Why Scotcheroos?

It is December, the time of year when sugar plums dance in our heads, or in my case, Scotcheroos. In my last blog, I shared my love for old church cookbooks. Finding them at garage sales is one of my favorite things. Since it is the holiday season I will share one more recipe, but first I need to start at the beginning… 

We lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for nine years. When we moved there we bought a home a little out of our price range to be near the elementary school our kids would go to. At the time I was homeschooling Isaiah. Three months of me as the teacher was all it took to realize Isaiah would never learn how to write his name under my instruction. Isaiah was six, Elaina had just turned four, and Lydia was only two. 

This new home seemed much bigger than the last. It had a 1 ½ bath, but we counted it as two bathrooms. Each of the kids would have their own bedroom, but we soon learned Lydia never slept in her own bed. In the morning we would find her snuggled up to her big sister. 

Looking back I have fond memories of that time. The children were young. Play-doh was always on the kitchen table, and I could picture nothing better than to bake cookies for my three little ones. At the time I was a stay-at-home mom, so I dreamed I would have all the time in the world. There was only one problem...

 The oven cooked things weird. 

I tried chocolate chip cookies but they came out doughy. I tried baking cupcakes, but after forty minutes, I knew something was wrong. When I gave up and pulled them out they sank pathetically in the middle. Finally, I realized the heating element was not working inside the stove, so I had to do something about it. After all, my little darlings deserved sugar I concluded naturally, thinking sugar was the missing food group. (I know this is bad parenting). So a new question entered my mind: What can I make that doesn’t require baking?

I picked up my St. John’s Lutheran of Fredericka Cookbook circa 1992. I went straight to the dessert section. Looking through the jello desserts I stumbled upon Scotcheroos. Before this moment, I don’t think I had ever tasted one before. I had never been a butterscotch fan, but something about this recipe drew me in. Almost like the sound of angel voices, the words seemed to be glowing before me. 

The first ingredient that caught my eye was, Rice Krispies. I had already started making Rice Krispy treats as a non-baking dessert. If there was a potluck, I brought Rice Krispy treats. Scotcheroos sounded like the royal version of the simple treat, so I bought the supplies and went to work on this new dessert bar. 

After dissolving granulated sugar in the corn syrup I added the smooth peanut butter making sure to take the concoction off the burner. As I stirred the mixture over the stove, three little faces gathered near my legs.

“Mommy, what’s that?” Isaiah called.

Elaina’s followed with her little voice filled with excitement, “is it a treat?”

Lydia just clung to my leg silently sucking her thumb. 

Precious. 

In no time, I folded the golden go into the Rice Krispies and flattened it all into a Pyrex 9x13 pan. To finish up, I had to melt the equal parts: chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together in the microwave. I learned quickly, less time is more in the melting process. If you warm the chips up too long they will burn, so after a few bad attempts, I realized you have to slow down and just warm the chips up in 15-second increments until they melt into smooth chocolaty goodness. Then I poured it all over the Rice Krispy layer to cover. In ten minutes I had made my first batch of Scotcheroos. 

In those days moms were encouraged to bring homemade goods to school for parties. The school board might have changed that rule after catching wind of some of the treats I brought to share. For Isaiah’s first grade Halloween Party, I still used the oven, so I brought 2 dozen sunken cupcakes. You can only imagine the mountain of frosting I loaded on those sad little treats to cover up my baking fail. I seriously avoided eye contact with the other room mothers as the treats were passed out. Little hands poked at the strange cupcakes. 

One child said, a little too loudly, “These cupcakes taste weird.”

I just looked at the ceiling, counting tiles hoping this party could get wrapped up quickly. 

Those sunken cupcakes still haunt me sometimes…

But when I cut into that first Scotcheroo. I sunk my teeth into the rich chocolate and butterscotch married together in sweet unity. Then I tasted the caramelized Rice Krispies that were still crisp but somehow chewy to create the perfect finish. Slowly I enjoyed the wonder on my tastebuds and then…

I smiled.

Finally, my redemption had come in a simple bar. 

Oh Scotcheroos, you have given me a good name as a Mom! From that day until now I have been known far and wide for this simple dessert. I have vowed to never bring another sunken cupcake to the party. No, alas I have a new treat to win hearts and bring delight to all the happy children. It is none other than the famous Scotcheroo.