Chewy, gooey, crispy-edged brown butter marshmallow crispy cookies taste like a brown-butter-infused rice krispie treat in cookie form. It’s all the nostalgia of a marshmallow cereal bar, wrapped up in the comfort of a bakery-style cookie. If you love the marshmallow crispy cookies from Costco, these have a similar chewy, crispy textureโjust made from scratch and boosted with brown butter.
We all have our favorite go-to cookie recipesโthe anytime classics like chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal raisin cookies; and the seasonal traditions like snowball cookies or peanut butter blossoms.
Then there’s the excitement of something new and different. A cookie recipe that gets people talking. “What is in this?” they’ll say. And then, more urgently: “Can you send me the recipe??”
These brown butter marshmallow crispy cookies are THAT type of cookie. The brown butter brings deep, toffee-like flavor, the mini marshmallows melt into caramelized pockets of gooey magic, and the crispy cereal adds that light, crisp-crackle texture in every bite, especially with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top.
Brown butter sometimes gets lost in busy cookie doughs, but not here. These are unapologetically brown-butter-forward, and weโre not mad about it!
Why Youโll Love These Brown Butter Marshmallow Crispy Cookies
- Recipe adapted from my popular chewy chocolate chip cookies!
- Brown butter = ultra-rich flavor with caramel and toasted notes
- Chewy centers + crisp edges, the dream cookie texture!
- Rice Krispies stay crispy, adding a fun contrast in every bite
- Puddles of melty marshmallow (the best kind of puddle)
- No mixer needed, just a saucepan and a bowl
- Perfect for gifting, cookie exchanges, bake sales, or holiday cookie trays
Ingredients You Need & Why:
- Butter: You’ll start by browning the butter. Toasting the milk solids gives the cookies incredible depth.
- All-Purpose Flour + Baking Soda: Our classic cookie structure duo.
- Cornstarch: For added softness.
- Crispy Rice Cereal: Fold them in gently to keep from crushing them.
- Mini Marshmallows: They melt into gooey pockets that caramelize on the edgesโYUM.
- Brown & Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar helps the cookies spread and the edges crisp. Brown sugar adds moisture and chewiness, plus extra caramel flavor to complement the brown butter.
- Egg + Egg Yolk: To bind the ingredients, and for extra richness and that coveted bend-and-chew texture. (We use an extra egg yolk in these chocolate chip cookies and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, too.)
- Vanilla + Salt: Flavor!
How to Brown Butter
Brown butter is melted butter with a delicately nutty and toasted flavor brought on by gently cooking it on the stove. This one-ingredient wonder adds so much depth of flavor to these marshmallow crispy cookies.
Browning butter takes less than 10 minutes and is a kitchen skill every baker canโand should!โlearn. Here’s exactly how to brown butter with a video tutorial and lots of tips to help you begin. Once you’ve mastered browning butter, the possibilities are endless. Think brown butter chocolate chip cookies, brown butter apple blondies… and have you tried these pecan sugar cookies before? You MUST.
Overview: How to Make Marshmallow Crispy Cookies
Once you have browned the butter and transferred it to a bowl to slightly cool, combine your dry ingredients, including the rice krispies and marshmallows. (Something we learned in testing: if you wait to fold in the cereal and marshmallows at the end, you’ll have trouble incorporating them because the brown butter makes the dough quite slick.)
Whisk the sugars and remaining wet ingredients into the slightly cooled brown butter, then combine it with the dry ingredients. The dough looks like this:
Now, rather than the typical order of steps (chilling the dough before shaping the cookies), we’re going to shape the cookie dough balls first and then chill. The dough is a little greasy, so the best method my team and I found for shaping these cookies is to simply use your hands to squeeze the dough together to form a ball.
Freeze the cookie dough balls for 1 hour before baking to keep the cookies from overspreading. Why freeze? Freezing the shaped dough firms up the butter and the marshmallows, helping the cookies hold their shape in the oven and preventing the marshmallows from dissolving.
When you bake them, expect these marshmallow crispy cookies to have some irregular edges… each cookie will end up looking unique, and that is part of their charm!
Add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt as soon as they come out of the oven for the perfect sweet-salty contrast.
Tips for Success
- Watch the marshmallows: A few on the edges are greatโthey caramelize!โbut if too many hit the baking sheet directly, they melt out. Tuck stray marshmallows back into the dough balls when shaping.
- Chill the dough: Because of the brown butter and marshmallows, these cookies benefit from a quick freeze so they donโt overspread.
If youโre looking for a cookie thatโs part childhood nostalgia, part grown-up flavor magic, and 100% irresistible, this is the one!
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Brown Butter Marshmallow Crispy Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (52g) crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup (60g) mini marshmallows
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- optional: flaky sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Brown the butter: Place the sliced butter in a light-colored skillet or saucepan over medium heat. (Light-colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Stir or whisk the butter constantly as it melts. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring. After 5โ8 minutes, the butter will begin browningโyou’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan and it will have a nutty aroma. As soon as the butter has browned, immediately remove from heat and pour it into a medium heat-safe bowl. Scrape up the browned solids at the bottom of the skillet and add them as well. Set aside to slightly cool. After browning, you should have around 185-190g butter.
- Make the cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the rice cereal and mini marshmallows.
- Whisk the brown butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla together until combined. Pour into the flour mixture and stir with a silicone spatula until fully incorporated. The dough will be greasy and a bit crumbly; thatโs ok.
- Scoop the dough, about 2 Tablespoons (40g) per cookie, and use your hands to form it into a ball. Squeeze firmly to help it hold its shape. Place the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze, uncovered, for 1 hour. If freezing for longer (up to 1 day), transfer the firm dough balls to an airtight container or zip-top bag.
- Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.ย Set aside.
- Arrange the frozen dough balls 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned on top, the edges look crisp, and the centers still look soft. (If the cookies havenโt begun to spread by the 10-minute mark, remove the baking sheet from the oven, give it a few firm taps on the counter, then return it to the oven.) Some edges may over-spread if a marshmallow is on the outside. This is normal and expected.
- Sprinkle sea salt, if using, on top of the warm cookies right after you remove them from the oven. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.ย
- Cover cooled cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make-Ahead & Freezing Instructions: In step 4, you can freeze the shaped cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 1 hour, then transfer to a container or zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 day before baking. This short freeze helps the marshmallows stay intact and keeps the cookies from overspreading. For longer storage, unbaked cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. Keep in mind that the longer theyโre frozen, the less they tend to spread in the oven. If you prefer a slightly wider cookie, let the frozen dough balls sit at room temperature for 10โ15 minutes before baking. However, donโt thaw them fully because marshmallows soften as they warm up and can begin to dissolve into the dough when it hits the oven. Baked cookies also freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):ย Light-Colored Skilletย orย Stainless Steel Skillet (for browning butter) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper |ย Flaky Sea Salt orย Coarse Sea Salt |ย Cooling Rack
- Do I Have to Brown the Butter? Yes, browning the butter adds deep, toffee-like flavor and really elevates these cookies. You can use regular melted butter, but the flavor wonโt be as rich, and the texture may be slightly different. Because browning evaporates some moisture, you may need to add a little extra flour if using un-browned melted butter.
- Can I Use Regular Marshmallows Instead of Mini? Mini marshmallows work best here because they distribute evenly and melt into smaller pockets. Large marshmallows tend to melt out too much or create big empty tunnels.
- My Dough is Greasy, Is That Normal? Yes! Brown butter cookies often start out looking a bit greasy and especially since some of the dry ingredients don’t really soak up moisture (marshmallows and rice cereal). Once you squeeze the dough together to form a ball, it holds its shape beautifully.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Yes, this recipe doubles easily. You can brown the butter all at once; just use a large enough pan to prevent burning.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These came out amazing! They have wonderful flavor and a perfect mix of crispy and chewy.
do these freeze well after made?
Yes! Baked cookies also freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
I made them and while they tasted incredible, they didnโt spread at all. Like baseballs. I even switched to silly for the 2nd batch and still like half balls. Any advice to flatten them out?
Hi Erin, Weโre happy to help. How did you measure the flour? Too much flour will prevent the cookies from spreading. Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups โ or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. If you decide to make these again and find they are still not spreading, feel free to take them out towards the end of bake time and gently tap the pan on the counter or push the dough balls down with the back of a spoon to help initiate spreading, then return to the oven to finish baking. Hope this helps for your next batch!
I feel that the tip about tucking stray marshmallows back into the dough should be included in step 4 of the recipe instructions because I missed it the first time and had a lot of marshmallows that melted out of the dough. It wasn’t exactly a problem since they made chewy marshmallowy edges around the cookies, BUT, it happened to more of them than I wanted!
Anyway even if you miss that step, these cookies are still show-stopping and delicious and will disappear rapidly. The brown butter flavor is to die for, and the rice krispies magically (through the power of low-moisture dough) stay CRISPY!!!! Everyone who tried them was marveling at that and oohing and aahing over the melted marshmallows. I will be making these again and again.
These cookies taste amazing! Beloved by kids and adults alike. I made these as teacher gifts this year and they were devoured. A few tips for “prettier” cookies – baking on a silpat mat is a must – parchment doesn’t turn out the same. Freeze the dough balls for a solid 2 days and bake from frozen. At 10 minutes, I took them out of the oven and smushed them down with the back of a spatula. Back into the oven for another 2 minutes to set and then leave them on the baking tray to cool. I found this to be the perfect amount of time. They are chewy and crispy. The marshmallows that spill out and melt become crystalized candy. So many different textures in this cookie and the flavor is on point. Absolutely delicious!
I really like the flavor of these but aesthetically they’re not as pretty. Brown butter, freezing before baking, and the crumbly nature of them make them more time consuming.
These are ADDICTING!!! Right after cooling I was feeling like they werenโt quite what I was expectingโฆbut the longer they sit, the better they get. They are INCREDIBLE. I found 14-15 minutes to be too long, 13 was perfect. Thank you! My family will be so happy on Christmas.
Made these for my husband’s birthday and they were an absolute HIT with my family. Drizzled half with dark chocolate and left half as is. SO delicious that they requested I make more next week for Christmas. I didn’t have any issues with them over or underspreading with the 1hr freeze, but mine cooked in about 12 minutes. 10/10!
These aren’t the prettiest cookies at the ball, but they are delicious. Co-workers raved and demanded the recipe.
Loved!
Delicious! Mine didnโt look as pretty but I think I let the brown butter cool off too much ? The dough was having trouble sticking together. Can you freeze cookies after cooking?
I made these a couple of days ago too. If you haven’t browned butter (which I hadn’t) use the link in the recipe. It’s a great guide. As for the cookies, the browned butter gives it that little bit of nuttiness while the rice crispie cereal gives it a fun little crunch. They’re soft and gooey yet firm enough to hold its shape. They didn’t last long in the house. And I’ve been instructed to make them again soon.
Would it be possible to substitute the rice cereal for dark chocolate chips?
Hi Alessandra, we don’t recommend it for this particular recipe. The rice cereal is key for texture and chocolate chips won’t translate in the same way.
I made these and they were a hit! It wasn’t my first time making brown butter but it was my most successful because of these instructions! THank you for making me look so good ๐
Can you freeze the dough in a bag for up to a week like most cookie dough?
Hi Jamie, yes, unbaked cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. Keep in mind that the longer theyโre frozen, the less they tend to spread in the oven. See recipe Notes for more freezing tips.
I’ve never baked anything in my life. I needed something for an office cookie exchange and stumbled across this recipe. They were so easy to make and they taste amazing! My test batch didn’t last past the weekend. The brown butter really is the secret sauce. Also, thank you for teaching me how to measure flour!
I made these, and while they taste delicious, they just sort of flattened out/melted in the oven. I did freeze them up until they went in, but I made my dough balls with a 1.5 tbsp scoop. Could that be my issue?
Hi Stephanie, the smaller size could spread a bit more, yes, but there are multiple reasons that cookies can end up over-spreading. It might be helpful to review this post on tips to prevent cookies from spreading. You could try adding an extra Tbsp or 2 of flour to your next batch, and/or freeze a bit longer. Keep in mind, too, that if there are more marshmallows along the edges of your cookies, they will melt more. Hope this helps for your next batch!
These are absolutely delicious but the marshmallows in the dough are not the most reliable for “pretty” cookies. Could dehydrated marshmallows be used in the dough, with a few fresh mini marshmallows placed on top when baking??
Hi Lisa, Iโm so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Youโre absolutely right that marshmallows baked into the dough can be a little unpredictable in terms of looks. I donโt recommend using dehydrated marshmallows in the dough, as they donโt melt or soften the same way and can stay crunchy or dissolve oddly once baked. Your idea of pressing a few fresh mini marshmallows on top is a smart approach for prettier cookies!
I made these according to the recipe including the flakes sea salt on I did keep the cookie balls in the fridge over night and then transferred to the freezer for just 30 min before baking because they were already pretty cold. They didnโt really spread much possibly they were too cold. But they baked up nicely. Iโm just not sure what Iโm missing. Iโm not really sure what these taste like. The butter was browned enough as Iโve made brown butter cookies before, but I didnโt really taste it in these. Thereโs no strong flavor. I was excited to try them and They have an interesting texture, but overall seemed kind of bland to me and my family. Not bad but nothing I would make again.
These look amazing, Sally! Do you think adding or subbing in a little pistachio extract would work in these?
Hi Ellen, you could certainly try swapping some of the vanilla with pistachio extract for that flavor. Let us know if you try it!
These cookies might just be my new favorite! Salty and sweet, the crispy rice cereal gives a fun texture. Definitely make!
These cookies are beyond. I followed the recipe as is and they were perfect! I used a kitchen scale for measuring out the scoops. Love that theyโre nut free, so I can send them to my sonโs school as holiday gifts. Iโll be making many batches of these this week! Thanks, Sally!
So flavorful!! I used an organic crispy rice and dandys mini marshmallows. I also kept them in the freezer for about 2 hrs. Baked 14 mins and gently pressed them with a spoon as they did not spread that much. These are a new favorite