Cooking with Cal

This is how I spent my evening.

Cal asked if we could do some baking and we decided on Magic Cookie Bars. My friend Kathleen gave me this recipe a few years ago, and it's been a staple in our house ever since.

Cal loves to help cook - he's not great at measuring, but he carefully dumps the pre-measured ingredients together and can run the mixer like a champ.

After mixing the shortbread crust you pat it down in a glass pan. I usually use an 8" square pan, but for the life of me couldn't locate one tonight (still not unpacked?), so we used a glass pie plate

and baked it at 350℉ until the edges were golden and the center cooked. Then we poured a can of sweetened condensed milk over the crust and sprinkled it with chocolate chips, chopped up Skor bar, and pecan pieces.

And it went back in the oven until the edges bubbled and the chocolate and nuts melted down into the condensed milk layer. Yummy!

Kathleen's Magic Cookie Bars

3/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups white flour

Cream together butter and sugar, and then mix in flour. Spray an 8" square pan and press in shortbread base. Bake at 350℉ until the edges are golden and the middle is cooked.

Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk (I use Beatrice) over the base and then sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of each of the toppings. Bake at 350℉ until the edges bubble, the chocolate has melted, and the center is molten.

We like to top it with Skor bar (or toffee bits), chocolate chips and pecans. You can change up the toppings and use any combination, like sliced almonds, flaked coconut, white chocolate, and dried cranberries.

And this shot just goes to prove that a watched cookie does bake!