Peanut Butter Crunches

Three ingredients. No oven. These peanut butter crunches are the kind of treat you can make with kids on a rainy afternoon or throw together when you need something sweet and crunchy without any real effort.

Melted butterscotch chips and peanut butter get stirred together until smooth, then corn flakes fold in to give every bite that salty-sweet crunch. Drop them by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper and walk away. They firm up on their own as the butterscotch sets.

The butterscotch does all the binding work here. As it cools, it hardens around the corn flakes and locks everything into a solid, candy-like cluster. The peanut butter smooths out the sweetness and adds a roasted, nutty backbone.

Chef Tips

• Melt the butterscotch chips over low heat or in short microwave bursts, stirring often. Butterscotch scorches easily and turns grainy if overheated.
• Fold the corn flakes in gently. Crushing them too much loses the crunch that makes these work.
• Work quickly once the cereal is mixed in. The butterscotch starts to set as it cools, making it harder to drop neat clusters.

Variations

• Use chocolate chips instead of butterscotch for a chocolate peanut butter crunch.
• Swap corn flakes for chow mein noodles for the classic haystack cookie version.
• Stir in a handful of mini marshmallows before dropping for a s’mores-inspired twist.