Rice Krispy Interlude [Recipe]

Even readers have to eat, right? 

Right. 

Today I made some good ol' Rice Krispy Treats with a twist, inspired by the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I bake a lot, so the fact that I'm actually posting the recipe on here says something. They're damn good, friends, if I do say so myself (pats self on back).

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispy Treats with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips

Let's remember that I'm not a recipe writer, nor do I ever intend to be... 

Time: 20-ish minutes

Yield: Depends on how big your squares are; let's go with 2-20

Ingredients:

1.5 sticks of unsalted butter (or 6 ounces)

1 15-ounce bag of mini marshmallows

9 cups of Rice Krispies (or the Trader Joes knock off, like I used)

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt*

2/3 bag of mixed peanut butter and chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Pray that you don't screw up the butter browning part. I've gotten pretty good at it since I've been doing it almost once a week for various recipes, but the first time can be a little nerve-wracking. If you're not down with the G.O.D, then check out YouTube for some videos (you're all self-sufficient adults, so I'm not giving you links). 

2. Either spray or butter a cake pan (I think mine as a 9 x 13)

3. In a large stock pot, heat butter over medium heat, stirring gently. Once it completely melts crank it up to medium-high and watch it like a hawk. Browning butter can turn into blackening butter extremely fast, so be careful. Once the water starts evaporating from the butter it will start foaming and slowly change to an amber color (keep stirring). Once it becomes the color of, let's say caramel, stir for fifteen more seconds and remove the pot from heat. When in doubt remove the pan- black butter is burnt butter, and burnt butter tastes like shit.

4. Dump in marshmallows and salt- stir continuously. I returned my pot to the stove over low heat to speed up the melting process. 

5. After the marshmallows and butter have become one fully combined, dump in the krispies. Stir until you almost have an even coating of the butter/marshmallow mixture on the krispies and dump in the chips. Stir some more.

6. Pour in pan, grab a metal spoon and run it under cool water- use it to flatten out the mixture. Let cool for awhile and then eat. 

7. Calculate how many miles you will have to ride on your bike to burn off the many, many treats you will eat. 

[food photographer I am not]

* The sea salt could be left out; it's definitely not over-powering, but if you're watching your sodium levels you might as well eliminate it from the recipe.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which is one of the best food blogs I've ever read.