Brown Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Perfect Pairing:  St. Patrick’s Day

Old fashioned rice krispy treats are hard to beat, but sometimes I cannot leave well enough alone.  My recipe is made with browned butter and a pinch of salt, but everything else is pretty much the same as the traditional recipe.  Oh, I also added mini chocolate chips to the top because how could that hurt? 

Browning the butter before adding it to the marshmallows gives the treats a nutty and rich flavor.  It is subtle, but you can definitely tell the difference.  I love this version.  Brown butter does magical things to simple recipes.  One of my all-time favorite appetizers is manchego with brown butter honey sauce.  Yum.

So you may have noticed the rice krispy treats are green.  That was on purpose, not a kitchen experiment gone wrong.  I wanted to do something festive for St. Patrick’s Day.  Last year I made green edamame hummus, which was a hit at the St. Paddy’s party I attended.  Of course, you can always leave the food coloring out or change it up for a different event.

I will be celebrating with family again this St. Patrick’s Day, but I don’t think we will be as lucky as last year with the weather.  I will never forget that day.  Not only did we have a great time but it was 80+ degrees in Chicago and the trees were budding.  This year….. not so much.  Oh well, we know spring is coming!

 

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Sweet Potato Strudel with Brown Butter

Perfect Pairing:  Dino:  The Essential Dean Martin Album

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I definitely did!  My family had so much fun together opening gifts, enjoying good food and just being together.  I am sad the festivities are almost over.  We still have a couple of days together and I plan on making the most of it!

Are you browning your butter?  If not, you should start.  It was only recently that I realized how awesome brown butter tastes.  I had heard chefs refer to it on cooking shows, but had never really done anything with it myself.  Side note…. I have a weird addiction to any competitive cooking show.  They should start some sort of fantasy competitive cooking league.  I would be a killer.  Anyway, brown butter seemed very fancy to me, but honestly, there is nothing fancy about it.  It does not require any special equipment or ingredients.  By browning the butter the flavor completely changes and it goes from being plain old butter to this complex, nutty, savory delight. 

This strudel takes full advantage of the toasty butter but is also slightly sweet because of the dried cranberries, raisins, carrots, and sweet potatoes.  Everything is rolled up in layers of phyllo dough.  I know some people are a little intimidated by phyllo dough because it is fragile and comes with care instructions.  While it is important to keep it covered with a damp towel it is surprisingly easy to work with.  Don’t get flustered if it bunches up in one area or breaks, no one will know.  That is the beauty of layers, everything just melds together! 

I wish I had a better picture of the finished product.  This was served at the weenie roast and it was full-on darkness by the time I was ready to photograph it.  You’ll just have to trust me on how attractive and delicious it is.  The flaky crust melts in your mouth and the creamy filling has just the right amount of sweet and savory.  It was also surprisingly good leftover. 

The Perfect Pairing for this strudel is Dino: The Essential Dean Martin album.  When I think of strudel, phyllo dough, and brown butter I think of something very fancy.  This recipe is actually just good food.  That is kind of like Dino.  He has this air of sophistication around him but his music is relatable and fun.  I love this album.  It has so many great songs and is the perfect thing to play during a dinner party.  That voice is something else.

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