Guest Post from Sadie @ Frosting and Filigree

Hello Food Ramblers, my name is Sadie and I’m coming at you from a blog I share with my friend Carrie called Frosting and Filigree.  Elizabeth is off on some tropical island somewhere for her honeymoon so she asked me to guest post!

So this past weekend I was visiting my parents house and my mom told me her most recent dilemma.  My dad is an Olympic level snacker and he tends to covertly eat through the contents of the cupboard on a regular basis.  She says that if she doesn’t have actual snacks in the house like crackers or cookies, etc, he will turn to her cooking and baking ingredients.  If my brothers and I are not home, my mom typically cuts down on her baking and snack selection because she wants to limit temptation for herself.  But it’s clear that she’s shooting herself in the foot because it causes my dad to turn to her supplies of chocolate chips/Craisons/sunflower seeds/sliced almonds, etc.  She said she is often in the middle of a recipe and realizes that her supply of a necessary ingredient has been mysteriously depleted.

What was her proposed solution you ask?

“So Sadie, it would be great if you could bake some snacks for him this weekend, so he’ll stop eating my precious ingredients.”

I saw this as the perfect opportunity to try a Martha Stewart recipe that caught my eye the other day.  It looked too easy to pass up.  I thought it would be perfect for my parents because it’s not some ooey gooey cookie that would put them into sugar shock.  These bars basically seem like a thick version of graham cracker crust with almonds, and who doesn’t love a graham cracker crust!

Almond Graham Bars with Dark Chocolate

Yields 12 small bars Adapted from Martha

Ingredients
• 1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs
• 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups sliced almonds
• Dash salt
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line an 8 x8 square pan with parchment or foil (this step is essential for this recipe, the bars stick!).
2. In a bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs with the condensed milk, salt and 1 ½ cups of the almonds.  Make sure the ingredients are well combined.  You might even want to let it sit a few minutes to make sure the milk has soaked through and coated the crumbs and almonds.
3. Press the mixture into the prepared square pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.

4. When the bars are done, sprinkle on the chocolate chips and allow them to melt on top while the bars are still warm.  When the chocolate has melted, use an offset spatula to spread it evenly across the surface.

5. Top the chocolate layer off with the last ½ cup of sliced almonds and allow to cool completely before you slice them.