Sea Salt Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

If you've been following my blog, you know that I usually like to warm you up with a few photos before I get to the recipe of the day.

 You can pretty much count on the photos falling into one of two categories.

1.  Whatever happens to be blooming in my yard. (a.k.a. Flowers That I Haven't Killed...Yet)

or

2. My dogs.  Here's Clyde on the 4th of July, visiting my parents in Connecticut.  

You may think that you've just viewed the warm-up pictures, but today I've got something even better. (And best of all, I am going to share some photos that were taken by others, people who have much better skills with a camera than I could ever hope to have!)

There's been a little bit of Hollywood action here in our little Boston suburb for the past couple of days.

My facebook newsfeed has been completely flooded with pictures that my friends have posted of Robert Downey, Jr.  By all accounts, he is a really down-to-Earth, humble guy who freely steps into the crowds to sign autographs.

The above picture was taken by my friend Kerry's cousin, Reilly.

Kerry was stuck at work and is insanely jealous that Reilly was so close to one of her all-time favorite actors.

  And I'm sure Kerry is also jealous that Robert Downey, Jr. was looking right at our friend, Cristina, when she took this picture.

Cristina's son, Jake, got an autograph.

The name of the film is "The Judge."  My friend, Tracey, captured this scene outside the courthouse.  Tracey's a true rock star with her camera.

Final shot:  Tracey's daughter, Lily, getting an autograph and a little face time with a movie star.

Thanks to all of my friends for letting me share their pictures!

Okay, before I give you the recipe, I need to tell you that it's one of a gazillion recipes that I've been pinning on Pinterest.  Actually, I didn't even pin this one, because when I pin something I never look at it again.

I went right to the recipe, printed it out, and made it.  Click HERE to go to Redbook Magazine's recipe for Salted Caramel Treats.  Go ahead.  You have to click on the link.  I'll wait.

Okay, now that you're back I will explain why you needed to click on the link.  I wanted you to see how beautiful and perfect the treat looks in that picture.  I know that I'm always telling you how terrible a photographer I am, but I need to inform you that no amount of mad photography skills could ever make the treats that I made look so perfect.  (And the fact that I scorched my caramel didn't help.)  Do you think they actually photoshopped all of the flaws right out of that treat? I mean, caramel is really gooey, right?  That picture is the smoothest, most ungooey-looking caramel I have ever seen.  Where am I going with this?  The point of all this rambling is that although my treats hardly resemble the flawless treat you see in that picture, it doesn't matter.  Flaws and all, these treats are out-of-this-world yummy!

Today's Playlist

"Teenagers"....My Chemical Romance

"Fell In Love With A Girl"....The White Stripes

"Animal"....Neon Trees

"Mr. Maker"....The Kooks

"She"....Green Day

"Troublemaker"....Weezer

"She Hates Me"....Puddle Of Mudd

"We're Going To Be Friends"....The White Stripes

Sea Salt Caramel Rice Krispy Treats (adapted from Redbook

                                                             Magazine)
Printable recipe

Caramel

• 50 caramels, unwrapped
• 1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup butter

Squares

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 (10-oz) bag mini marshmallow
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• sea salt flakes (I could not find these, so I used sea salt from a grinder)
• 8 cups toasted rice cereal

Gather your ingredients.

I feel the need to tell you that the Redbook recipe calls for "1-(14 oz) bag of caramels (about 50)."  I couldn't find a 14 oz bag of caramels, I think they've been downsized to 11 oz. (which only contain about 35 caramels).  

So do what I did, buy 2 bags of caramels, use 50 of the caramels for this recipe and enjoy the leftovers straight up, no chaser.

Stir the caramel ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until melted and smooth.  Do not let it boil.  

*****(UPDATE:  You may also melt the caramel ingredients in your microwave!  Microwave on HIGH, one minute at a time, stirring after each minute.  It usually takes 3 minutes to melt the ingredients. I highly recommend this method!)*****

See all those dark little flecks?  I was so careful when I did this and yet, my caramel scorched.  First, I was tempted to just chuck the whole thing.  Then, I thought, "Who cares?  I'll just stop taking pictures and won't blog about it."  And then I decided to just keep it real.  Scorched caramel isn't the end of the world.

Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil, with the foil extending beyond the edges.

The Redbook recipe said to use nonstick foil, which I could not find, so I simply buttered my foil.  Not very well, I might add.  If you look to the right, you can see where I missed a spot.

In a 6-quart pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir with a rubber spatula until almost melted.

Stir in vanilla and 1 cup of the caramel mixture.

Continue to stir until combined.

Remove from heat.  Stir in cereal until it's evenly coated with the marshmallow mixture.

Like this.

Press mixture into pan in an even layer and cool completely.

When cooled, spread the remaining caramel mixture over the cereal.

Grab the ends of the foil that are overhanging the edge of the pan and lift the treats right out of the pan.  Sprinkle with the sea salt.  I didn't measure the amount of sea salt that I used, I just held the salt grinder right over the treats and tried to make sure it was evenly distributed.  If I had to guess, I would say I used about 1/2 teaspoon.

The Redbook recipe called for 3 teaspoons of sea salt (1 teaspoon added to the cereal mixture, and 2 teaspoons sprinkled on top).  I used salted butter so I didn't think I needed to add salt to the cereal mixture.  And 2 teaspoons sprinkled on top just seems excessive!!  But use whatever amount makes you happy.

Use a sharp knife to cut the treats into squares.

Enjoy!