List 2 (10 oz) bags of marshmallows. I quickly glanced and read 10 oz so that's what I picked up at the store. I recommend dummy proofing the ingredients list to state 20 oz of marshmallows. Besides, is every bag 10 oz? Also, other puffed rice cereals work well too.
bakedbree
Tuesday 19th of February 2019
No, not every bag is 10 oz.
Ana
Thursday 31st of December 2015
Hi I all ready do the recipe twice and there are really good... But I just notice that I miss the salt... Where I am supposed to aded?Thank
bakedbree
Wednesday 6th of January 2016
Thank you for noticing that! I fixed the recipe, but add it with the marshmallows.
Whitney
Saturday 30th of March 2013
These were so good! I made them for dessert last night. I used a whole vanilla bean (since you can get them pretty cheaply now--I got mine from IndriVanilla.com for fifty cents apiece) and added a teaspoon of homemade vanilla extract to the marshmallows before melting them. The browned butter makes the flavor amazing, and I love that they're plenty soft and marshmallowy! I realized just as I was finished mixing them that my 9x13 pan was dirty, so I improvised with a cookie sheet, and they fit in one of those perfectly. Repinned this with my definite recommendation. Thanks for the delicious treat!
bakedbree
Sunday 31st of March 2013
Aren't they? I love these. I should make some tomorrow.
Lady
Saturday 29th of December 2012
I want to commend this post. Rice Krispies has been trying to push a new recipe as "The Original", when it's far from the truth. What you have posted here is much closer to the recipe from many decades ago, which was originally published on the Rice Krispie box. My aunt made treats in the 80's when I was a real wee little thing, and they were luscious and crazy good. A few years ago, I tried to make some treats, but the new recipe was disgusting. I knew something had to be amiss, because there was NO WAY I screwed the pooch three times, while following the recipe directions to the letter. So I knew the recipe was to blame. I had to scour old recipe boxes I was finding at thrift stores and from people I was asking, to find the ACTUAL original. It was pretty much simply:
1 stick of butter (assumed salted because there was no salt in the recipe) or margarine (always salted) 1 10 oz bag of marsmallows x vanilla, don't remember exact quantity, but we can assume something reasonable like a teaspoon 1 box of rice krispie cereal, which at the time was 5 to 6 cups. These days, it's the "small" box.
THAT was the real recipe my aunt made, because when I made this version, they were perfect. And they looked much like what you have there. In my mind this is what I want, when I want a rice crispie treat. I think the new "Original" recipe is a messy atrocity that makes dry, impalpable cereal bricks. So THANK YOU for being like the only person on the internet, who is posting the same essential recipe. We need to stop being stupid. Rice Krispie treats are not a health food, and never will be.
Put in the f***ing butter.
bakedbree
Saturday 29th of December 2012
Wow, you are passionate about Rice Krispie Treats!