Awesomely Quick Treat Flash 2

No secret I can get serious about my baking projects. I channel Martha, giddy at the sight of mise resting at the ready in the most perfect Type-A way, in matching bowls from my 10-piece set. I find it a fabulous challenge to constantly improve my technique, and marvel at how small tweaks in the process can drastically change the efficiency and outcome of a recipe. It's really no different than the husband's golf obsession. Baking as sport, if you will. But sometimes, after a dinner that took some doing, a girl needs her sweets in a way that requires nothing more than scooping, stirring, and a little heat. Something that she can practically throw together with her eyes closed. For such moments when the sweet tooth rules and the KitchenAid looks just so involved, I love to break out the kinds of kitschy recipes that are usually found in Xeroxed, plastic-spiral-bound church bake sale cookbooks or on the packaging of some baking ingredient.



Few things in life offer more instant gratification than the decades-old "no-bake treats" from the label of the Hershey's Cocoa can. All of the ingredients are probably in your cupboards right this second. You are moments away from having your house smell amazing and your belly sing with the sugary, chocolately goodness that only a Cold War era treat can bring. Trade your paddle attachment for a wooden spoon and enjoy this Awesomely Quick Treat Flash. Hooray!


Hershey's Cocoa No-Bake Treats

Makes 2-3 dozen

2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place a sheet of parchment or foil on a cookie sheet.

Combine sugar, butter, milk and cocoa and salt in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a steady, rolling boil, like chocolately lava. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool for 1 minute.

Stir in the peanut butter until well-blended. Add the oats, peanuts (if using) and vanilla extract, mixing thoroughly. Quickly drop the mixture by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper or foil. Makes about 2-3 dozen, depending on how generous your spoonfuls are, of course.

Awesomely Quick Treat Flash

It's fall! Hooray! And really, what is better for a fall evening than kettle corn, a warm drink and your favorite huge sweater? Actually, I guess kettle corn is more of a summer fair kind of food for most, but carnivals frighten me, people. So kettle corn is fall food for me. And if you've never made it at home, you really should. It all comes together in less than five minutes and will make you instantly, maniacally happy.

I know you're used to seeing some rather time-consuming recipes with occasionally verbose, albeit related, prose around here, but some treats are just so fantastically delicious in their simplicity, there's not much to say, other than...

It's fall. There's corn. In a kettle. Sweet and salty. Hooray!


Kettle Corn
Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray

Makes about 10 cups

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup popping corn
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

In a dutch oven or another large, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the popcorn and when it starts to sizzle, sprinkle the sugar over the kernels. Place the lid on the pot and as soon as you hear a pop, begin shaking the pot over the heat until the popping slows down, about three minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and when the popping stops completely, lift the lid and sprinkle with the salt, tossing until the corn just begins to cool, leaving a delicious, crisp, sweet and salty coating on the popcorn.