marveling at vanilla beans (first for both of us)

As I've mentioned on this blog, I am not much of a baker. Consequently, desserts around here are usually store-bought. Sure, I'll make the occasional oatmeal raisin cookie, muffins or quick bread. The fact that my boys know exactly what to do with the immersion blender but will look at our stand mixer as some scary kitchen appliance says something about my baking skills.

So as a challenge to myself, I bought myself the Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe cookbook by Joanne Chang. I thought best to ease into what I would consider the master class of baking cookbooks with a no-bake recipe: Brown Butter-Crispy Rice Treats. This would be a fun and easy treat to make with my oldest. And the stand mixer would take a back seat to our stovetop.

split vanilla bean, using the tip of a knife to scrape beans into melted butter

browning butter

mixing rice cereal with 2 sticks of butter and 2 bags of marshmallows

possibly the best rice crispy treats in the world

• The Good: Easy to make with only a few ingredients

• The Bad: You have to be careful not to burn the butter when browning. Vanilla beans can be pricey.

• Grade: A+. My childhood memories of this classic treat comes nowhere close to this rendition.