Take a chocolate cake mix (for those who make from scratch, mix all dry ingredients of recipe in a bowl), cut in 1/2 cup of butter, until crumply. Press onto a oiled or greased cookie sheet. Now the fun part! Sprinkle on top any combination of the following: chocolate, peanut butter, or butterscotch chips, nuts, coconut, broken bits of candy bars, M&M's, coconut, raisins, whatever you like!! Now pour over top of this a can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Awesome and rich. Cut into bars. This is good to use if you have little odds and ends of nuts and chips etc...

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 15, 2001

Answers

Not nearly so easy, but still too good to have leftovers, is a recipe from my childhood:

Peanut Butter Fingers

Cream 1/2 cup butter. Add 1/2 cup each white and brown sugar. Blend in 1 egg, 1/3 cup peanut butter (can be crunchy), 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/8 tsp. salt. Stir in 1 cup each flour and oats (quick or old fashioned). Bake in 13X9 pan at 350 for 25 minutes. Let stand 5 min.

Meanwhile, bring to a boil 1/4 cup butter, 2 tblsp. milk, 1 1/2 tblsp. cocoa. Add 1 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar in Canada;)). Spread on baked cookie. If the topping is too thin to spread, add a little more pwd. sugar.

Mix together 1/4 cup pwd sugar, 2 tblsp. peanut butter, 1 tblsp. milk. Drizzle over chocolate frosting. Cut into 1X3 inch bars ("fingers"). They will be gone by the time you have them cut. Well, they are at our house, but there are 8 of us.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 15, 2001.

Oh my goodness!!!! My son is allergic to peanuts, so the peanut butter is out for them, but I have to admit, I am THOROUGHLY addicted to it. I have been since I was a kid. Reading the recipe you posted was pure torture!!!

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

My favorite Hello Dolly Bars:

Preheat oven to 350. In square pan melt 1/4 cup butter. Sprinkle on top 1 cup of each: graham cracker crumbs, choc chips, coconut, chopped nuts. Pour on top of that 1 can (14oz) condensed (not evaporated) milk. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars. I sometimes double this and use a rectangular pan.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 17, 2001.

Melissa,

Is there absolutely nothing else that your recipe above (for bars) should contain? I tried it last night and mine was a complete failure. I am trying to figure out what I did wrong. Thanks

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

NO, that is it. Did you use real butter? Did you cut it in so that you could not see any chunks of butter, very crumply?? When you pour the condesed milk over it, it usually makes a thick coating that kind of soaks down through the layers. I use a cookie sheet that is about 10 x 14 inches, maybe it was too big or small. They can be a little crumply, but If you leave them sit for a few hours they seem to set up a little. I really don't know???? I have made it lots of times with no trouble. Sorry!!!!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 18, 2001.

Hmmm...it may have been my cookie sheet, Melissa. I just measured the one I used and it is 12 x 17. I did use real butter and did everything else right so I guess I'll try again with a smaller cookie sheet. Thanks.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), October 19, 2001.