Chocolate-Mallow Bars

Chocolate-Mallow Bars
Dorcas Annette Walker

This past week we had some very interesting company at our house in the form of British folk all the way from England, whom we had never met before. As anyone who knows me will tell you I am the chatty soul who knows no stranger, but even my husband was shaking his head in amazement over how all this came to be. It started when my niece went over to England the other year as an exchange student and made friends with a girl named, Hazel. Somewhere along the line Hazel and I got connected through facebook and began emailing back and forth. Hazel became intrigued about my descriptions of the south and the Tennessee Mountains where I live. So she and her Mum decided to take a vacation touring the west then swing by our place on their way up to New York to see the Thanksgiving parade. Hazel’s brother, wife, and young child decided to come so they all rented an RV to travel in. They definitely are braver than me as I would never consider driving in a strange country on the opposite side of the road of what I’m used to. While going through San Francisco in the middle of heavy traffic they lost a side mirror and then later damaged the muffler backing up. They made it to Oklahoma when the transmission went out so were towed back to Texas spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. After spending part of a day in a garage making several phone calls to the company, who owned the RV, they at last were given another RV to continue their journey. Despite battling jet lag and coping with time changes as they traveled east, the Barrie family finally arrived at our home- only a couple days later than planned- where I had a hot supper waiting for them.

I gave a true warm Southern welcome with lots of food. We had a wonderful time during their short stay with laughter and conservation between the southern and British accents. They ate all the food I set before then with hearty appetites so I sent plenty of goodies to help see them through the rest of their journey admiring the stamina and grit of the British in their endeavors to tour the United States from coast to coast in just one month. We promised to stay in touch. Before leaving the Mum warned me that she would be asking for some of my recipes.

One of my desserts was the Chocolate-Mallow Bars. These bars have a soft bottom with a fudgy middle topped by melted marshmallows, chocolate bits, and crunchy peanuts making it a handy snack during the holiday season. Total preparation time for my Chocolate-Mallow Bars is forty-five minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Chocolate-Mallow Bars

1 chocolate cake mix
1 egg
½ c water
1 c creamy peanut butter
¼ c milk
1 (10 oz) bag of marshmallows
1 c chocolate chips
1 c salted peanuts

Mix cake mix, egg, and water together and press into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Combine the peanut butter and milk and spread over the partially baked bars sprinkling the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and peanuts over top. Return to the oven and bake for twenty more minutes. Let cool and slice into bars before serving!

Weekly tip: When flouring a pan for a chocolate batter use cocoa powder instead of flour!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com