Spontaneous Dessert

Typically, we don't eat dessert in this home. If I cook dessert, it is for guests, or for some sort of get-together or event where I will be taking it elsewhere. It is a very rare day when I actually cook a dessert something for just the two of us.

Well, Tuesday was one of those days.

We had come home late from a meeting after dinner and, on our way home, were both wanting to stop for ice cream, but, at the same time, not wanting to spend money. We didn't share these thoughts until we were all the way home, and this is when I decided Something Sweet Shall Be Made.

My dear husband was on the computer, so I resorted to actually opening up ink and paper cookbooks, and came up with The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Bar from In the Kitchen With Mary and Martha: One Dish Wonders. The "One Dish" thing was especially welcome, since it was late and I didn't want a lot to clean up. The recipe looked simple as well, and it was done in no time, with what I had on hand!

1 C butter, melted
1 C brown sugar
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 C quick rolled oats (I didn't have 2 C on hand... probably more like 1.5 C)
1 (24 oz) package semisweet chocolate chips (I only had about 8 oz of chocolate chips on hand, so I threw in a few dark chocolate chips, and some mini-M&M's for good measure. The dark chocolate was a bad idea. The M&M's were a good idea.)

Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix ingredients in the order given & spread in the pan. (I mixed after each ingredient addition, and after each egg addition,to be safe.) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (it took mine 25+ minutes). Cool & cut into squares. Yield: 16 servings (Ha! I cut these into 16 squares, and the pieces, thanks to their sweetness and thickness, were delicious but too much to eat. Cut this into 32 squares, and go back for seconds if you want more.)

The Results?