Day Three of the Seven Treats of Christmas

 Tis a snappy cold day here, no snow in the air, but the threat of high winds and some ice in the next day or so. Thankfully I don't have to be on the road, but likely it won't be as bad as predicted.

Enough of weather (must be done, I'm Canadian), and onto today's treat: Sweet Marie Bars! This is mostly no-bake until the very end where you need your broiler for no more than two minutes. 

I am guessing these are called Sweet Marie Bars because long ago, in my youth, there was a chocolate bar called "Sweet Marie" which had peanuts and chocolate in them.

source

I'm pretty sure I have the correct "vintage" with this image, but maybe a fellow Canadian can let me know if this is what they looked like in the 70's (Debra? Martha? Rosalea? Maebeme? Patio? Melinda? Other names I've forgotten... sorry) 

Here is the recipe, front and back of the card:

Don't you love my high tech way of providing the recipe? Ahhh well, this is Blogger, not paid-for Word Press! 

Here is an assembly of ingredients, however I realized I did not show the butter/margarine or the vanilla.

Notice the no-name corn syrup and parchment paper (Ooops, sorry, just noticed I had the French side showing, think I did with the peanut butter as well), the store brand peanut butter, chocolate chips, and peanuts. I must clarify that I purchased the no-name stuff eons ago, not as a result of the beloved Galen Weston reaching out to the minions and maintaining the prices of his no-name items in an effort to justify his healthy Loblaw's profits as of late (but I digress...). The Rice Krispies are name brand because they were on sale, but any knock off variety would work just fine.

I decided to use parchment paper in the baking pan this time, as it will be a sticky mess trying to pry it out later. Here is a nifty parchment paper trick that I did not invent myself. To get your parchment paper to sit securely in your baking dish, instead of sliding around and shifting, rip off the amount you need, then crumple it into a ball.

Then uncrumple it, smooth it out a little, and it will fit nicely in your baking dish (use a bit of pleating in the corners to make it fit even better). 

Did you know you can re-use parchment paper? If I was using it to line a baking sheet for cookies, (and not to use for something sticky like this), I could use it over and over and it still does the trick!

Next, use a big enough pot to hold all the ingredients eventually, and put in your sugar, peanut butter, and syrup.

Heat this on a medium, or slightly medium high heat, stirring all the time until it is smooth and just starts to bubble, shifting it off the heat at that time so you don't start burning any of it. 

Then add the butter (I used margarine) and vanilla.

As usual, save money by buying artificial vanilla extract, rather than the much pricier pure vanilla extract. Unless you are making quite an exquisite dish that requires the real thing (or scraping an actual vanilla bean pod!), nobody is going to know the difference.

Then it is time to dump in your Rice Krispies (or similar cereal) and the peanuts. Your pot should be off the heat by now.

Take the time to really stir this well, coating everything. (Excuse the front of my stove on which the finish has worn off over the years of wiping it down ).

Dump your mixture into the parchment lined baking dish (I think it's  9 x 12?) and smooth it out, trying to get it as evenly distributed as possible.

Then sprinkle your chocolate chips on top and put the pan under the broiler for no more than a couple of minutes. I didn't even let my broiler come up to temperature, I just turned the broiler on and stuck the pan under it and the chocolate chips were soft enough after two minutes.

Once it's out of the oven, spread the softened chocolate chips as evenly over the top as possible, and let it cool. Cut into small squares and enjoy!

I still have ALL of my wrapping to do, almost all of my stocking stuffers to buy, and four more treats to bake. When I'm all done, this is how I will look:

For the record, I have completely given up on keeping that tree skirt in place and properly tied. Like last year, I will need to remember to leave a cat sized hole when I start putting presents under the tree.