The Christmas Baking begins!

Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  So I came up with this recipe- a combination of two classics- because I had an open bag of pretzels in my pantry that I wanted to use up somehow before they became completely stale.  And I didn't particularly feel like sitting around munching pretzels.



I remembered a summer recipe that I love: Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad. Only thing is, I really don't like Jello all that much (read: at all!) but I loooooove that pretzel crust.  It's so weird, it's just pretzels, butter and sugar yet it ends up tasting like nuts.  So I wanted to have that crust but with something else on top.

Flipping through my recipe file I saw my old, stained index card with the recipe for Magic Cookie Bars.  Oooooh, that recipe has a graham cracker crust.  Could I swap out the graham crackers for the pretzels? 

The answer is YES!!!

I made a first run through of this recipe, baking the crust for five minutes before pouring on one of the most wonderful substances on earth:  sweetened condensed milk.  The resulting baking left me with dark bars-- still awesome but dark and a little too crispy around the edges.

So far, here's the recipe to use a 9x13 cookie sheet...

4 cups of crushed pretzels (Mostly small pieces, some dust)
1 1/4 cups melted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Mix that stuff together and press into the bottom of a 9x13 cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment and sprayed with Pam.  Use the bottom of your measuring cup or a flat bottomed glass to really press those crumbs down.

Open a can of sweetened condensed milk and pour it evenly over your crust.  Try to avoid getting the half inch around the outside.  If the condensed milk gets under your crust, you'll never be able to peel it off the paper. Seriously.  This stuff is culinary glue. 

Now sprinkle good stuff over the top.  Traditionally it's shredded coconut, chocolate chips and walnuts.  I didn't have walnuts but I did have Heath toffee bits.  You could also try coconut, white chocolate chips and craisins.

Bake for 14 minutes at 350.  Watch closely to make sure the coconut doesn't burn.

When these are done, cut into bars or diamonds.  They won't be excessively pretty but they taste AMAZING.