So these Butterscotch-Chocolate Corn Flake Treats are like Scotcheroos, but you don’t have to cook them over the stove using corn syrup and sugar. Instead, they’re made with marshmallows, brown butter, butterscotch chips, and Corn Flakes — not Rice Krispies. I just liked the texture of Corn Flakes better here.

We amp up the butterscotch flavor with nutty, toffee-scented brown butter, as well as some vanilla. (I used vanilla bean paste). Plus, lots of salt goes in the bars as well as flakey salt on the topping. Between the chocolate, marshmallows and butterscotch chips, these would otherwise be overly sweet. I like to mix in 10 ounces (about one bag) of mini marshmallows into the browned butter, then add another half a bag after the cornflakes have been incorporated. This gives you little pockets of full marshmallow, but it’s optional if you just want to buy one bag of marshmallows.

How to make Butterscotch-Chocolate Corn Flake Treats in one pot

The best part? You mix actual bars in one pot. I used a large dutch oven to brown the butter — but be careful. Because it’s so shallow, the butter can go from browned to burnt faster than in a saucepan. Then to cool off the butter quickly, toss in the mallows, butterscotch chips, vanilla and salt. Turn off the heat and mix vigorously until all the marshmallows have melted. Then, add the cornflakes and, once incorporated, the remaining marshmallows.

If you had a big enough mixing bowl, you could even use the empty dutch oven to melt the chocolate for the topping. Just pour about an inch of water into the dutch oven, bring it to a gentle simmer and place a large mixing bowl on top where you can melt the finely chopped chocolate. (This also helps the sticky leftovers from the bars melt off the sides of the pan, making it much easier to clean later.)

How to melt the chocolate

As Mary Berry always says, “chocolate melts in a child’s pocket.” Which is just to say, it takes very little heat to melt chocolate, so you could even bring the pot to a simmer, then turn the heat off entirely while you stir it with a rubber spatula. We’re not trying to temper chocolate here, but we also don’t want to make it seize up. Once there are just a few lumps of unmelted chocolate, you can even remove the bowl from the pot and allow the residual heat to take care of it. It’s all about low and slow, being patient, and trusting that the warmth will melt the chocolate eventually.

Want more recipes like this?

• Chocolate Caramel Macaroons
• Lime-Frosted Coconut Bars
• Bird’s Nest Cookies

Did you make these Butterscotch-Chocolate Corn Flake Treats? I want to see! Tag me @easygayoven on Instagram and TikTok.

Butterscotch-Chocolate Corn Flake Treats

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword butterscotch, corn flakes, mini marshmallows, rice krispie treats, scotcheroos

Active Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter 170 grams
• 10 ounces mini marshmallows about 1 bag
• 5 ounces mini marshmallows about half a bag, optional
• Scant 1/2 cup butterscotch chips 80 grams
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 9 oz Corn Flakes cereal about 7 cups
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped (no chocolate chips)
• Flakey salt optional

Instructions

• Have all your ingredients ready and measured out.
• Grease a 9×9-inch tin and line with a piece of parchment paper so that there’s a bit of overhang on the sides.
• Brown the butter. In a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Cook the butter, stirring and scraping the bottom occasionally, until it begins to bubble and pop. When you no longer hear bubbling and popping — that’s when all the water has been cooked off and the browning process will happen very quickly, so keep both eyes on it. Continue cooking until it starts foaming and you can see brown flecks swimming in the butter when you stir. Remove from heat immediately.
• Pour in the marshmallows and stir with a rubber spatula to cool off the butter slightly. Then, dump in the butterscotch chips, vanilla and salt and stir vigorously until all the marshmallows are melted and the butter is totally incorporated. There should be enough heat from the pot to do this but you might need to return it to the stove over very low heat to melt the remaining marshmallows.
• Dump the Corn Flakes in and fold the mixture until it’s 90 percent incorporated, then fold in the remaining mini marshmallows, if using.
• Spread the mixture into the prepared tin and tamp it down with the rubber spatula. Ensure it gets into every nook and cranny of the tin by wetting your hands slightly and pressing it so it’s level and reaches all the way to the edges. Set aside to cool.
• Make the chocolate topping. In a large heat-safe bowl over a saucepan with an inch of barely simmering water, add the finely chopped chocolate. Melt, scraping the bowl often until there are just a few lumps of unmelted chocolate, then remove the bowl from the pot and allow the residual heat to melt the rest. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bars then top with flakey sea salt, if desired.
• Once the chocolate has fully set and the bottom of the tin is cool to the touch (about 1 hour) remove the bars from their tin using the parchment as a sling. Cut with a long, sharp knife into 16 or even 25 squares.

Notes

If you don’t have a pot or dutch oven big enough to hold the corn flakes, just add them to a large mixing bowl. Prepare the other ingredients in a sauce pan or medium/small dutch oven and pour the mixture over the corn flakes in the bowl instead. Then add the extra mini-marshmallows, if using.