No-Bake Peanut Butter-Butterscotch-Chocolate Cereal Bars
Hi.
It's me, here with a Wednesday Baking post.
Remember those?
It's been a while.
Wednesday Baking posts are a lot of work, and so to maintain my sanity, I've kinda let them fall to the wayside. Plus, I've shared most of my regularly-used baking recipes, so I'm a little lower on material than I was several years ago.
I've got a new one today, though...it's a recipe I recently got from one of my sister-in-laws, and it's so yummy, I have to share it with you!
It's a bit of a twist on the usual sort of Rice Krispy treat, but it's not much more difficult.
(incidentally, I met a kid recently who was amazed that you can make Rice Krispy treats at home. Apparently, he'd only ever had the packaged kind!)
And happily, just like Rice Krispy treats, these require no baking, which makes them a perfect summer dessert.
To make the cereal base, start by melting together ¼ cup of butter and 10 oz. of marshmallows (I like to use the small kind since they seem to melt more quickly).
You can do this in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Stir ¾ cup of creamy peanut butter into the marshmallow mixture. It'll take some mixing, but the two do eventually become homogenous.
Measure 5 cups of rice cereal into a bowl (I usually use a generic brand), and pour the peanut butter marshmallow mixture over top. Stir to combine.
This is a little bit difficult to do with just a spoon...I ended up mixing it with my hands some as well. This would never work with regular Rice Krispy treats (it's way too sticky!), but the peanut butter makes this mixture much less sticky.
Press the cereal into a greased 9x13 inch pan.
Now for the frosting! You'll need 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips.
Microwave the chips, stirring often, until they're melted. Actually, you could do this on the stovetop too...just take care to use low heat.
In my experience, butterscotch chips are a little stubborn when it comes to melting, so make sure you've got your frosting mixture thoroughly melted and mixed before you dump it out onto the bars.
Spread the frosting evenly over the bars. If your house is cooler than mine, you can just let the frosting set up at room temperature. At 78 degrees, though, I find that the frosting is a little too soft, so I'd recommend putting the bars in the fridge.
If you dislike butterscotch, I'm quite sure you could just frost these with 2 cups of chocolate chips instead. The butterscotch does add a yummy flavor dimension to these bars, though, and that's coming from someone who's not normally a big butterscotch fan.
Peanut Butter-Butterscotch-Chocolate Cereal Bars
¼ cup butter
10 oz. marshmallows
¾ cup peanut butter
5 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
In a saucepan or in the microwave, melt butter and marshmallows together. Stir in peanut butter.
Combine marshmallow mixture and cereal in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and press into a greased 9x13 inch pan.
Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together (on the stovetop or in the microwave) and spread over top of cereal bars.
No-Bake Summer Dessert Recipes
No-Bake Peanut Butter Energy Balls
Like raw cookie dough, except they're safe to eat!
Chocolate Cereal Snacks
100% whole-grain and no baking required!
Ice Cream Crunch Cake
This homemade ice cream cake is much cheaper than the premade ones from the store, and you can customize it with whatever flavors you like!
It's good to see a recipe again! I'm usually a moocher when it comes to cooking so I definitely appreciate someone else coming up with the ideas!
Ahhh...perfect! I was looking for a treat to have in all this heat.
I love these bars! Except in my family we mix the rice krispies with 1 cup peanut butter, one cup light Karo syrup and one cup sugar (dissolved of course). Marshmallows sound delicious too, I guess you could change the recipe to use whatever you have on hand!
yea...... Weds baking post! Oh how I have missed you!
These look good, Might have to try them out! I know its hard to keep coming up with things to make but...Love to see these posts!
Oo, these (all!) look super delicious. I'm on a diet though, so will have to satisfy myself by just looking at the photos! Thankfully I've just had lunch so am not tempted to dive into the food cupboard.
I haven't thought of these since bake sales for the kids school days,, these were a real winner and I love them,, thanks for reminding me of these,, yummo!
Yay! I so enjoy your baking posts. I do understand they are lots of work, though, so now I REALLY look forward to them. Yay!
These are called Scotcharoos! My mom has made these since she was a kid, they are so yummy!
Yes, Scotcharoos! Those are sooooo yummy. I think I see rice cereal and marshmallows on my list of things to get this week so these can be in my tummy this weekend! 😉
These are my favorite Rice Krispie treats, well sans chocolate. Since I eat a lot of cake in October (since so many birthdays fall in that month) I ask my mom to make PB-Butterscotch Rice Krispie treats or eclairs instead of cake.
I laughed and then felt sad about that kid's amazement that you can make Rice Krispie treats at home. Heck, half the commercials for RK have people making the treats on them. Just last Sunday my fiancee and I were in Aldi and saw their brand of RK treats and I wondered aloud as to why anyone would buy them when they are so elementary to make yourself. When I was a kid my mother used to pride herself that we almost never had store bought cookies in the house (except for the occasional Hydrox or the long forgotten "Giggles")
Yum! These look great! I love Rice Krispie treats! I feel terrible for that kid because homemade ones are 100 times better than the store bought. Of course, I usually put a few extra tablespoons of butter. That doesn't hurt anything.
Thanks for bringing back Wednesday baking!! I am fairly new to the blog but have used many of your recipes already!
Yum, Scotcharoos! My husband loves them and makes them when we need to bring a side dish or dessert. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter! 🙂
That looks delicious!!!
I've heard these called Scotcharoos, too! They were the hit of the party at my friend Leah's house in high school - a highly-requested treat whenever her parents threw one of their frequent house parties for all the teenagers.
why do you have tan foot on your counter?
Haha! That should have said "food". Thanks for pointing it out. Will you be my staff proof-reader??
Sure but I make no guarantees concerning my accuracy
Yum! Those look fantastic. I've been looking for some good "no bake" ideas so I don't have to heat the house this summer. Thanks! I'll be trying these out this week.
These look yummy! I may have to make them soon! I have a question. when I click on your blog, the page makes a clicking noise ( almost like a clunk). It's the only blog that does it, and I was wondering if it was from your anti-virus?
Where I'm from, we call the Chocolate/Peanut Butter Cereal Snacks "Puppy Chow" and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares "Scotcharoos", like other commentors have commented!!
I'm noticing a chocolate-peanut butter theme...not that I'm complaining. We can't get enough of either at our house!
We use chocolate candy instead of chocolate chips at my house...when chocolate bunnies are 10 cents after Easter, we buy several and throw them in the freezer. Instead of chocolate chip cookies at my house, we have chocolate chunk cookies 🙂
Sounds delicious! I love treats that you don't have to bake during the hot weather. I made rice krispie treats for the 4th of July, but had to substitute Rice Chex at the last minute. The kids ate the Rice Krispies and I didn't know it. Oh well, they still turned out.
I adore these....a little too much I think! 🙂
My kids are the opposite of that little boy - they had no clue you could BUY Rice Krispie cake treats in the store til I did this past June for our travels - and they didn't eat them. Said they tasted 'funny'....
I noticed the tan "foot" earlier today also. But, as I type for a living, I can understand how these things happen. You wouldn't believe the things I've typed and, of course, spell check doesn't catch them because they are acceptable words! Still funny, though!
Wow superb!!! Snickerdoodle cookies are cheap and good too. I tried Reese's ice cream bars on sale. Wow yummy. Thanks.
Excellent! We try to limit the oven on these lovely "hazy, hot, and humid" days also!
Great suggestions-- thanks!
Made these last night as soon as I got home from work, (with all chocolate chips on top, no butterscotch). They were oh-so-yummy~and just perfect for summer when I don't want to turn the oven on since we use our AC very minimally also! Hubby has been asking for a little something to snack on after dinner the past few weeks and he loved this. Thanks for posting the recipe, it was just what I needed 🙂
I made these and took them to church on Sunday for our coffee hour. They were a huge hit and I was happy to say how easy they were to make. Thank you!
I made these last weekend and my family LOVED them. And, my 4 year old loved that she could help with every step of the recipe. We had a fun time making them and an even more fun time eating them!
Scoctcharoos!