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I made these this weekend and they’re soooooooo delicious! I can’t stop eating them! Thank you so much.
Darlene
Sticky-sweet, lightly crispy peanut butter rice krispie mixture topped with a thick layer of melted chocolate and sprinkled with magical flakes of sea salt. That’s all, thank you and goodnight Twin Cities!
Friends, this is the food I was raised on. In the background of every family and school event of my childhood lies a scratched and dented 9×13 of almost-gone scotcheroos. It is simple Midwestern goodness and it should not be messed with.
Except, I did one thing: I messed with it. Whyyyy.
As an anxious person finding her way through the world, I’d say I follow all rules of all places at all times exactly ALL THE TIME, but there is always that pesky 1% of the time at which point I become a rule-breaking, delinquent, rogue recipe “creative.” It is not wise to give me your classic recipes. I am not to be trusted with such precious, unbreakable things. I pinky promise I will take what is written and go off the rails with it.
How To Make Our Modern Scotcheroos:
In my childhood, there was no swim meet, sleepover, or class party that did not require a pan of scotcheroos (or rice krispie treats).
And to this day, there is no weekend road trip or cabin visit that doesn’t require a pan of scotcheroos made by mom – but wait. I’m actually being 100% serious. My mom literally dropped off a little tupperware of scotcheroos just last week for our road trip up to the North Shore with Kev and Mel. Let me say that again: MY MOM DROPPED OFF TREATS FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS. Last week. I am 31 years old.
Scotcheroos are the symbolic representation, the physical manifestation, of all that is good and right about treats made by mom. Can you guys confirm this? Midwesterners? Kids? Grown ups acting as kids? Moms? I’m very confident that this is just a fact of life when you are born and raised in small town Minnesota.
So let’s get to business. What exactly makes a scotcheroo modern? We’re going clean and modern on a few different fronts here.
- Replacement of corn syrup + sugar with brown rice syrup + real maple syrup.
- Replacement of rice krispies with brown rice krispies.
- Replacement of butterscotch-chocolate topping with dark chocolate sea salt topping.
Strict adherence to the shape, texture, and general basic awesomeness of the classic scotcheroo is of extreme importance. The goal here is to end up with a chewy, crispy, chocolate-top-heavy dessert bar that is an almost-mirror image of the original. Hear me out, please, all you treat-making moms across the great states of Minnesota and Wisconsin: the classic still reigns supreme. This is it no way meant to be a replacement for all that is good and right about retro Midwestern dessert bars.
This is just a modernized version for the days when a) YOU NEED A SCOTCHEROO, and b) you’d like it to fall more under the homemade-granola-bar category as opposed to the just-ate-dessert-for-breakfast-again category, and c) you are a grown adult human person – possibly also modern – and you should be able to make your own dessert bars by now.
Confession: Even though they are not the most high quality thing a person could ever eat, I cried a few tears when I left the butterscotch chips behind in this recipe. That being said, I cannot recommend the sea salt dark chocolate combo enough. If you felt strongly about this and wanted to leave the original topping alone (chocolate + butterscotch chips) so you get some butterscotchy vibes in your life, by all means. You do you, friend.
Dear Modern Scotcheroos: we’re grown ups who make our own chocolate peanut butter rice krispie bars now, and we’re coming for ya.
Modern Scotcheroos
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
Description
The classic chocolate covered peanut butter rice krispie bars, but with minimal refined sugar thanks to a few modern swaps. It’s a peanut butter meets chocolate situation, so obviously, your people will love you.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice syrup <- order on Amazon because you’re a queen and Amazon is life
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 6 cups brown rice krispies
- 1 24–ounce bag of dark chocolate chips
- a generous pinch of flaked sea salt <- again, may I suggest Amazon
Instructions
- Rice Krispie Mixture: Melt brown rice syrup, peanut butter, and maple syrup in a large pot until a smooth mixture forms. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir in the brown rice krispies. Remove from heat and press into a 9×13 pan.
- Chocolate Topping: Melt chocolate chips gently and slowly (preferably in a double boiler, or, in my case, a random stainless steel bowl fitted inside a pot of simmering water, but microwave or regular saucepan works, too). Pour chocolate over the rice krispie mixture and sprinkle again – !! – with sea salt because you don’t want to hate your life. Rest at room temperature until chocolate is set and watch them disappear.
Notes
I usually get my brown rice krispies at Whole Foods (store brand), but you can also just use regular rice krispies if you can’t find the brown rice version.
I tried subbing honey in place of the brown rice syrup and/or maple syrup and did not love it. It works texturally, but it is so overwhelmingly sweet. Like, make-your-teeth-hurt sweet. This coming from someone with a pretty high tolerance for sweets. I’d highly recommend sticking with the brown rice syrup which has a nice sticky texture but a much less dramatic sweetness to it.
These travel so well! We take them everywhere with us in the summer – parties, road trips, etc.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition Facts
- Daily value: 27% Total Fat 20.9g
- Daily value: 0% Cholesterol 0.2mg
- Daily value: 11% Sodium 262mg
- Daily value: 24% Total Carbohydrate 64.7g
- Daily value: 14% Dietary Fiber 3.9g
- Sugars 44.1g
- Daily value: 14% Protein 7.2g
- Daily value: 8% Vitamin A 75µg
- Daily value: 3% Vitamin C 3mg
- Daily value: 7% Iron 1.2mg
- Daily value: 2% Potassium 108.1mg
- Daily value: 5% Phosphorus 63.4mg
Keywords: scotcheroos, special k bars, healthy special k bars, healthy scotcheroos
Here’s an original scotcheroo recipe for the sake of comparison.
This post contains affiliate links to the brown rice syrup and flaked sea salt on Amazon!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy dessert recipes. Check it out!
I live in Iowa after tears in South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington. Goodness your spot on about Minn. food or Midwest food, small towns. And I’d be the mom to pack food for adult children’s road tips. Love it. Thanks so much. .
Kelihatannya ini sangat enak, dan coklat adalah makanan yang paling saya suka.
Tetapi yang ini sepertinya agak berbeda dari penampilannya karena sangat unik, dan saya sangat menyukainya.
Has anyone tried using agave as a substitute for the brown rice syrup? I can’t seem to find the b rice syrup locally and wondering if this would work.
Love these!! Are the calories accurate? Is that per one piece?
Yep, the nutrition info is accurate and is for 1 scotcheroo.
Do you have a substitute for the brown rice syrup? It’s so hard to find and $22+ a jar on Amazon 😳
These subs here might help. 😊
I made these this weekend and they’re soooooooo delicious! I can’t stop eating them! Thank you so much.
These are so yummy! After making a couple rounds of these (SO addictive), the Amazon link for the brown rice syrup has been unavailable for several weeks now. Much to my chagrin, my local grocery stores stopped carrying brown rice syrup too :(.
Not sure if Lundberg stopped making it? Is there another type you know of/can link to? I haven’t had luck finding any on Amazon with more than 11 reviews.
In the meantime, I’ve been doing 1/4 c. honey + 1/2 c. barley malt syrup instead – very sweet, but it’s holding me over ;).
These are so bomb!! My husband has already eaten half the pan. As a Minnesotan who has had her fair share of scotcheroos…..these are a grest modern take. Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
Made these for a football party ttomorrow…hoping I have the self control to wait until then…or that our friends won’t judge me if I bring a half-eaten pan!
This Iowa girl is excited to try these! I never realized scotcheroos were a midwest thing until I moved to a different part of the country. I’m excited to try this updated version!
I grew up in small-town Wisconsin, and I love, love, love peanut butter krispies. I actually have a bottle of light Karo syrup in my cupboard in Brooklyn so I can make them, and I feel very connected to my mom whenever I do. I was home two weekends ago for a memorial, and my mom made peanut butter krispies for me. Here’s the way she makes the topping–melt chocolate chips and a little peanut butter together. The peanut butter softens and smooths out the chocolate a bit, and it also dials back the sweetness slightly.
I’m from Chicago and I can confirm that this is a classic Midwest treat! I loved having these around the house when I was a kid and this simple modern twist is what I’ve been craving! The replacement of sugar with maple syrup and the dark chocolate on top just screams YES! Thanks for such a great recipe!
Looks fantastic. Although not a fan of sweets, this made me get back to my kitchen to do some experiments.
I just made these for my husband’s family reunion in OH and they were such a hit! Everyone loved that the rice portion was less sticky-sweet than the classic marshmallow version, as well as the dark chocolate topping. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad! Thanks Lisa!
Amazing recipe blog. I have ever seen. I will try it very soon.
Thanks
If you gave me a chance i can ate this again n again because its too delicious. !!
Thanks for making my mouth watering !!
How have I never heard of scotcheroos? They look so yummy. (I think I missed out on this!) I’m in a definite need of making these soon.
Omg! The joys of growing up in small-town Minnesota 🙂 They were at all of my family, school, or church functions growing up, and I still get a nostalgic feeling whenever I see them at a bakery or grocery store. And of course at every family reunion, at least one person brings a pan of these bars…Oh, so good! Can’t wait to try this lovely updated recipe!
Right? 🙂 So nostalgic.
I love the fact that you used maple in the syrup mixture! That makes me so happy! I have to try these since being an East Coast girl- have never had a scotcheroo in my live long life.
TIME TO CHANGE THAT.
Ugh. I saw these a few days too late to make and bring up to the cabin on Lake Vermillion. Saving this recipe for sure!
Next year!!
These look really TRULY amazing! Why have I never even heard of Scotcheroos?!! Something tells me I’ve been missing out.
Gotta have that sea salt! Beautifully done.
a dear aunt of mine made and still makes these – totally-exactly, a staple of my midwestern childhood. love this modern recipe! thanks!
Made a 1/2 recipe with regular rice krispies and semisweet chips for the topping. Big hit! Though a little hard to cut, even after sitting out all thru dinner.
A Midwestern treat we’re unaware of! Have to give these a try over here in the Mitten!