Sometimes What We Need… is the Easy Good Stuff in Life

This time of year I’m seeking out the recipes of a few goodies and maybe even trying to make some as edible gifts and treats for my friends, guests and my family. However, I believe in making it easy on ME.

Here is a recipe for “The Easy Good Stuff” that I made last night for my husband’s office staff and they are raving about it this morning. It took all of ten minutes and I had plenty to keep for our family’s holiday needs. Now that’s the type of dish I like to slave over in the kitchen, pun intended.

I sent the requested recipe to his office staff via email this morning. Feel free to use it, change it or whatever suits your fancy. I hope you enjoy making and eating holiday goodies, too. Note: lots of different ingredients will work. You can substitute what you like to eat or what you have handy in your kitchen, but the “bark” is what binds everything together and makes this so fast and easy.

2 trays of vanilla/almond bark
A box of small chocolate wafer cookies
A bag of Craisins
2 big handfuls of pecan pieces (pieces should not be too small)
2 big handfuls of slivered almonds
A bag of stick pretzels (can be slightly less than a whole bag)

The key is to mix all the stuff together (except the bark), divide it and lay it out flat onto 2 large cookie sheets with sides. The mixture may be a inch to 1 1/2″ tall. Next, insert a knife into one tray of bark and break it into pieces. Do one tray of bark at the time. Melt it in a microwavable bowl (I use a big Pyrex mixing bowl) on high in the microwave for about 3 minutes. It should be stirrable when you take it out to use. (Be careful not to get burned.)

Pour it in globs over the goodies of one cookie sheet. Stir with a wooden spoon to mix everything together very well. The better everything blends, the better the taste and consistency of the finished product. Set this first tray aside.

Repeat the melting process for the second tray of bark. When stirrable, mix it well with the dry ingredients of the second cookie sheet. Cool both batches thoroughly before you break up The Easy Good Stuff into pieces. (If I’m in a hurry, I even pop the cookie sheets into the freezer for a couple minutes.) The whole adventure takes less than 10 minutes start to finish.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas,
Cinda Crawford

PS- Before you ask… no, this isn’t a good recipe to keep down Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms, if you eat a lot of The Easy Good Stuff. But, it is easy to make, doesn’t require much physical effort, the recipe is simple and you get to play the cooking hero. I’ll take that as a minor success any day!

Tagged as: cookie, easy, good stuff, holiday goodies, recipe