Say that title three times fast! Or don’t, you’re going to want to go make these anyway.
The first thing you’ll need is some dulce de leche, a spoon-able caramel delight with a texture almost like a firm pudding. It can be found in stores, but you can just as easily make it with a glass jar, some condensed milk, and a crockpot. I made the jar above by filling it with condensed milk to within 3/4″ of the rim, closing it to fingertip tightness and putting it into a crockpot with enough water to cover the condensed milk. Set the crockpot on low for about 6 hours and voila, dulce de leche.
Of course, if you can find it at the store, you can skip that step. 🙂
The next important step is browning the butter. I love brown butter because it adds such a nice nutty flavor to these and I think it helps cut the sweetness and round out the flavor. In the picture above, the butter is almost perfect. I let it cook a little longer to get a bit more browning. It’s important not to rush butter browning because it goes from brown to burnt in no time.
And now that we have a few little recipe notes out of the way, I want to tell you who I made these for. When the recipe was created, we were only partway through our move, in a teeny hotel kitchen, but my mommy was there. My mom loves rice krispie treats. When I was a kid, they were one of the most regular desserts we would “bake” at home.
She’d tell me stories about how she and my dad once cooked together to make treats at her parents’ house. I found it incredibly sweet as a child to imagine my parents cooking together, even if it was just dessert.
My mom is pretty fabulous, so even though we had passed through at least four states and were all tired, she was about to go home, and I promised her I would make her two things – brownies and her own rice krispie treat flavor.
I listed a few different ideas and these were her favorites, all together in one lovely little bite.
Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Crisp Rice Treats
Ingredients
- 5 cups crisp rice cereal
- 4 cups mini marshmallows
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
- 3/4 cup Dulce de leche (homemade or purchased)
- Milk chocolate to drizzle (I used Callebaut milk chocolate snaps)
Instructions
- Line an 8x8" pan with parchment paper. spray with nonstick spray or grease with butter, and set aside
- Over medium low heat, melt the butter in a large pot and wait for it to brown. Swirling the pan occasionally to ensure even heat distribution
- Once the butter has browned, add the marshmallows and stir to melt until smooth
- Once the marshmallows have melted, remove the pot from the heat and add the vanilla extract
- Mix in the rice cereal, then once it's well combined, press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan
- Top with the dulce de leche and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to set for slicing
- Slice into desired serving size (I cut mine about 1"x2")
- Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. Once it's cool enough, place into a plastic piping bag or ziploc bag. Snip off the corner and drizzle the chocolate on to the treats
- Enjoy!