Special "K" Bars - This recipe changed my life!

     This is the first recipe I can ever remember making. I was in Home Ec class in Junior High School. I still have the original copy of it in my file box. It’s an 8 x 11” piece of paper yellowed with time, stained and fairly fragile. I remember we made these and it changed my life. I don’t think I had ever had any dessert so perfect in my young life! I was so proud of myself that I could actually bake! Up to this point, I thought that was something only moms could do.
Special “K” Bars

Heat in saucepan ½ cup sugar and ½ cup white syrup (light corn syrup). Remove from heat before it boils. Add 2/3 cup of peanut butter and blend. Pour this mixture over 3 cups of Special “K” breakfast food. Mix and pat in greased pan (8 in. square). Frosting – Heat ½ cup chocolate chips and ½ cup butterscotch chip in top of double boiler (one pan on top of the other with boiling water in the lower one). When melted, spread over top of bars. Cool.

     These days, a double boiler is unnecessary since we have microwaves and they melt chocolate so much easier.
     I made these for years and I still love them very much, but now I make Scotcheroos. They are essentially the same thing but they are made with Rice Krispies instead of Special “K” cereal. Every one of my kids love these and they are highly requested at family events. I do remember using these to bribe Tanner on several occasions to do what I wanted of him! Here’s the recipe for comparison:
Scotcheroos

1 c. light Karo Syrup

1 c. sugar

1 c. peanut butter

6 c. Rice Krispies

10 oz. chocolate chips

10 oz. butterscotch chips

Bring sugar and syrup to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat when the sugar is dissolved and add peanut butter. Mix until smooth. Stir in Rice Krispies. Spread in a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Melt chips in microwave 90 seconds, then stir, and then 30 seconds stirring until smooth. Spread on bars and let cool. Do not refrigerate! 24 servings

     These are supposed to serve 24 people but the boys would cut the whole pan puzzle-style into seven pieces so that we’d each get one. Crazy kids!

     Eventually, I would just double this recipe and put it into a 10 x 15 jelly roll because they were so popular that they never lasted. I made a few jelly roll pans of these for Dallin’s 200+ friend birthday party and they disappeared right away!
     The only other dessert I can remember making at this age was brownies from a box mix for Family Night. My parents never let me forget (even to this day) that they were about ½ inch thick because I had “tasted” the brownie batter so much! This began my great love of brownie batter, it IS better than the actual brownies and almost better than Scotcheroos!