These strawberry and brown butter rice crispy treats are the rice cereal bars that strawberry dreams are made of. They are like pink marshmallow clouds of gooey, slightly salty, textured goodness. They have pockets of gooey marshmallow and the extra crunch of dried strawberry. And, they are wayyyyy better than the ones on the back of a cereal box. There are lots of recipes on the internet, but I like mine the best, and I hope you do too.
And so, I present to you my recipe for Strawberry-Brown Butter Gooey Rice Cereal Treats. A small but highly necessary adaption to an adaption of a very famous, almost perfect, recipe. If you’re interested in my original recipe, you can find it here. If you’re interested in trying the more adult flavored matcha variety, you can find them here. This recipe is a product of a “Wicked for Good” themed party. It makes enough for a 9×13 pan. I love leaving bits of not totally melted marshmallow in this version. They are a fun texture and visual surprise.
Key Ingredients
Unsalted butter
crisp rice cereal
mini or regular marshmallows
Strawberry and Brown Butter Gooey Rice Cereal Treats – Recipe
Makes 24 well-proportioned treats. Time to make: 15 minutes plus time to cool in the pan.
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter plus extra butter for greasing the pan
- 1 wrapper from a stick of butter set aside or a piece of wax paper
- 9.5 cups of crisp rice cereal measured out into a bowl (285 grams)
- 16 oz bag of mini or regular marshmallows
- 1/4 scant teaspoon diamond kosher salt
- 2.4 ounces (68 grams) freeze dried unsweetened strawberries (usually 2 bags)
Step One
Using wax paper or your butter wrapper, butter or oil a 9×13 inch pan with 2 inch sides and set aside pan and butter wrapper. Crush freeze dried strawberries into a mix of powder, crumbs, and small pieces. This can be done either by crushing them in the bag their packaged in or putting them in a large bowl and using the side of a mug to smash them. Once crushed, set aside.
Step Two
Brown the butter. Using a large, wide bottomed pot (I use the one I cook pasta in) melt unsalted butter over medium heat. Stir it occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes while the butter heats. As soon as the butter begins to brown, make sure to stir constantly scraping any brown bits from the bottom. Be careful because butter goes from browning to burning very quickly. Once you can see more than a few tiny flakes of brown goodness, turn heat as low as it can go and quickly add your salt and marshmallow. Stir vigorously until your marshmallows have mostly melted, then turn off the heat. With full sized marshmallows this takes a few minutes I like to leave a few lumps, they look pretty and we all fight over the bars that have extra marshmallow in them. Add strawberries and rice cereal and stir vigorously until incorporated.
Step Three
Pour marshmallow-cereal mixture into the greased pan. Gently press on the top of the mixture with the buttery side of your butter wrapper or with a piece of wax paper to bars to a uniform height. Allow to cool for 60 minutes before you cut them.
Bars will keep covered on the counter (and out of the sun) for 3 days.