No-Bake Scotcheroos Are An Old-School Favorite

Chewy, soft, and sweet, Scotcheroos are a classic dessert full of nostalgia. While they may appear unassuming, they're full of flavor. Semisweet chocolate and butterscotch melt and meld together for a topping that's rich and toasty with subtle notes of caramel.

The best part? They're so simple to make.

Learn how to make Scotcheroos and quickly become the MVP of the sweet tooth section at the next tailgate.

Ingredients for Scotcheroos

You may have many of these ingredients on hand, and if not, stocking up on them means you can make a batch any time you want as everything will last in your pantry for a while. Here's what you need to make Scotcheroos:

• Cooking spray: Keeps the bars from sticking to the baking dish.
• Granulated sugar: Sweetens the bars. You could use brown sugar in a pinch, but granulated sugar is versatile and sweet, but relatively neutral in flavor to allow the butterscotch and chocolate notes to really shine.
• Light corn syrup: Prevents the sugar from crystallizing and keeps the bars chewy. However, be careful not to overheat the sugar and corn syrup mixture at any stage, or the bars will become hard.
• Creamy peanut butter: Infuses creamy peanut butter notes throughout the bar. Mixed with the sugar and corn syrup it binds the crispy rice cereal together in lieu of marshmallows.
• Crisp rice cereal: Provides the base of the bar.
• Semisweet chocolate chips: This recipe calls for semisweet chocolate, which delicately balances the sweetness of butterscotch chips, but you could use milk chocolate for a sweeter chocolate topping or dark chocolate for a more intense chocolaty bitterness.
• Butterscotch chips: For additional sweetness and distinctive toffee-like butterscotch flavor.
• Sprinkles: For festive decoration, but optional if you want to skip.
• Flaky sea salt: For some extra saltiness to balance the sweet bite.
  

What Are Scotcheroos?

Scotcheroos are a sweet dessert bar made from rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies), peanut butter, chocolate, and last but not least, butterscotch. The name "scotcheroo" comes from the butterscotch-flavored candy chips that are used to top the bar, and they were originally developed in the 1960s as an accompaniment to the Rice Krispies cereal box.

How To Make Scotcheroos

Full amounts and directions for making Scotcheroos are below, but here are the overall steps:

• Step 1. Prepare sugar and peanut butter mixture. Use a saucepan to heat sugar and corn syrup until sugar is just dissolved—be careful not to let it boil. Remove it from the heat, and stir in peanut butter until the mixture is combined.
• Step 2. Combine. Stir together crispy rice cereal and peanut butter mixture. Transfer the mixture to a 13-x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
• Step 3. Make chocolate-butterscotch topping. Melt chocolate and butterscotch in the microwave and stir together until melted and completely combined. Spread the chocolate over the rice cereal mixture. Top with flaky salt and sprinkles.
  

Our Tips For Making Scotcheroos

• Avoid boiling your sugar and corn syrup mixture. (You don't want the sugar to reach the "hard ball" stage.) The sugar mixture should dissolve, just hot enough so that the peanut butter melts into it consistently.
• Instead of semisweet chocolate, you could use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even white chocolate to change up the flavor—just note that if you use white chocolate the mixture will not be dark brown.

How To Store Scotcheroos

Keep Scotcheroos in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days. Putting them in the fridge may help them last longer, but they'll turn stiff and be difficult to eat.

Scotcheroos can also be stored in a sealed airtight container in the freezer in a single layer for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight (or about 8 hours) on the counter before eating.

Editorial contributions by Catherine Jessee.