Time for another blast from the past…
I found this recipe a while ago on one of the vintage advertising sites I like to visit. Some of the stuff looks just WRONG (see the jello mold with olives and cabbage), but some of the featured recipes look tempting enough to try – like Campbell’s chicken paprika. This was one of those latter recipes that I copied and stashed for possible future use.
Rich was feeling a little worse for wear after a holiday weekend spent having coffee and tea and chocolate (well, to be honest, chocolate with espresso – so that’s even worse) and has decided to really hunker down about the foods that aggravate him; coffee (even decaf), non-herbal teas, strawberries, chocolate, a lot of nuts, bananas, stuff like that – you can see where this would leave out that batch of espresso chocolate chip cookies I made Sunday morning. *sigh*
As it happens, white chocolate is OK; and we just happened to have a bag of white chocolate chips stashed with all that jello (grrr) over the fridge. Ditto for the sweetened condensed milk and graham crackers. BINGO! ‘Gold Rush Brownies’ to the rescue! The English walnuts I have stashed in the freezer aren’t on his list of ‘approved’ nuts (almonds, cashews, pine nuts) – so no ground nuts in this batch; and of course the white chocolate replaces the chocolate chips. Still, this recipe was fast, easy and tasty; check it out:
INGREDIENTS
•2 cups firmly packed graham crackers (about 18 crackers)
•1 (6-oz) pkg chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)
•1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
•1-1/2 cup (one 15 oz can) Sweetened condensed milk – OK – the cans we have were both 14 oz, not certain if there was a downsizing over the years or what; I just poured one into a measuring cup and added skim milk to make up the slight difference instead of opening a second can
Mix together cracker crumbs, chocolate and nuts. Blend in condensed milk.
Grease an 8 x 8 x 2 square pan and line the bottom with waxed paper.
Pour mixture into pan and bake at 350º until the top is golden brown – about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out from pan, remove waxed paper and cut into squares while still warm. Cool.
It may have been the lack of nuts, or it could be that the white chocolate is ‘oilier’ than the regular chips, but these crisped up a bit by 40 minutes – I would probably set the timer for 30 to start next time. I will probably also use parchment paper instead of the waxed – did they have parchment paper back in the day?
All in all, a fine desert treat with nothing to aggravate Rich’s system. Happily for him, vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce are also both on the ‘good’ list – so a quickly waved gold rush brownie topped with some Baldwin New York Vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of butterscotch sauce made for a nice treat that wouldn’t come back to haunt him later (OK, so the Smucker’s butterscotch sauce has some stuff that he should avoid, but given a little time (and ‘da Google’), I’m certain I can find a good recipe option for home made).
My mother remembers her mom making these at least as early as 1954. Do not overbake them. Thirty minutes is an absolute maximum in my oven, but I like them a little on the soft and chewy side (and since they don’t have raw eggs or anything it’s OK if they’re slightly underdone). I’d also recommend buttering the paper, at least around the sides, because they will sometimes stick anyway.
I have been eating these since I was quite young. My grandmother used to make these in the late 40s or very early 50s. Many a soldier, sailor and LDS Missionary has received them while they were serving. I have made them my entire adult life. The are great for shipping as they do not crumble.