Mincemeat Pillows, by Sylvia

And another sweet creation by my sister......"I just put a little finely chopped mixed peel into a sugar cookie recipe, then cut tops and bottoms and filled with my homemade mincemeat, drizzled with a little icing when cool. Are they ever good!"

Walnut Rum Balls by Sylvia

My ever-creative sister just sent me this recipe for rum balls. They look great.

Ingredients:
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, melted with 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- about 50 ml or a jigger of dark rum
- 2 cups ground walnuts
- 1 cup of your preferred cookie crumbs (vanilla wafers, chocolate wafers, graham wafers, shortbread)


Instructions:
Place the cookie crumbs and ground walnuts into a medium sized mixing bowl, then stir in the rum.
Pour the melted chocolate and coconut oil over top of the crumb/nut mixture and combine thoroughly. Chill the mixture until firm then roll it into small balls and finally, roll the balls in ground walnuts.

Makes 40

Shortbread- the ultimate Christmas cookie.

I struggle with shortbread and have tried numerous recipes in an attempt to find one that I like. Elva and Helen have shared their Aunt Pearl's recipe with me, and what a recipe it is!

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. room temperature butter
- 1/2 pound icing sugar(or 2 cups sifted)
- 4 cups sifted flour

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.

Place all three ingredients in a large mixing bowl and have at them. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients and work the mixture until you can press it together into several large balls of dough. Roll the dough on a floured board until you reach the desired thickness, (thick or thin depending on your preference). Cut the rolled dough with a cookie cutter or use a sharp knife to define bars,(A.K.A. 'fingers'), approximately 1/2 inch wide by 2 inches long. Bake the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets until very light brown. 

More Thoughts on Shortbread....

I happened upon the following in my recipe box and made it because I liked its name, Ultimate Shortbread. However, I read the recipe incorrectly and added too much flour. With great difficulty I managed to roll the dough sufficiently to produce four snowmen cookie cutter snowmen. With the remaining dough I gave up rolling and made round 8 inch patties of shortbread about 1/2 inch thick, scored them before baking and cut them into 8 wedges while they were still warm, then sprinkled them with sugar. Ultimately, it worked.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 cups flour plus additional flour if dough is sticky

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With your fingertips gradually add in 2 cups of flour, adding more if necessary to make a soft but not sticky dough. Roll dough to about 1/3inch or 8 mm. thickness and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool on wire racks.

My sister P. chimes in with her thoughts on shortbread.....

"I find the recipe on the back of the cornstarch box very easy. Variations: you can add 1/4 cup cocoa (Fry's) for chocolate shortbread. You can add 3/4 cup sliced filberts, roll into a 1 1/2 inch log, refrigerate, cut into 1/4 inch slices...

Mom used to roll the dough around a red or green maraschino cherry, then ice them after baking with pink or light green icing.

At a public school Christmas party, someone's mother had made cookies like candy canes. There were two colours of dough (pink and white) twisted together with a crook at one end to make a cane shape. It seems to me there was also a peppermint flavour."

Sugar Plums

The little red balls that you see in the tin date from a sixties-vintage "Robin Hood" cookbook. Someone in our family has made them every year at Christmas since that time. Who knows what the original 'sugar plum' was meant to be? The following link provides some information: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/12/sugar-plums-theyre-not-what-you-think-they-are/68385/

The truth is we all have our own versions of sugar plums dancing in our heads at this time of year. 

Ingredients:
- 1 tin of sweetened condensed milk
- 2 small packages of strawberry flavoured gelatin (i.e. jello) or one large package
- 1 and 1/2 cups of coconut
- 1 cup of vanilla wafer crumbs or graham cracker crumbs
- more strawberry jello for rolling the sugar plums
- whole cloves for both flavour an decoration

Mix the first 4 ingredients together and form into 1 inch balls. Roll in the additional strawberry gelatin and press a whole clove into the top of each ball. Refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 4 dozen sugar plums.

Editorial Note of Great Importance: One thing that you absolutely must do when serving these sweets to sugar plum virgins, is remind them to remove the clove before eating the confection. Don't eat the clove! 

Church Windows...surprisingly tasty

Here is an easy, retro recipe for making a large volume of a Christmas treat that resembles a stained-glass window. They're retro yummy too.

Ingredients:
- 1/4 pound of butter (equivalent to 1 stick or 1/2 cup)
- 1 bag of chocolate chips (340 grams)
- 1 bag of multi-coloured miniature marshmallows (400 grams)
- 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Melt the butter and chocolate chips and stir gently until smooth, then cool. Pour over the marshmallows and nuts and stir to combine. Roll the mixture into logs and refrigerate; this is easier said than done, and takes a little bit of coordinated effort. I laid out 2 fairly long sheets of waxed paper, blobbed half of the mixture onto each sheet and used my hands to form the mixture into 2 loosely held- together 'log' shapes, each about 16 inches long. After washing my hands, I brought one (long) edge of the waxed paper up and over the log and squeezed gently while rolling it to cover the log completely in waxed paper, then held the whole thing together by twisting the paper at each end.

After the logs have hardened in the fridge, they can be removed from their waxed paper covering and sliced.

I guess I'll never be hired as a "technical writer". Darn it.

Aggression Cookies

When I was a teenager, my sisters and I came upon a special recipe for very buttery oatmeal cookies. We thought it was hilarious that they were called 'Aggression Cookies',(because the dough is mixed together with your hands and you thereby release all of your pent-up aggression). Not sure why I found that so amusing. What can I say, it was a more naïve time of life. This recipe is drawn from my sister Sylvia's memory, which is better than mine.

Ingredients:
- 1 & 1/2 cups of softened butter
- 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar (half white sugar and half brown)
- 1 & 1/2 cups of flour
- 3 cups of oatmeal, or more if the dough is too sticky
 
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Cover your baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dump the cookie ingredients together in a large bowl and get mixing (with your hands). Feel the tension flow from your shoulders into the bowl. Hopefully, you won't get all tense again when you realize what a mess you've created. Anyway, roll walnut-sized cookies and space them a couple of inches apart on your baking sheets. Using the dampened bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatten each cookie somewhat. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking racks. These buttery cookies are delicate, so handle them carefully after baking.


Cookies in progress....first as balls, then as flattened discs

   

Honey Oat Cookies

Rasha Mourtada provided the recipe for these cookies in an April 2015 edition of the Globe and Mail. They are apparently sold at the Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Ga.

They were good, and it felt like I was doing something vaguely healthy when eating them, but it's not my all time favourite oatmeal cookie recipe. I was sucked into making them by seeing 'honey' in the name.....and of course, I saw the chocolate. 

Ingredients for cookie:

- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

- 1 & 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut

- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

- 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

- 1 tablespoon honey

- 1 tablespoon water

- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate topping ingredients:

- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

- Pinch of fine sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

 

In a large bowl, whisk the oats, coconut, brown sugar, flour, baking soda and cinnamon together thoroughly. Set aside.

 

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, honey, water and vanilla and heat over medium-low, stirring until the butter is melted and the mixture is thoroughly combined. Remove from the heat.

 

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the butter mixture. Fold the butter mixture thoroughly into the flour mixture and let sit for 5 minutes. Scoop about 2 rounded tablespoons of dough per cookie on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving 1 inch between the cookies. With the palm of your hand, flatten each cookie into a 3-inch round, about 1/2 inch thick. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until they are a deep golden colour. Let the cookies cool completely.

 

In a small pan, combine the ingredients for the chocolate coating and melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Using a spoon, top each cookie with some of the topping. 

Sweet Marie Bars

 

Sure these bars may contain a lot of sugar, as the name implies, but hey, they're gluten-free.

This recipe was taken from Sue Reidl's column in the Globe and Mail called "The Quick Fix". Sue's also the cheese reporter for the G&M. What a gig.

These bars are named for the Canadian chocolate bar which they so closely resemble. Here's a link to more info: http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants/canadian-candy-11-sweets-you-cant-get-this-side-of-the-border-6510248

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 cup peanuts
- 2 cups Rice Krispies
- 1 package of chocolate chips

Instructions: 
Place the first 4 ingredients into a medium sized pot and melt together while stirring over medium low heat.(Remember, your pot will need to be large enough to accommodate the addition of the nuts and cereal). Allow the mixture to gently bubble then remove it from the heat and stir in the peanuts and Rice Krispies until well combined. Press into a greased 8 or 9 inch square pan. Pour the chocolate chips on to the still-hot peanut layer, wait until the chips soften, then spread the chocolate evenly. I used about three-quarters of a 350 gram bag of chocolate chips; chocolate chip bag sizes vary a lot in my experience depending on the brand. You don't need mounds of chocolate chips(they won't melt); just  enough to form a single meltable layer. Let the whole thing cool then cut into bars.

My mother's Peanut Butter Cookies

There's nothing like a good peanut butter cookie to satisfy the soul, (and pack on the pounds). As children, my siblings and I were blessed with a mother who baked. Peanut butter cookies were a short-lived staple. This is how you make them.


Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
 
Instructions:
The instructions on my mother's recipe card said "375 for 10 minutes". Brevity is the soul of wit as they say.

I made these at the cottage using what appears to be a child's canoe paddle. Whatever works.

For those who may not understand cookie-making shorthand, here's a little more detail. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all of the ingredients together to form a dough. Roll one inch balls of cookie dough and place on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Use the back of a fork to press the dough slightly leaving the imprint of fork times on the cookie. Then turn your hand (with fork) 90 degrees and press the cookie again with the back of the fork, creating a crosshatch pattern.


Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie from the baking sheet with a spatula and place them on a metal rack to cool.  

Heavenly Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Ginger is a great ingredient to use in winter baking/cooking because it adds a bit of heat to foods along with great flavour. This recipe for very tasty cookies comes from my young friend Ginny who happens to be one of the primary instigators of this blog.

When I last made this recipe several years , I had just recovered from a Christmas cookie-baking extravaganza and was barely able to think about cookies  without feeling faint. I managed these with ease. This recipe makes approximately 2 dozen of the little beauties.

Ingredients:
- 7 ounces best-quality dark chocolate (or 1 small bag of dark chocolate chips)
- 1 and 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. In another bowl, beat the butter and grated ginger with an electric mixer until it is fluffy and light in colour. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined, then add the molasses and beat until combined. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in 1 and 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Beat in the baking soda mixture, then the remaining half of the flour mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1-inch thick and seal. Refrigerate the dough until it is firm, approximately 2 hours (or less; I did 15 minutes.) This dough can be frozen.

When ready to bake the cookies, heat your oven to 325 degrees F. Roll the dough into 1 and 1/2-inch balls then roll in granulated sugar and place 2-inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10-12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Editorial Note: Chocolate and ginger are flavours that go together surprisingly well.

Zesty Cornmeal Cookies

My sister Penelope made these cookies to add to a gift of homemade baked goods provided to the volunteers at her local library. Apparently everyone loved their zesty flavour and intriguing texture. There's nothing like a bit of  intrigue to keep volunteers on board.

Ingredients for the Lemon Polenta Cookies:

• 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
• 1 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 egg

Ingredients for glaze:

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice, zest and egg and beat until incorporated. Add the cornmeal/flour mixture and mix on a low speed until everything is combined (about a minute). Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, leaving a bit of room for spread. Bake until golden at the edges, between 14 and 18 minutes. 

Sharing space with the remaining dates squares.

While the cookies are baking, whisk together the lemon juice and icing sugar. Drizzle over the baked cookies.

Editorial Note: This recipe was first published in the Ottawa Citizen. 

Thumb Print Cookies

Here's an old-fashioned recipe from the home of my friend Janice. She and her long-time friend Jo-Anne get together in early December each year to bake Christmas cookies together. This recipe is from Joanne's mother Ida and is written in the style in which it was given to Janice, with ingredients and instructions intermingled, and some new terminology for me. Even if one doesn't know what "hallow" means, one knows what "hallow" means here. It's the shallow hole in which the jam is placed, of course.

Such are the traditions of Christmas baking.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Cream ½ cup butter softened
Add ½ cup of brown sugar
Beat 1 egg yolk slightly and add to butter and sugar
Add one cup of flour \Blend well
Shape into small balls about ¾ to 1 teaspoon of dough
Dip into slightly beaten egg white
Roll in finely chopped walnuts 
Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets
Press hallow in centre of cookies with thumb
Bake at 325 degrees for 5 minutes
Remove from oven and fill hallow with raspberry seedless jam
Bake for another 15 minutes

And so it goes.....

Fruit and Nut Balls

WOW! Watch out Martha Stewart, my sister has readied the first cookie tray of the season. The Fruit and Nuts Balls are seen in the top right of the photo just underneath the iced shortbread.

 

Sylvia says about the fruit and nut balls.......

 

I love these. So easy, so delicious!

I am guessing at the amounts - basically use what you like - they vary every year.

For these I used approximately: 

• 200 gm each of candied pineapple and papaya, dried apricots, mixed peel and raisins
• 150 gm each of raw unsalted macadamia, pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds (about a cup of each)
• 50 gm sesame seeds (1/4 cup)

Grind in small batches in a food processor or food mill.

Mix together well, using a splash of rum or brandy if you like.

Form into balls. These can be made smaller and dipped in chocolate.

Editorial Note: It's hard to find brown shag carpeting like that anymore, isn't it Martha.

Swedish Ginger Cookies

Oh my, there's an ingredient in these cookies that is unexpected.....

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup strained bacon fat
• 1 cup white sugar plus more for rolling
• 4 tablespoons dark molasses
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat your oven to 350  degrees F. Cream together the bacon fat and sugar, then beat in the molasses and egg. Add the remaining ingredients and combine thoroughly.

Shape the dough into walnut sized balls, then roll the balls in granulated sugar and flatten on ungreased baking sheets using your fingers. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and cracked on top. Let cool on wire racks. 

Editorial Note: The bacon fat gives these cookies a smoky flavour that complements the spices. Maybe bacon fat should make a comeback in Canadian kitchens.

PB and Seed Cookies

These cookies may sound like 'they're for the birds', but in fact, they're for people trying   wheat-free diets. My sister Sylvia created the recipe and she says they are delicious. You could probably add raisins or chocolate chips. Clearly, these not suitable for people with peanut allergies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• 1 cup toasted sesame seeds
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Toast each type of seed in frying pan on top of the stove until lightly browned, then allow the seeds to cool. Mix the  peanut butter, sugar and baking soda until well combined. Add the eggs and mix well. Then stir in all of the seeds and form the dough into tbsp. size balls. Place the balls of dough on parchment (or a Silpat) on baking sheet and flatten each one slightly using a fork.

 Makes 3 dozen DELICIOUS grain free, dairy free cookies.

C!C!C! (Cherry Cashew Chocolate) Shortbread

The C!C!C! cookies are on the right. The wheat free cookie recipe (left) will be posted later this week.

In honour of the community choir that my niece belongs to, her mother Sylvia designed a decadent cookie. They're definitely something to sing about. Here's the link to information about Choir, Choir, Choir and its offspring C!C!C! http://www.blogto.com/music/2011/10/choir_choir_choir_wants_to_teach_toronto_to_sing/

Ingredients:

• 2 cups salted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 225 g. container of glace cherries halved
• 350 g. ( about 2 cups) of good quality chocolate chips
• 2 cups of cashews, lightly toasted, then roughly chopped

Mix butter and sugars, stir in flour. Stir in cherries, cashews and chocolate. Refrigerate an hour.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into small balls, then flatten the balls with a fork. Bake for about 8 minutes until the cookies are golden on their bottoms. Let them cool slightly on the pan before transferring to a wire rack. Tra-La.

Super Simple Oatmeal Cookies

As much as I like eating cookies, I'm not keen on making them. For me, the simpler the cookie recipe the better. This one is from Edna Stabler's cookbook Food that Really Shmecks. They're very simple cookies and pretty schmecky too.

 
Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal
• 1 cup of margarine ( or 1/2 cup soft butter, 1/2 cup margarine)
• 1 cup of brown sugar (or 1/2 cup brown, 1/2 cup white)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix everything together well in a large bowl. Roll small balls of dough and place them on parchment lined cookie sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. (These cookies spread while baking). Flatten the balls of dough slightly with the tines of a fork. Pop into the oven and bake for about 12 minutes. ( I left mine in the oven slightly too long).  Place the warm cookies on a wire rack to cool.

Easter Shortbread

The reigning Queen of Shortbread has done it again. I think that my sister S. has really outdone herself this time with these Easter cookies that are reminiscent of the famous enamelled Faberge eggs.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 cups flour plus additional flour if dough is sticky

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With your fingertips gradually add in 2 cups of flour, adding more if necessary to make a soft but not sticky dough. Roll dough to about 1/3inch or 8 mm. thickness, cut out the egg shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Chocolate Bars

This recipe is sent to me by my sister-in-law J.; taken from the murder mystery novels by Joanne Fluke....some people would kill for these golden bars.

Ingredients:
- 1cup of softened butter
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 and 1/2 cups of flour
- 5 three-ounce chocolate bars (I used Lindt ultra-thin dark chocolate squares)
- another 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9 by 13 inch cake pan by lining it with a piece of tinfoil large enough to flap over the sides. Spray the foil-lined pan with a non-stick cooking spray. Stir the butter and (3/4 cup) sugar together in a bowl until light and creamy. Add the egg and stir it in thoroughly along with the vanilla and salt. Add the flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing well after each addition. You will end up with a "ball" of dough, like piecrust. Pat half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Unwrap the candy bars and spread then evenly across the top of the dough. Pat the remaining dough as evenly as possible on top of the chocolate. Use the back of the tines of a fork to make cross-hatch marks on the top of the dough, then sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Bake for 25 minutes ; the bars are done when slightly brown around the edges but still quite light in the middle. When the pan is cool enough to work with, grasp the edges of the tinfoil and carefully lift the bars out of the pan. Cut them into (reasonable) serving sizes while still slightly warm.

Rocky Road Bars

My sister-in-law J. sent me a couple of decadent (one might say, completely over-the-top) recipes from the murder mystery novels by Joanne Fluke: Cream Puff Murder, Carrot Cake Murder, and more. She notes that as you read these books, you become very, very hungry.

Ingredients for Rocky Road Bars:
- 24 graham crackers (12 double ones)
- 2 cups of miniature marshmallows, white not multi-coloured
- 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup of salted cashews ( I used mixed nuts)
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 inch cake pan with a non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with a layer of graham crackers and sprinkle them with the marshmallows. Then, sprinkle the marshmallows with the chocolate chips and cashews. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and brown sugar. Stir this mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved, then take the pan off the heat and add the vanilla. Drizzle the contents of the saucepan over the contents of the cake pan and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops of the marshmallows are golden. Cool the bars in the pan, then cut them into brownie-sized servings. There's no mystery here...these are just very good.

Editorial Note: I have a feeling that I should used chopped rather than whole nuts. Don't get me wrong...the whole nuts are tasty , just a bit unwieldy, but they kind of add to the whole over-the-top nature of this recipe. Come to think of it, everything I used to make these bars was too big; large rather than miniature marshmallows, chocolate chunks rather than chips... even the cakepan was too big.