Brown Butter Rice Crispy Treats w/ Fleur de Sel

Well, I'm officially on BREAK! It's strange not going anywhere new, but I think I needed this real vacation where I don't have to plan, travel, and stress...I traveled a lot my last 2 breaks so it feels good to just enjoy the city I live in. I broke my tradition of postponing and rescheduling tests.... I actually stayed with my committed date this time...no rescheduling fees this year... phew. :)  I studied a hearty one week for this .... fingers and toes crossed for the results. For the first few days, it was (too) chill, I couldn't get myself to study, I cooked, baked, photographed... everything... I was on sites left and right figuring out what the next thing I wanted to bake and cook... and it was great.. until I realized.. I've been wasting my week away and the test was fast approaching. One of the recipes I found was for brown butter rice crispy treats. It was featured on Yahoo, and the tag line had something to do with grown up rice crispy treats... that caught my eye... all I was thinking was.. there's probably booze in it...  how can you make such a classic treat.. more... adult? ... I looked at the recipe (from one of the most amazing food blogger! ~ SmittenKitchen!) and went straight to my kitchen... I HAD TO TRY IT IMMEDIATELY!!!

The recipe was straight forward... very similar to the normal classic recipe.. but there was a ton more butter.... it seems like there's just too much butter... so I reduced it a bit (The original kellogg's recipe only had 3 tbsp of butter.. this recipe had 8!)  The first time I tried it out, I made a quarter of this recipe, and I was kicking myself that I didn't make more... I couldn't stop eating. The taste was AMAZING. Brown butter reminds me of caramel, and I added a good pinch of fleur de sel to the mixture.... which just adds more to the complexity of the flavor. I loved these treats... probably one of my favorite quick no bake treats at the moment.

Brown Butter Rice Crispy Treats with Fleur de Sel 

Adapted from this recipe : http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/11/salted-brown-butter-crispy-treats/

6 tbsp stick unsalted butter 

1/4 tsp fleur de sel, plus a few small pinches to sprinkle over the top of the treats (Sea salt would work too!)

10 oz mini marshmallows - Note: Measure with a scale if you cut down this recipe, I find too many air gaps when using a cup to measure marshmallows 

6 cups rice krispies cereal

Non stick spray for the pan, spatula, and knife

Sprinkles :) 

Before you begin... spray a large cake pan with non stick spray, or lightly grease with butter 

1. In a large pan, melt the butter on medium. Stir frequently, and watch for color changes. It will go from clear, to yellow, to brown pretty quickly... you're looking for a caramel color and a very nutty caramel fragrance. Once you see that, take it off the heat immediately, put in the salt, stir, and dump in the marshmallows.

2. Use a silicone spatula to mix the butter and marshmallows together. The heat of the butter should be enough to melt the marshmallow, but if it isn't, place it on the stove at very very low until it's all melted. 

3. Pour in the cereal, and mix until combined. Transfer mixture to pan, press with spatula, if it starts sticking, spray the spatula with non stick spray. Sprinkle with sprinkles ( optional) and a little more sea salt if you desire (not too much!).. let cool, and cut. I used a pastry scraper to cut my treats but any good sharp knife would work too.