Peanut Butter Bars, A Birthday Cake Proxy

Matt requested Scotcheroos for his birthday treat last week... but without the butterscotch chips, so... Peanut Butter Bars in the end.

I thought it was a pretty brilliant deviation from the standard birthday cake.  And easy.  SO easy!  And tasty.  SO tasty!

Plus, for reasons that are unclear to me, Matt gets a kick out of using the double boiler.   (Whatever makes the birthday boy happy, right?!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
(a heaping) 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/8 cup refined coconut oil
6 cups crisp rice cereal
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, salt, corn syrup and peanut butter.
Heat through over medium-low until the sugar is all dissolved.
Remove from heat.
Add cereal and stir until well coated.
Press evenly into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan using a rubber spatula. 
Melt the chocolate chips (in the microwave or using a double boiler) and spread the melted chocolate over bars.
Chill before serving.

Notes:  If you use peanut butter that already contains sugar, oil, or salt you might have to reduce or eliminate these ingredients from the recipe.  We use natural peanut butter which is just regular ol' nuts ground up plain--nothing else.  

Since corn is one of the most industrially grown food crops I'd highly recommend using an organic corn syrup.

Unrefined coconut oil will work swell, but will impart a mild coconut flavor to the end product.