Recipe: Peanut Butter Cereal Treats

We have too much peanut butter.   And by too much, I mean more than one jar.   I'm pretty certain that I never intended to have more than one in the house at a time.   The only reason I ever buy any is to cook.  And now, thanks to courtesy coupons from King Soopers (based, I'm sure on my Sooper card usage), I am getting another free container sometime in the next month or so.   Fortunately this recipe helped finish off the open jar. I pulled open a couple different cookbooks looking for something that used peanut butter and wouldn't require much, if any, work on my part.    This recipe has a prep time of 6 minutes.  Done and done.

From the book: America's Favorite Bake Sale

4 cups of crispy rice cereal (also helping clean out the pantry)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

That's it.   Couldn't be easier. 

Spray your 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.   Pour cereal into a large bowl.
In a medium saucepan combine corn syrup and sugar.  Stir occasionally, heat on medium, until it reaches a boil.  Boil 1 minute then remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth.   Pour over cereal and stir until well coated.  Press the mix into your pan and cool for 15 minutes.

My sister reminded me that nothing goes better with peanut butter than chocolate, so I poured chocolate chips on half the pan and then (because it was a silicone pan) put the whole thing in the microwave for a minute or so until the chocolate was melted enough to spread.    Put the pan in the fridge to cool for 15 minutes, flip it out and slice.