Hello Dolly

Lately I've been enjoying baking things for people. I love this blueberry crumb bars recipe from Smitten Kitchen and have made a couple times now. They're super easy to make, and any fruit can be substituted. Also made some chocolate chip peanut butter cookies for my screen printing class with a version of this recipe. So good...I need better descriptors.

Looking for new baking recipes, I knew I wanted to make something that wasn't quite a cookie, maybe a bar, maybe contained no fruit, maybe some nuts... I stumbled upon Hello Dolly bars, or seven layer bars, which are apparently a sort of old classic that many people grew up with. (?? - not sure, first I'd heard of them) You can use whatever you like with these...almonds, walnuts, or pecans. Many people use a combination of chocolate chips and butterscotch or white chocolate chips. I used coconut, pecans, and white chocolate chips. The base is crumbled graham crackers, and sweetened condensed milk is poured over the top to keep everything together. Next time I'll pour the milk over each layer to bind them together a bit better and also layer some of the chocolate chips on the top. Many reviewers said these were way too rich and sweet, but I actually think they were just right.

These guys are now in transit.

P.S. New bamboo cutting board from the 99-cent store for $4.99. Fingers crossed it doesn't fall apart in a month. The pastry brush I got from there was practically disposable; the bristles came out completely after one use.