Name: Brown Butter Churro Crispy Treats
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 10 ounces miniature marshmallows; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 6 cups cinnamon rice squares (Cinnamon Chex)

Brown Butter Churro Crispy Treats are absolutely positively not something that you should make at midnight, keep within a 9-inch radius of your person at your desk then next morning, then carry on a road trip with the honorable intention of bringing them home to “share with family.” Just don’t. The situation will end in sticky, buttery, cinnamony marshmallow shame.

Consequently, the situation will also end in sticky, buttery, cinnamony marshmallow bliss, which is why I’m demanding that you risk your dignity and make these brown butter churro crispy treats immediately.

Years ago, I managed to convince myself that I don’t care for marshmallow crispy treats, a prognosis I blame on the psychological backlash of four high school years spent eating cafeteria food. My daily lunch consisted of a rotation between jumbo lemon poppy seed muffins and the biggest, softest gooiest marshmallow crispy treats you’ve ever met, always with a side of fries. Fries, bakery muffins, and marshmallow treats: my daily bread.

College followed with its thinner, drier, and decidedly less satisfying marshmallow crispy treats, along with a casual awareness of basic nutrition. My fry and rice crispy-treat diet made room for soup and salad (along with the all-you-can-eat frozen yogurt bar.)

Any marshmallow crispy treat I tried paled in comparison to my high school memories of what a crispy treat should be, so I stopped eating them entirely.

All this marshmallow crispy treat history is to say: I’m not precisely sure why I became completely and obsessively captivated by the idea of making marshmallow crispy treats at midnight last Monday night. All I knew is that I needed marshmallow crispy treats, I needed them rightthissecond, and nothing was standing between me and a pan of sticky, crunchy marshmallow goodness.

Secrets to The Best Brown Butter Churro Crispy Treats

Cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors, and churros had been on my brain, because what else would I think about in the shower, where 98% of all my deep thinking occurs? (Reference: Mini Quiches with Caramelized Pears.) The other 2% of my inspiration strikes at midnight, so at 11:40 p.m. when I should have been sleeping, I had just enough brain-juice to connect my churro desires to my immediate need for marshmallow crispy treats.

Use Cinnamon Chex. Brown butter churro crispy treats boast a walloping tablespoon of cinnamon, rich dark brown sugar, vanilla, and (just to be excessive thorough) Cinnamon Chex cereal in place of the classic crispy rice. I love the extra boost of churro-appropriate cinnamon-sugar that the Chex provides. The larger, airier cereal squares also give the bars a lighter, chewier texture than classic rice crispy treats.

Speaking of light…since it’s not every night I make an entire pan of marshmallow crispy treats for myself at an inappropriate hour, I wanted these churro crispy treats to be special and, dare I say, grown up. My crispy treat history began in high school, but I’ve grown into a mostly mature young woman, capable of handling important adult tasks—like browning butter.

Brown the Butter. Browning the butter does tack a few, well-spent minutes onto the cook time, but the richness and intensity it brings to this recipe is more than worth this small effort.
Use Salt. My final adult move: salt. I’ve long been a sucker for salty-sweet treats, and a generous pinch of kosher salt keeps the churro sweetness in balance. It also makes these salted brown butter churro crispy treats fabulously impossible to stop eating, particularly at midnight.

More Addictively Delicious Treats

Recommended Tools to Make this Recipe

8×8-inch Baking Pan. The perfect pan for making these treats.
Dutch Oven. A great tool for melting and mixing the ingredients.
Measuring Spoons. These are easy to use and store.

Salted brown butter churro crispy treats are my high school diet, turned grown-up midnight snack. I think I’ll cut myself an extra-large square to enjoy with a glass of wine. I am an adult after all.

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