When I was a kid, my mom would often make rice crispy treats, which are basically crisped rice and melted marshmallows.  Later, she got onto a recipe we called Scotcheroos.  Scotcheroos were vastly superior as far as the kids in my family were concerned, since they contained peanut butter and were topped with melted chocolate and butterscotch chips.  This morning, as I was reflecting back on those childhood goodies, I suddenly wondered if I couldn’t make a slightly more adult version of those old favorites.  Right away, my mouth started watering and I rushed downstairs to the kitchen to see what kind of ingredients I had at my disposal.  I was in luck!

 

I’m calling the new version of our old family favorite Bliss Bars, since a state of bliss is the feeling I’m getting as I devour one of these with my morning coffee. Yum!

Let’s Get Started

 

You’ll need a 9 x 9 baking pan for this recipe.  And as these may tend to want to stick to your pan, you can start by spraying it with an oil spray (or just butter it if you prefer).

 

Gather The Ingredients

 

Bar Ingredients:

 

3 ½ cups of your favorite cereal.

I used a combination of Nature’s Path FlaxPlus(pumpkin)  and Kashi GoLean Crunch.  These cereals use lots of whole grains, and the Flax Plus has both pumpkin and flax seeds—I like the health benefits of the whole grains and these other goodies.

½ cup creamy peanut butter

You could substitute almond butter or another if you prefer.  If you use an all natural peanut butter be sure to stir it well first.

½ cup light brown sugar (packed)

½ cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Topping Ingredients:

 

½ cup butterscotch chips

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Milk (1 to 3 tablespoons)

 

Putting It All Together:

 

Making The Bars: Prepare and pre-measure your cereal first.  The GoLean Crunch tends to get clumpy so I broke it up while it was still inside the cereal bag.  I also had less FlaxPlus on hand so I used 2 cups of the GoLean Crunch and 1 ½ cup FlaxPlus.  If you have a different cereal you end up trying, I’d love to hear what it was and how it went for you.

 

Get out a 3 quart pot and turn the heat to medium.  Add the peanut butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla.  Stir frequently and heat until the mixture just starts to boil.  This isn’t like boiling water.  You just want to see a few large bubbles starting to form at the surface of your mixture—then it’s done.

Remove from heat and stir in your cereal.  As soon as the cereal is well coated with the rest, put the entire mix into your previously oiled pan.  Press the bar mixture as needed with the back of a large spoon to flatten and work it into the corners.

 

Making The Topping

 

Get out a small pot and turn the heat to medium low.  Add the butterscotch and chocolate chips to the pan and about a tablespoon of milk.  Using a wooden spoon or otherwise, keep stirring the chips until they start to melt.  There’s a point where they get harder to stir and clump up.  You can add another tablespoon of milk to help them on their way.  Keep stirring until the chips are completely melted.  When the mixture goes from a flat texture to a shiny texture the topping is done.  If yours is melted and it isn’t turning shiny, add another small splash of milk and it should change right away.  Remove from heat.

Now, using a large spatula, cover the the bars with the topping and smooth it out.

 

Let the bars cool.  As they do, the topping will set.  Cut into small squares to eat.

 

Enjoy!

 

These bars were great by themselves, but better with either coffee, milk or a combination of both.  One note: You won’t want to refrigerate them or they may get too hard to cut.  In fact, I’d recommend cutting them up into squares before  they completely cool.  Also, the texture is a little on the crunchy/tacky side so if you have any concern about teeth, you may need to proceed with care.  You can store these on the counter by covering the pan with foil or plastic.  Let me hear how it goes.

 

By Bob Anderson
© 2011 Javabird LLC.  All rights reserved.

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For a truly decadent fudge experience make our:
Bailey’s Butterscotch And Chocolate Fudge
For the best banana bread ever read:
Fe Fi Fo Fum Banana Bread Delirium
To cook the best tasting salmon read:
How To Grill Fresh Salmon

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