#51 Hello Dolly Bars? From Maria Howard of Peculiar, Missouri. You just dump all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.

#52 “Allysa developed this variation on the traditional blondie. If you’re a peanut butter lover, you’ll be crazy about these!”

Chezbonneau is in Texas for the Christmas and New Years holiday celebration, spending lots of wonderful time with the family. Although this is a time of year for lots of baking, M. le Patissier is not in his own kitchen, and certainly not in a normal routine. That said, some fun progress has been made – and enjoyed!

The plate of goodies above were the last pieces of the Chezbonneau contribution to the family Christmas Eve gathering. The Peanut Butter Heath Bar Blondies had to wait for a trip to the US of A since I have been unable to find Heath Bars in Qatar. I’ll be bringing a small bag of those toffee goodies back with me for a repeat. Of the four pictured sweets, these blondies were the biggest hit.

DETOUR: Very slight detour. When it came time to make the blondies, I didn’t have any peanuts, but I did have crunchy (instead of smooth) peanut butter – best substitute possible if you need one. The crunch peanut butter just added a flavor and texture punch from down below.

The Hello Dolly Bars tasted wonderful but didn’t “look” as inviting as the blondies. I know that I can improve on these – details below.

EMBARRASSING GOOF: When it came time to bake the Hello Dolly Bars, I couldn’t get to the recipe. I am in a place with Internet access that is virtually nil, and I was relying for the online cookbook. Well………. (here it comes), I left out the butter from the batter. I CONFESS – I was sure there needed to be butter in that batter, but not REALLY sure, even though I couldn’t believe..blah, blah, blah. I had jotted down “butter” in an earlier “connected moment” but didn’t write quantity or “how” it needed to be added. I didn’t believe it would work without butter (melted; into the mix), but I forged ahead without it. It ALMOST worked, and here’s how/why —————

I added extra condensed milk on top – a sort of “trickle down economics” approach to needed moisture. I won’t know what the Hello Dolly Bars “should” have looked and tasted like until I do them again – with the butter. But the result of these bars was “pretty darn good”, a favorite of some that Christmas Eve day. The only disconcerting element was the very bottom of the graham cracker bar. It remained dry, as with a dusting of cracker crumbs. But hey! They’re all gone!

TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

I HOPE YOU HAVE HAD A BLESSED ONE – and a SWEET ONE.