The Chewy, Peanut-Buttery Bar That Rules Midwestern Potlucks

In the Midwest, we blunt our heavy-hitters with cutesy diminutives. So it is with the scotcheroo: an uncommonly chewy cousin to the Rice Krispies Treat, bound with salty peanut butter and capped with a rich layer of melted chocolate and butterscotch.

If you visit a coffee shop or gas station in the region, you’re liable to see individual scotcheroos wrapped up in plastic by the cash register. (In pockets of the Upper Midwest, you’ll find a variant called the Special K bar, with an ingredient swap I don’t need to explain.) But scotcheroos are really more of a community dish than a commercial one. I grew up eating them at potlucks and concession stands—any place where one might need to satisfy a crowd with a few cheap ingredients. 

Scotcheroos are simple, but they can be surprisingly finicky. Most recipes start with a cooked sugar syrup that’s a straight 50/50 split of corn syrup and granulated sugar. The trouble? If you boil the syrup just a hair too long—or pat the bars into place with just a little too much oomph—your scotcheroos will harden into candy. 

Understanding just a little of the science behind that sugar can help you build a more resilient ‘roo. The tips below help foolproof the formula, preserving the scotcheroo’s classic peanut butter, chocolate, and butterscotch flavor profile without tasting cloyingly sweet.

The 3 Rules for Foolproof ‘Roos

1. Cling to the corn (syrup). There’s no way around it: Corn syrup is the most straightforward route to a tantalizingly chewy scotcheroo. Early in testing, I tried replacing the corn syrup with other liquid sweeteners to universal disappointment. Maple syrup led to crumbly bars with little cohesion; honey hijacked the classic flavor profile and made the bars overly sweet. Jettisoning liquid sweeteners entirely made the scotcheroos rock-hard.

There’s a reason confectioners have been using corn syrup for decades. Corn syrup, unlike other sweeteners, has extra-long glucose chains that prevent crystallization and lend body and chewiness to sweets. 

There’s also a reason most scotcheroo recipes cut the corn syrup with granulated sugar. Too much corn syrup yields bars that are both too soft and too—well, corny, in the commodified industrial sense. I played around with different ratios, but a 60/40 split of corn syrup to sugar yielded a chewier, more supple bar without noticeable flavor alterations. 

2. Replace the white sugar with brown sugar. While most scotcheroo recipes call for granulated sugar, brown sugar has both textural and flavor benefits here. The molasses in brown sugar boosts the bars’ butterscotch notes, yielding a ‘roo that tastes more like itself. It also adds to the sugar’s moisture content, offering extra insurance against a too-crunchy bar. 

3. Pair your butterscotch with a bittersweet chocolate bar. If you’re only willing to make one tweak to the back-of-the-cereal-box recipe, it should be this one: Chop your chocolate. Chopped bar chocolate melts much more evenly than chocolate chips. That’s the secret to a pourable topping that looks glossy and smooth. I also recommend using bittersweet chocolate to help temper the at-times cloying sweetness of butterscotch–look for a bar that’s 60% cacao. 

The only remaining trick is an optional sprinkling of flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, over the topping before it sets. Sure, it’s a slightly fussy touch for the humble scotcheroo. But there’s another Midwestern lesson here: Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it has to be plain.

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