Cocoa Roos

Yesterday, my dad referred to Dancing with the Stars as DWTS. The fact that he said this…and I was actually able to deduce what he meant are probably equally embarrassing.

And on Saturday, my ninety-eight year old grandma was seriously analyzing the involvement of some dancer named Max. I don’t even know. But this weekend was trying big time to make me a DWTS advocate.

Really…I’m mostly just annoyed it’s still the Bachelor off-season.

I want to get into this premieres week business. I really do. But lately it feels like I don’t have the commitment for tv shows. There’s too much else happening…or something.

Things like…we bought the dog a sleeping bag and he is over the top obsessed with it. This animal that used to like sitting next to me all evening, is now curled up in the other room…because that’s where the sleeping bag is.

Also, I’m hearing rumors that I need to take the written driving test when I transfer my driver’s license to this state. I may or may not have been worrying about this for the past four days.

And, I’m finally getting around to talking at you about Cocoa Roos and the fact that I can’t.stop.eating.them. (I’m pretty sure that ninety-eight year old grandma of mine is equally addicted. No bigs.)

Cocoa Roos are built around Reese Puffs cereal. When I want to cheat on adult life…this is the cereal I buy. It’s really not breakfast food. It’s just for being an irresponsible jerk who eats junk when it’s not meal time.

Warning. One bowl of cereal will leave you short a few cups of cereal for the recipe…if you pour bowls the way I do (extra full). This makes for Cocoa Roos that are extra chewy and gooey. If that’s not your thing, resist the cereal bowl. (But seriously. Good luck.)

The prep work looks like this. Reese Puffs are combined with peanut butter chips just before brown sugar and Karo syrup (brought to a rapid boil in a saucepan) are poured over it all. (The brown sugar and corn syrup make a sort of caramel sauce that sticks everything together.)

The sticky cereal is pressed into a baking dish (the one just smaller than 9×13″…I think it’s 8×11″) and left to sit up a little. When it’s mostly hardened, it’s cut into squares, and eaten like crazy. (Real life.)

The facts are, these are a hit basically everywhere I take them, and they are ridiculously quick and simple. They’d probably leave me time for the trashy shows in premieres week…if I’d actually make time to watch them.

Cocoa Roos
recipe from Jared

2 cups peanut butter chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
6-8 cups Reese Puffs cereal*

Combine peanut butter chips, vegetable oil and vanilla in a medium bowl, and set aside. Combine brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium sauce pan; stir until disolved over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and bring to a rolling boil. Pour over the peanut butter chips mixture. Stir until smooth, and immediately stir in cereal. Press into a greased pan 8×11″ pan and let sit to cool before cutting.

*6 cups of cereal will make a much gooier bar. Feel free to add up to 8 cups, based on your own likings. However, you may need to press this into a 9×13″ pan if you use more than 6 cups of cereal.

For more recipes from Sarah, visit Baking Serendipity.