Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. (If you like, buy a disposable foil pan in the grocery store, place it on a cookie sheet to support the bottom, and then you won"t have to clean up.) Line the bottom of the pan with a layer of graham crackers. (It"s okay to overlap a little.) Sprinkle the graham crackers with the marshmallows.
Sprinkle the marshmallows with the chocolate chips.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips with the cashews.
In a small saucepan over LOW heat, combine the b.u.t.ter and brown sugar. Stir the mixture constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
Turn off the heat, move the saucepan to a cool burner, and stir in the vanilla.
Drizzle the contents of the saucepan evenly over the contents of the cake pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden on top. Cool in the pan on a wire rack or on a cool stovetop burner.
When the Rocky Road Bar Cookies are cool, cut them into brownie-sized pieces and serve.
If there are any leftovers (which there won"t be unless you have less than three people), store them in the refrigerator in a covered container. They can also be wrapped, sealed in a freezer bag, and frozen for up to two months.
Hannah"s Note: If you freeze these bars, make sure you put on a label that describes something your family doesn"t like. I thought I was safe with SMELT, but it turns out that Mike actually likes them if they"re deep fried in beer batter!
A Not So Scientific Study of Pan Size
by Grandma Knudson Sometimes the size of a pan is hard to tell because they don"t seem to stamp it on the bottom anymore. And if they do, the chances are it"s in centimeters. In my day, they... well... never mind about that. I"ll help you with your pan size as best I can.
Find a tape measure. If you have a sewing box, you might have one in there. Chances are, you don"t. Look around to see if one of your kids left a ruler out somewhere. And if that doesn"t work, go out to the garage and look for one of your husband"s tape measures. All you have to do is tip the pan over and measure the bottom.
To make things even easier, a 9-inch by 13-inch pan is a cake pan, the kind you use in a home kitchen. It"s easy to spot, even in a cluttered cupboard. You probably got one for a wedding present with a clear plastic lid that cracked right away. Chances are you threw the lid away, but I"ll bet you kept the pan.
Baking cookie bars is easy if you have the right size pan, but what if you don"t and it"s snowing outside? You surely don"t want to sc.r.a.pe off your windshield and drive to CostMart to buy one. As long as you can remember your times tables and you can do some simple arithmetic, you can get around that problem by using a pan you already have.
Say the recipe calls for an 8-inch by 8-inch square pan and you don"t have anything even approaching that size. Just multiply the two numbers together. Eight times eight is sixty-four. Write it down so you won"t forget it. Just dig a little deeper in the back of the cupboard and see if you"ve got a 7-inch by 9-inch pan. Pyrex used to make those and it"s entirely possible you still have your great-grandma"s set of baking pans. If you find it, do the math. Seven times nine is sixty-three and sixty-three is more than close enough to sixty-four. My rule of thumb is that if you can find a pan that"s six or less off the total inches you need, you should use it.
"This candy section is exactly what I need," Claire said, flipping through the recipes. "I think I can make almost every recipe here."
"Almost?" Hannah questioned her.
"Yes. The Brown Sugar Drops call for a candy thermometer."
"I"ll help you with those," Grandma Knudson offered. "Then you"ll see how easy it is to use one."
"Thanks." Claire turned to smile at her. "There"s one more I can"t make. I shouldn"t give the kids Kitty"s Jamaican Rum b.a.l.l.s. They"ve got real rum in them."
Hannah came over to Claire to glance at the recipe. "You can make them for the kids. Just think up another name and subst.i.tute some kind of juice for the rum. They"d be good with orange juice or pineapple juice."
"The kids will like those. And you could make them with the rum for the church board," Grandma Knudson suggested, and Hannah noticed that she had a twinkle in her eye. "It might make them cough up the money for a new furnace."
"Grandma!" Claire sounded shocked, but her lips were twitching with laughter.
The matriarch of Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church gave a ladylike shrug. "I"m just teasing, Claire. If you can"t say outrageous things at my age, when can you?"
Candy
AUNT KITTY"S JAMAICAN RUM b.a.l.l.s 4 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (a 12-ounce box is about
2 and cups crushed measure after crushing)
1 cup chopped nuts (measure after chopping I use pecans,
but that"s because I really like them I"ve also used
macadamia nuts, walnuts, and cashews)
cup Karo syrup (the clear white kind)
cup excellent rum (or excellent whiskey, or excellent
whatever)
2 Tablespoons sweetened dry cocoa (I"m going to use
Ghirardelli sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa the next time
I make them.)
1 Tablespoon strong coffee (brewed liquid)
COATINGS:.
Dry cocoa
Powdered (confectioner"s) sugar
Chocolate sprinkles
If you haven"t already done so, crush the vanilla wafers in a food processor, or put them into a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Measure them and pour 4 cups into a mixing bowl.
Chop the nuts finely with a food processor or with your knife. Measure and add 1 cup to your bowl.
Mix in the Karo syrup, rum (or subst.i.tute), sweetened dry cocoa, and strong coffee. Stir until thoroughly blended.
Rub your hands with powdered sugar. Make small b.a.l.l.s, large enough to fit into a paper bonbon cup. Dip the b.a.l.l.s in cocoa, or powdered sugar, or chocolate sprinkles to coat them. Do some of each and arrange them on a plate - very pretty.
Refrigerate these until you serve them. They should last for at least a month in the refrigerator. (I"ve never been able to put this to the test, because every time I make them, they"re gone within a week.) Yield: At least 5 dozen, depending on how large you roll the b.a.l.l.s.
Aunt Kitty"s Jamaican Rum b.a.l.l.s make great gifts when they"re packaged like fine candy. Most cake decorating stores stock a variety of frilly bonbon cups and decorative candy boxes for you to use.
Hannah"s 1st Note: To make these non alcoholic, use fruit juice in place of the rum. This should work just fine, but make sure you refrigerate them and eat them within a week. You"ll have to change the name to "No Rum b.a.l.l.s," but that"s okay. Choose a fruit juice that"ll go well with the chocolate, like peach, orange, or pineapple.
Hannah"s 2nd Note: I"ve always wanted to try these dipped in melted chocolate. I bet they"d be fantastic!
BROWN SUGAR DROPS.
Hannah"s Note: The original name of this recipe was "Browned" Sugar Drops. Over the years, it got shortened to Brown Sugar Drops, even though there"s no brown sugar in the recipe.
To make this candy, you will need a candy thermometer. I use the kind with a gla.s.s tube and a sliding metal clamp that attaches to the side of a saucepan. And even though the recipe calls for a 3-quart saucepan, I always use my 4-quart saucepan. That way I don"t have to worry about the candy foaming up over the sides.
1 cup b.u.t.termilk
2 and cups white (granulated) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda