Scotcheroos - Gluten Free and Updated

I grew up eating scotcheroos.  There are good!  My mom still makes them all the time.  She brings them to the neighbors, brings them for fellowship at church, etc.  I personally haven't made them or had one in years, though.  Why?  They are filled with garbage.  The main 3 things...Rice Krispies (processed junk with high fructose corn syrup), corn syrup (enough said) and regular peanut butter (hydrogenated oils and probably GMO nuts...my mom always used Jif).  This month one of my challenges is to update some old classics.  So I'm starting with scotcheroos.  Rebecca and I made a batch yesterday.  They turned out quite well.  And are much healthier (not healthy, just healthier:).  I'm not a fan of packaged cereal.  So I wasn't sure about this one.  I bought organic puffed brown rice.  Maybe some day I'll try to make my own puffed rice.  But for now I'm using boughten.  We never eat cereal, so I figure it's not too bad to have this little treat once in a great while.  I used honey instead of corn syrup.  And I used mostly homemade peanut butter (using crispy peanuts and coconut oil) and a little natural peanut butter.  The topping is still the same, so not the best.  The next time I go to the health food store I'll see what they have chocolate and butterscotch chips.  But overall a much better version of scotcheroos.  And they are even gluten free.

I can't say I've perfected the upgrade.  Puffed rice and Rice Krispies don't quite have the same texture.  I think next time I'll put the rice in the food processor for a couple pulses so it's a bit finer.  And I used homemade peanut butter with coconut oil.  So that made the bars a bit harder than the original.  Maybe next time I'll use mostly natural peanut butter.

I think these would be good with some ground crispy nuts mixed in with the puffed rice.  And I might even try making a totally grain free version with just nuts sometime.

I'm still working on it, but the first attempt was definitely a winner.  We all like them.  I just had to keep myself from eating too much :P

Scotcheroos

1/2 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup natural peanut butter or homemade nut butter
3 cups organic puffed brown rice
1/2 tsp, vanilla (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Mix sugar and honey in saucepan.  Heat and boil until sugars are dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter, rice and vanilla.  Spread in a buttered 9" square pan.  Melt chips in a double boiler until smooth.  Poor over rice mixture.  Let cool completely before cutting (I usually put them in the fridge for a bit to cool faster).