I’m here to say that rice crispy treats have always been a mediocre dessert in my book. I eat and enjoy the sticky, crunchy bars, but they fall far below a good chocolate chip cookie, a piece of cake, or even a crumble. I thought all rice crispy treats were about the same, improving with a higher butter and marshmallow to cereal ratio, until I had these salted brown butter rice crispy treats.

I rescind all my negative reviews about these lunchbox snacks when a caramelized butter and a healthy dash of Himalayan salt are involved. There is so much depth to these treats. The overall flavor is reminiscent of a salted caramel, with the perfect crunch of a classic crispy treat. After eating one, I could not stop myself from going back for seconds and then thirds. The sweet and salty combo is beyond tempting, and cannot be overlooked on the dessert table moving forward.

This recipe originally came to me through a friend at her Superbowl party this year, but when she sent it to me it just included the ingredients and the first line of instructions, so I decided to wing it by changing the ingredients slightly and altogether assuming the assembly instructions. I also made the recipe larger to feed a small army of coworkers who are always saddened to arrive to my desk after 2:00 PM to find all of the treats gone already.

This recipe is really one of the easiest on my site. Melt butter until you see it foam, turn yellow, and then finally brown. Add in pink Himalayan salt and vanilla for the most heavenly smell you’ve ever experienced in your kitchen and stir. Add the mini marshmallows and watch them turn into a goo (these melt so much better than normal ones and are much less messy than the fluff). Finally, stir in the rice crisp cereal and press into a buttered pan. I used pink Himalayan salt since it was available, and since it has an extra strong salty flavor that I thought would really give a great flavor to these bars. Sea salt would also be an appropriate choice.