By Lucas turned four on Tuesday. Four. The child has been on this earth for half a decade — well, close to it — and he has opinions about everything, which is genetic, and he has a Spider-Man pajama he refuses to remove except for washing, which is also genetic (David was that way about a Batman cape when he was four; Miguel Jr. would not take off his Red Sox hat for all of 1994).
Jenny threw the birthday party at their house Saturday. I was told I did not have to cook. I cooked. I brought a chocolate flan, because Lucas had requested "dark brown cake" and this is what dark brown cake is, in my household, with my hands, and Lucas took one look at it and said, "Abuela, is that pudding?" And I said, "Mijo, it is flan, it is not pudding, it is not cake, it is flan, and you will like it." He said, "Can I have two pieces?" Which is the Delgado response to every food question. I gave him three.
The party: Lucas's friends from preschool, which means their mothers, which means a suburban white Glastonbury crowd that my son married into and that Jenny is the mayor of and that eight years ago I found intimidating and that at this point I find charming. These women love Jenny. They love my grandchildren. They all know me as "Lucas's abuela who brings food," and one of them, Ashley, asked me for my recipe for the chocolate flan, and I told her I did not have a recipe, and she nodded as though she expected that, and I gave her verbal instructions and she wrote them on the back of an envelope with a pencil and later that day she texted Jenny: "I love your mother-in-law." I am winning this suburb, mi amor. One chocolate flan at a time.
Isabella turned twenty-one months on the same day — her birthday is in July, but twenty-one months is its own milestone in toddler time. She has started saying "abuela" with a little hesitation on the first syllable, as though she is not yet sure if the word will work. It works. She said it to me Saturday. I held her on my hip while I served the flan and she leaned her head on my shoulder and I felt, for a full minute, like I was twenty-six again holding Miguel Jr. The body remembers. The body is its own archive.
Sunday at home was quiet. Eduardo and I ate leftover flan for breakfast. He said, "Lucas is going to be taller than his father." I said, "All of them are going to be taller than Miguel Jr." He said, "All Delgado men are short." I said, "Miguel Jr. is not short, Eduardo, he is average." He said, "Average is short when you are married to a six-foot-one white woman." I laughed so hard I choked on the flan. Wepa.
Ashley asked me for a written recipe and I gave her the flan instructions from memory, out loud, over a paper plate — but for the next party, for the next grandmother who wants to bring something that a four-year-old will call “dark brown cake” and ask for three pieces of, these Chocolate Scotcheroos are your answer. No oven, no ramekins, no water bath — just a pot, a pan, and something deeply, unapologetically chocolate on top. Lucas would have eaten the whole tray. So would Eduardo, given the chance.
Chocolate Scotcheroos
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min (plus 1 hr cooling) | Servings: 24 bars
Ingredients
- 6 cups crispy rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- Prepare the pan. Lightly coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the crispy rice cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Cook the sugar mixture. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and corn syrup. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just begins to bubble around the edges — do not let it reach a full boil or the bars will turn hard.
- Add peanut butter. Remove the saucepan from heat and immediately stir in the peanut butter and salt until completely smooth and combined.
- Coat the cereal. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the cereal in the bowl. Working quickly, fold everything together with a silicone spatula until every piece of cereal is evenly coated.
- Press into pan. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan. Using lightly greased hands or the back of a spatula, press it into an even, firmly packed layer.
- Melt the topping. Combine the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth — about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes total.
- Top and cool. Pour the melted chocolate-butterscotch mixture over the cereal layer and spread it evenly with a spatula to cover the surface completely. Let the bars cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour, or until the topping is fully set, before cutting into squares.
- Cut and serve. Slice into 24 bars. Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 4 days — if they last that long.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 220 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 33g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 95mg