Well, at least a Christmas treat. This recipe is one my mom has always done as part of her annual batch of Christmas cookies, and other than the spritz cookies is probably my personal favorite. It really doesn’t have to be a Christmas only cookie/bar, but maybe that is part of it’s appeal?

Toffee Squares

• 3 C Quick Oats
• 3/4 C melted margarine or butter
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp dark corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Food coloring, if desired
• 1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 C chopped nuts

Pour melted butter over oats and mix well. Add sugar, syrup, salt and vanilla along with a few drops of red or green food coloring, if desired, and blend well.

Pack firmly in a well-greased 8 x 8 pan. (Glass works best) and bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. (The center will soft, but will firm up when cooling. Do not over-bake.)

Pour chocolate chips on top, cover with a large cookie sheet. Remove cover after a few minutes, when the chips are melted. Spread chocolate and sprinkle with nuts, if desired.

Once set, cut in to 1-inch squares. Store in air-tight container.

Yer not getting any nutritional info, cause well.. these ain’t. Any benefit you might get from the oats is pretty much drowned out by the sugar and butter and well, the chocolate. But so what? They taste wonderful!

I have tapered of posting of recipes here, because I am redoing my food site and will pretty much be putting all recipes there. Well, eventually.

But I found this recipe tonight and just had to share it. I like to cook, and I am mmm… above average maybe. I have friends that are great cooks, some that are better at baking, and some that if asked will state that they can’t even boil water.

This is for them…

Like many people, I enjoy the moist aroma and sinus-soothing vapors from a pot of boiling water. But it is often difficult to get a roiling boil just the way you remember it as a child. In my quest to perfect boiled water I began by collecting a dozen different recipes ranging from family hand-me-downs to restaurant standbys. But none of these recipes produced a water boil precisely as I remember it. Some were too slow and too dilute while others were dense and tough. All of the recipes shared a few typical ingredients, such as water. But otherwise they had little in common.

Cooks Illustrated Recipe: Boiled Water [iwritefunny.com]

I originally wrote and posted the following on my website over 10 years ago…

Ok… I admit it. I’m a bachelor.

This was confirmed tonight when I went to clean out my fridge. (This was part of a grander cleaning of the kitchen that I do every few weeks whether it needs it or not.) Now, I didn’t go to my fridge expecting to have it confirmed that I am a bachelor, but when I was talking later to a couple friends, and mentioned a couple of things I found there, they both made it a point of telling me that I am.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the things I found. First, something I’m sure not just bachelors will relate with here, this is something anyone who’s had their fridge too packed for awhile to notice that little container in that bottom corner. And by the time you find it you have no idea what it was It’s now a dark greenish-grey color, but what color it was originally?

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