Tastes like childhood

Cherry Jewel Bars are God.

Seriously... these are so simple that they're barely baking at all, so much as putting stuff together in a bowl and throwing it in the oven.

Okay, I lied. Parbake the flour/butter/sugar short crust, then mix up some salted (MUST be salted!) mixed nuts, candied cherries (or any fruit, I guess, but those garish red and green cherries are just irreplaceable, to me anyway...) and chocolate. Press onto crust. Bake some more.

Remove from oven. Sit on your hands, twitching, for half an hour or so until they're cool enough to cut, at which time you dive headfirst at the tray brandishing a knife... "Oh, I'll just trim off the rough edges..."

then somehow the tray is half gone?

I don't even care how many calories these have -- I really don't. Childhood memories are worth so much more than that.

Maybe a pinch of salt in the crust next time.

I wonder if I could use the leftover nuts for another frangipane? Mmm.

Also, I'm kind of worried about the gingerbread-house-to-be. It leavened an awful lot. I baked the base this morning (sans molasses -- gogo corn syrup plus cocoa for colour...) then re-baked most of the big pieces until they were damn well and truly overdone... but nice and solid, not soft and chewy, thank you.

Deliciousness and structural integrity don't HAVE to be mutually exclusive, but I have a feeling in this case they will be.