Scotcheroos (Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Treats)
When I was a kid, I always loved when my school would hold Bake Sales.
If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically a fundraiser where families of kids in school, or even just a class would pool together a bunch of baked goods that they (and their parents) baked and then sell in the hopes of raising money for something–sometimes it was for a charity, other times for a field trip, or team uniforms, or something like that. It’s always a lot of tables and tables of tupperware, plastic wrap and paper bags of portable desserts like cookies, moose much, brownies, and ‘bars’ that go for cheap.
The nostalgia I attach to school bake sales probably outweighs how good they (and the desserts) actually were in reality, but if nothing else, Bake Sales are prime sites for easy, fast, go-to desserts, and it’s always nice to have 1 or 2 of those handy whether you have children or not.
Today’s recipe fits squarely into the type of treats you’d expect to find at a school bake sale. It has three things that almost kids love to eat: chocolate, peanut butter and rice krispie cereal, It also has minimal ingredients and comes together in minutes, which puts it into another one for the “You Can’t Mess This Up” recipe category.
Rice krispie treats are pretty much a given when you think of ‘easy desserts’ to throw together on the fly. There are a lot of different variations you can make on the classic, such as these that I made for the last blog post that incorporated browned butter.
This week’s variation differs from the original a bit in that we’re not working with marshmallows, but I guarantee that what we are working with tastes just as good.
In place of the marshmallows is a combination of honey and peanut butter that binds the rice cereal together into bars. A combination of chocolate and butterscotch chips is then melted and spread on top of that.
Now I know what you may be thinking: chocolate and butterscotch? Huh?
But trust me, it works.
The butterscotch is just enough to give the chocolate a rich, almost caramel-y flavor that really plays well against the nuttiness of the peanut butter. On the whole, the Scotcheroos are denser, and richer than standard rice krispie treats, but that just means you can cut them up smaller to last longer/share.
Or not.
*******************************************
Scotcheroos
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup white sugar
- 6 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Directions
Line an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 baking dish with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray.
Pour honey and white sugar into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until dissolved. Bring to a slow boil, then immediately remove from the heat.
Stir in the peanut butter and stir until it has dissolved in the sugar mixture.
Add the rice cereal and stir with a large fork, or a wooden spoon until the cereal is evenly coated.
Use a spatula you’ve sprayed with cooking spray to press the mixture into the baking pan, patting it into an even layer.
Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips took in the same saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. As soon as it has melted, remove from the heat and spread over the cereal into an even layer.
Allow to cool/harden for at least 45 minutes, or until chocolate is firm. (I refrigerated mine overnight). Cut into bars.
Store in a resealable plastic container for up to 1 week.
Sharing at Fiesta Friday #472, hosted this week by Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.
I’m sure the kids of all ages would adore these!
Yes, these are perfect for kids. Thank you, Dorothy 🙂