Do You Believe in Magic?

There was a woman from my church (and book club) in the Sacramento area who made the best bar cookies I ever tasted.  Ursula called them ‘Post Office Bars’ because, I think, they are ideal cookies to send in the mail in the cooler months.  After receiving a lot of praise for the Post Office Bars, she wrote the recipe up for the women’s newsletter with the following caveat:

“If you can only eat one piece of these bars, I will eat a broom.”

Seriously!  I wrote that quote on the recipe card I keep.  If you scroll down below to the recipe, you’ll probably recognize them as ‘Magic Cookie Bars.’   However, she painstakingly outlined a couple of techniques that truly do make a difference in the quality of the bars.  So I like to keep Ursula’s title as I follow her recipe with a smile at the care she put into her signature dessert.

I made them today for my husband’s birthday tomorrow since they are one of his favorites.   I’ll pack them up for our excursion tomorrow to the Mariners game.  (By the way, it’s Ken Griffey, Jr. bobble head night along with Curt’s big day!)  He’s a big baseball fan, big enough to really be called a fanatic.  People can’t understand my support of his addiction, so I thought I would set the record straight about why we’re a baseball family.

It all started with a little magic of our own in the 90’s.  When I lived in San Jose I caught up with an old friend Shawna, who at the time was doing travelling rotations as a respiratory therapist as a way to see the world.  In the late 80’s she worked in Stamford, Connecticut and I met her at church.  She was a great person to hang out with and was (and is) also quite pretty and knew how to flirt with guys, which was something I needed to model.  (I never quite learned enough…but that’s not her fault.)  From San Jose, I invited her along with a couple of my guy friends to one or two San Francisco Giants baseball games at the old Candlestick Park.   From those outings, I think Shawna registered that I was a baseball fan tracing back from childhood trips with my dad to see the New York Mets.

By 1997, Shawna was living in Salt Lake and I was in Sacramento.  She had just broken up with her boyfriend and was set up on a blind date with Curt.  After a couple of dates, she was back with her boyfriend (now husband) and had to tell Curt goodbye.  But, as she got to know Curt and his love for baseball, she thought of me and couldn’t shake the urge to do some matchmaking of her own.  So, she gave him my number and made him promise to call me in California right as she was breaking his heart.  Then, she left me a loaded voicemail to tell me to expect the call.   Realizing Shawna’s appeal, I certainly didn’t expect much, but then he called.  I was up late preparing to watch Princess Di’s funeral and we talked for two whole hours.  And we haven’t stopped since.

To sum up a dreadfully long and convoluted story, then,  I love our baseball vacations because I am always grateful that baseball, along with a little magic, brought me love. 

Happy Birthday, Curt!
 

                                                      July 2008
Post Office Bars from Ursula
1 1/4 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
1 stick of melted butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup pecans, broken into pieces by hand

1.  Pour melted butter into 9x13 or 8x8 pyrex, add cracker crumbs, press into butter.
2.  Pour chocolate chips over top, then butterscotch chips, then coconut.
3.  Pour condensed milk over and press pecan pieces into that.
4.  Bake at a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, then check every 5 minutes until browned, especially around edges, but not burned.  Remove, cool completely, cut.

butter, then crumbs, then choc. chips after butterscotch chips and coconut pressing pecan pieces into condensed milkafter cooked and browned a cut piece (cuts better when completely cooled)