Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Best Scotcheroos I've Ever Had

This is, by far, my favorite Scotcheroo recipe I've ever used.  It is my go-to recipe when I need to bring a desert to a party because it's very simple and takes about a half hour to make.  I found it on the internet a while (or a few years) back after I decided to find the best Scotcheroo recipe out there, so I can't credit the original baker.

Ingredients:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of light corn syrup
1 cup of peanut butter
1 tsp. of vanilla
6 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal
1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of butterscotch chips

Instructions:

So here's the instructions that come with the recipe, I'll explain my way of doing it after.

1.      Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2.      In a very large saucepan, combine sugar and corn syrup. Heat just until bubbly.
3.      Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until well blended; Stir in cereal.
4.      Place chocolate and butterscotch chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Spread melted morsels over top of cookies.
5.      Refrigerate until chocolate is slightly firm, then lift foil from pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into 3-4 dozen bars.
6.      Makes 3 dozen bars

Note: Alternatively, you may mix the sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave it all on high for 2 minutes – stopping every 30 seconds to stir. Then stir in the vanilla and the Special K.

So now my version:

1.  First I line a 13 by 9 inch pan with aluminum foil then spray it with cooking spray.
2.  Then, I measure out the 6 cups of cereal into the biggest bowl I have, it's a super large aluminum bowl.
3.  After that I put the corn syrup, sugar, and peanut butter into a medium sized bowl and follow the note at the bottom of the original directions.  This is also where I tend to mess up.  I often forget to add the vanilla in after I finish mixing, but it really doesn't make a difference in the end product.
4.  Once I finish mixing I pour the sugary-peanut buttery-goodness into the cereal and mix it up with a rubber spatula.  The peanut butter mixture doesn't harden up as quickly as you would think, but it is still good to coat all of the cereal as soon as possible.
5.  When all the cereal is coated, pour it into the pan and spread it out so that the top is as flat and even as possible.
6.  Now for the chocolate top.  The recipe says to only use 1 1/2 cups of each type of chip, but I say go for gold and use the entire bag of each.  Make sure you use a large-ish bowl for this, it gets a bit messy when stirring.
7.  Microwave the chocolate/butterscotch chips for 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until there are no lumps left and the mixture is smooth.  Pour it over the Rice Krispies and even it out as much as possible.

My Tips:

-Refrigerate the Sctocheroos for an entire night.  It makes them easier to cut (as long as you use a large knife) and they aren't as messy when you eat them.
-When you line the pan with aluminum foil, make it about two to three inches longer than necessary, the ends can be used to pull the entire pan of Scotcheroos out at once and that makes it easier to cut as well.
-Don't bother buying name brand Rice Krispies Cereal or Nestle Chocolate Chips.  I buy bargain brand everything because it works just as well and it's cheaper. :)

Hope you enjoy this simple recipe!!!

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