Healthy scotcheroo bars taste just like the real deal, but without all of the refined sugar and Karo syrup. Get delicious peanut butter, chocolate and butterscotch flavor all in one no-bake bar in just 10 minutes!
This past weekend my family and I went to Chicago. My parents had gifted us kids with a trip there over Christmas. My brother, his fiance, myself, Burken and my parents all spent an amazing weekend walking around Chicago, eating and drinking our way through the city. If you haven’t been to Chicago before, I would highly suggest it! There are so many great places to go, and the shopping isn’t too shabby either! ??
In our family, we like to have snacks and beverages in the hotel room before we go out for the night. It doesn’t seem to matter where we are, we always have snacks. There’s always the coordination of who is going to bring what. And like I’ve mentioned before, I always bring the dessert. It’s clearly my thing.
We have a thing for scotcheroos in my family. If you’ve never had one before, you’re definitely missing out! It’s a peanut butter rice krispie bar that’s been covered in a combination of chocolate and butterscotch chip “frosting”. It’s our tailgating snack that we make every single year, or really anytime we need an excuse to eat peanut butter and chocolate together, which is like, all of the time.
My only issue with the traditional scotcheroo bar is that you make it with 1 cup of Karo syrup, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips. Now that’s a lot of sugar! Don’t get me wrong, they’re totally delicious like this, but I feel just a tiny bit bad after eating about three bars in a row.
The healthy scotcheroo bar
Inspiration struck when I was making the peanut butter granola that’s on my site. The mixture is very similar to the base of a scotcheroo bar. Peanut buttery, sweet and just sticky enough to get the bars to hold together without baking. The amazing part about said mixture is that there’s NO KARO SYRUP! Also no 1 cup of sugar.
Not only are the ingredients so much better in these healthy scotcheroo bars, but for those of you who have made the traditional version in the past, you know the karo syrup conundrum. If you over cook the karo syrup, you run the risk of rock hard bars. This has definitely happened to us many times in the past. It’s not a pretty picture when you’re taking a knife to chisel out a bar from the pan.
Soft and chocolate-y PB bars
The beauty of these healthy scotcheroo bars is that they’re made with honey {the sticky binder}, maple syrup, a touch of raw cane sugar and peanut butter. Bring the mixture to a light boil and then stir in the peanut butter. Pour everything over a pile of rice krispies {big bowl necessary here} and stir together.
Press the mixture into a greased 9″x13″ so that nothing sticks, and let it sit to come together. While the magic is happening, stir together dark chocolate and butterscotch chips. I mentioned earlier that the traditional recipe uses a cup of each. Here we’re using 3/4 cup dark chocolate and 2/3 cup butterscotch chips. It makes a nice layer of “frosting” that lends just the right amount of butterscotch flavor.
And there you have it! Healthy scotcheroo bars that everyone won’t be able to get enough of!
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup raw cane sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 16 oz jar natural peanut butter
- 6 cups rice krispie cereal
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup butterscotch chips
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In a medium saucepan, heat the honey, maple syrup, sugar, water, vanilla and salt over medium-high heat, until sugar is dissolved.
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Add the peanut butter and stir until combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
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Pour the rice krispies into a very large bowl and pour the peanut butter mixture over the top. Stir to combine.
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Grease a 9” x 13” pan and press the mixture into the prepared pan and set aside and let cool.
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Add the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to a medium-sized bowl and microwave 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until melted.
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Pour over the rice krispies and spread in an even layer. Let set before slicing.
Note: these freeze really well. Wrap the pan in cling wrap and place a lid on the pan. Remove from the freezer about an hour before eating.
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I’m so glad you’ve found I Only Came for the Cake too, Stephen! Make sure to hop on the email list to never miss a new post!