Scarecrow Bars for a Late Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. Its been dark for an hour now as I write this, so most of the little goblins should be off the streets. But I wanted to share the Scarecrow Bars recipe that I made this afternoon for the three neighborhood trickers that come by our house. Of course, it didn't all go into their bags, so we're enjoying the treats too! This is a fun Halloween cookie/candy, but would also be good and seasonal for the next few weeks as well. This recipe has a variety of fall flavored ingredients, and the real surprise was that I had them all on hand! Or most of it - for the mini marshmallows I used the left over bag of Halloween shaped and colored marshmallows. The bag of candy corn I had was the 'autumn mix', including pumpkins which I cut into halves to make smaller pieces.

simple ingredients

HEAVENLY SCARECROW BARS

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

½ cup softened butter

2 eggs

3 cups mini marshmallows

½ cup corn syrup

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups crispy rice cereal

2 cups salted peanuts

1 cup candy corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat cake mix and butter until combined.

Add egg and beat until well mixed.

Press into the bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Bake until the cake/crust sets and the edges are lightly browned (15-20 minutes).

Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle marshmallows over the hot crust.

Bake 2-4 more minutes until the marshmallows puff up, and remove from the oven.

Combine the corn syrup, sugar, and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.

Stir in cereal and peanuts.

Spoon over marshmallow topped base and spread to cover.

Sprinkle candy corn over the mixture and gently press into the top.

Cool and cut into bars.

crust + marshmallows + corn syrup, sugar, cereal and nuts mixture

Completed - ready to cool and cut