Special OK Bars

While technically these aren’t the Special k bars we all know and love, they do contain Special K cereal.  I was looking for a fast bar recipe and found one that used butterscotch chips.  I was fully stocked on all kinds of chocolate chips but alas, no butterscotch.  Oh well, I’d use a bag of milk chocolate chips with the peanut butter and see what these Special OK bars were like!

Measure Special K into a bowl

I measured 4 cups of Special K cereal into a bowl, having read in the comments that someone was going to reduce 5 cups down to 4 cups next time.  I assumed it would provide a better coating for the fewer pieces of cereal.  I took that advice and used 4 cups and noted the change in the recipe below.

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in the microwave, stirring after one minute. Microwave in 20 second increments if you need additional melting time.

Adding the chips and peanut butter to a microwave safe Tupperware bowl, I placed it in the microwave oven.  I set the time for 1 minute and let it go.  At one minute it was melted and I stirred until the mixture was smooth.  That was so easy, I was skeptical.  What was going to go wrong?

Add cereal to melted choclate and stir to coat.

I added the cereal to the melted chocolate mixture and stirred well.  The cereal was nicely coated and didn’t harden super quick.

Pour cereal mixture into a 9×13-in ungreased pan.

I poured the cereal mixture into an ungreased 9×13-in pan.  The recipe hadn’t said to grease or spray the pan so I followed directions.

Spread evenly and refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into squares

I spread the cereal smoothly and put the pan in the fridge to chill and harden.

Special OK Bars

An hour later the bars were firm and I cut them into 20 pieces.  They cut nicely and I stored them in a covered container in the fridge.  They don’t need to be kept chilled, but we preferred them cold.

Special OK Bars

Are they a good substitute?  Sure!  I can’t say anything bad about a mixture of chocolate, peanut butter and cereal.  They were crunchy and sweet and satisfied my craving for a cereal bar.  Made in about 5 minutes, they are my new go-to bar when I’m in a hurry!