I sent my sister off with a box of these to fuel her marching this weekend – a little bit of protein, no gluten (she has a slight sensitivity to it), and a whole lot of sugar.  A spin off of the classic Rice Krispies Treats recipe, I decided to brown the butter to deepen the treats flavor and added the nuts for a little bit of a salty crunch.

The brown butter or beurre noisette recipe came from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  I am fairly sure that I saw a recipe for this or something similar to this a couple of years ago when brown butter was all the rage and being incorporated into everything, but for the life of me I can not remember where I saw it.  I just remember thinking… someday, I need to try this… and so I finally did.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
• 1 bag (10 oz.) Marshmallows
• 4 tbsp Butter (unsalted)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
• 1 cup chopped and toasted Pecans (I originally wanted to use pistachios, but I had a hard time finding them already shelled)

Directions:

1. Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with parchment paper.
2. Grease the paper (a non-stick spray works best).
3. Combine the rice cereal with the toasted nuts, and pour half of them out evenly onto the bottom of the greased pan.
4. Melt the butter in a sauce pan under medium heat.
5. Once the butter has melted, reduce the heat to a simmer, and slowly allow the butter brown until it is a light hazelnut.  The liquid butter will clarify while the milk solids will separate and sink to the bottom resembling a fine brown dust. This step will take a few minutes to complete.  The longer you draw this step out the richer and deeper the flavor, but you do not want to burn or evaporate your butter – it is a delicate balance.
6. Melt the marshmallows into the butter. You might need to increase the heat because you want the marshmallows to melt quickly and evenly.  Once again you want to make sure not to overcook and allow the marshmallows to seize up.
7. Add the salt and almond extract to the marshmallows.
8. Pour the melted marshmallows onto the rice cereal and nuts already in the pan.
9. Quickly pour the rest of the cereal and nuts on to the melted marshmallows and use a spoon and your hands to combine them.  This is a messy job, and needs to be done quickly before the marshmallows start to cool and solidify.  Likewise, when using your hands remember that the melted marshmallows will be hot so touch only lightly and in places covered mostly in cereal.  I also grease my hands and the spoon lightly in oil to keep things from sticking to badly.  It helps slightly, but things are still really messy.
10. Pat the bars down lightly to make sure that all the cereal is sticking, and set the bars aside to cool.
11. Once fully cooled, use the parchment paper to lift the bars from the pan.
12. Use a sharp knife to evenly chop the cereal treats into neatly sized bars.