Orange Rolls

Orange rolls just so happen to be one of my favorite foods ever. If I had to choose what would be included in my last meal, these would definitely be making an appearance. I'm always on the lookout for a good orange roll recipe, and these were REALLY good. We had them Christmas morning and I wouldn't change a thing about them. 

Orange Rolls

found on The Girl Who Ate Everything, by Lisa Poulsen

*I halved this recipe and I got 24 rolls!

Rolls:

2 c. milk

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

3 tsp. salt

6 c. flour

2 eggs

2 T. (2 packages) yeast

1/2 c. warm water

Filling:

1/4 lb. (1 stick) soft butter *I melted mine

1 c. granulated sugar

grated peel of one orange

Glaze:

Mix together 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar, zest of an orange *to your liking, and juice of one orange

Stir milk, sugar, oil, and salt until sugar is completely dissolved. Add 2 cups of the flour and beat well. Add 2 eggs and stir in. Dissolve the 2 T. yeast in a 1/2 c. warm water and add to flour mixture. Mix in the remaining 4 cups of flour. Put some flour on a pastry board or counter and knead until dough is smooth and not sticky (more flour may be added if sticky). Put dough into greased bowl and let rise until double (about an hour) in a warm place. Divide dough into 6 parts and roll each into a circle. Spread with 1/6 of the filling mixture and cut into 8 wedges. Roll each into a crescent shape. Cover and let rise at least 1 hour in a warm place. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Do not overcook! Pour on glaze when rolls are still warm.

*I made these the night before and after rolling them into a crescent shape, I placed them on a greased cookie sheet, covered them with greased saran wrap and put them in the fridge overnight. The next morning I put them in a warm place for about an hour and a half. They were perfect! 

Yummy Pear Pecan Salad

I needed a good side dish to my roast, but I didn't want just boring ol' green salad. I liked the idea of fruit tossed in with the greens and I came across this recipe. It was the perfect fit and it actually ended up being the most talked about thing at dinner. Everyone not only got seconds, but thirds and fourths!  So bring this to your next get together and you will really wow everyone!

Pear Pecan Salad

adapted from The Very Hungry Caterpillar

15 ounces mixed baby greens

3 pears - peeled, cored and chopped
5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onions or green
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with the pecans. To help sugar coat add a tablespoon of water if needed. Continue stirring gently until sugar has melted and caramelized the pecans. Carefully transfer nuts onto waxed paper. Allow to cool, and break into pieces. For the dressing, blend oil, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper. In a large serving bowl, layer lettuce, pears, feta  cheese, avocado, and onions. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans, and serve.

Breakfast Casserole

This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Every Christmas morning we have our Breakfast Casserole. It is definitely something I look forward to. This was the first time I got to make it for my own little family. A tradition that will carry on in this family too. It turned out as yummy as mom's! 

Breakfast Casserole
by Cheryl Betenson

1 doz eggs beaten

1 c cheese grated

1 ½ c milk

1 lb sausage/bacon/or ham *bacon is the best

2 oz can mushroom

1 can cream of mushroom soup

4 slices bread

¾ tsp dry mustard

¼ c green pepper

3 green onions

¼ c milk

Brown meat, chop onion and green pepper. Butter casserole dish and line with bread. Put cheese and meat on bread. Beat eggs, mustard, milk, onions and peppers. Pour over meat. Refrigerate overnight. Put soup, milk and mushrooms in bowl and pour over and bake in the morning. Bake @ 325 for 1 hr 20 min.

Strawberry Cream Crispie Dessert

(I apologize for the lack of picture quality.)

This is one of my most favorite desserts. We usually have it in the summer when the strawberries are in season, but I suppose you can have ice cream and strawberries all year long. :) I made this for a Christmas party and everyone wanted the recipe. My favorite part is the crust and rice krispie/coconut topping. Delicious!

Strawberry Cream Crispie Dessert
by Mom :)

Vanilla Ice cream

2 c Rice Krispies

1 c brown sugar

1 c coconut

½ c melted butter

Strawberry Danish Dessert pkg*

Frozen or fresh strawberries


To make crust, mix Rice Krispies, sugar, coconut and melted butter.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Save some leftover crust to sprinkle on top of ice cream later. Let crust freeze. Spread softened ice cream on top of frozen crust. Sprinkle with topping leftover from crust. Make Danish dessert and cool, then add fruit. Serve over ice cream. Freeze!


*If you can't find Strawberry Danish, I just made a simple Strawberry syrup/jam type topping. Just add your berries, 2 cups or so, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, and 2 T corn starch. Bring to a boil for a minute and let cool. It worked just great!

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Another brilliant idea I found on the food blogosphere. Hot chocolate, marshammlows, chocolate chips in a cookie!? I love it and I LOVE these. I thought they were going to be good, but they really exceeded any expectations I had. I would choose these over a regular chocolate chip cookie any day of the week. The cookie dough itself was good enough, so good we ate half of it before even making the cookies.  I think the secret was using my favorite flavor of hot chocolate....hazelnut. Mmmm! Try these this winter! You'll love them!

Hot Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen


2 sticks Salted Butter- At Room Temperature  
1 cup White Granulated Sugar   
⅔ cups Packed Light Brown Sugar  
2 whole Large Eggs  
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
3 ¼ cups All-purpose Flour  
4 packages (1 Oz. Packets, NOT Sugar-free) or 1/2 cup Hot Chocolate Mix *really try the hazelnut!
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda  
1 1/2 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips  *you may also add milk chocolate and/or white chocolate chips in addition
Mini marshmallows for garnish *or you may fold in a cup with the chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, hot chocolate mix, salt and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients in 3 to 4 parts, making sure all is incorporated. Fold in chips *and marshmallows if desired.  Chill the dough for an hour or so. 

Use a Tablespoon to scoop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. *If you want to add the marshmallows as pictured above, then press them into the cookies about a minute before they are ready to be taken out of the oven. Wait until they puff slightly, and remove the tray to a cooling rack. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

4 Packet Pot Roast

I have come across this roast a few times and I kept thinking, no way it can be that good and THAT easy. Whenever I hear pot roast I think of hours and hours of cooking, having to babysit it and all the things that could go wrong. Well, I promise you that this one really was as easy and good as it says. I just threw a 4 lb. roast in my crockpot with some veggies, sprinkled them with 4 packet of seasonings and turned the crockpot on low. I came back 8 hours later and it was perfect, so so good. It got great reviews from our guests for Christmas Eve dinner. I will be making this again!

4 Packet Pot Roast
from Sisters Cafe
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 packet Italian salad dressing mix 
1 packet onion soup mix
1 roast of choice *I used a 4lb roast
1/2-3/4 cup of water
assorted veggies if desired *I just used carrots and potatoes, but you could just use carrots and make mashed potatoes for the side, using the drippings from the crockpot as gravy!


Place roast in crockpot.  Arrange vegetables around the roast if being used.  Sprinkle the mix packets over the roast.  Pour water around the roast.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 
*If you think the gravy from the roast afterwards is too thin, you can strain it into a skillet, sprinkle some flour in and make a gravy. It turned out really good. It would be great with mashed potatoes.

Ginger Chewies

I had totally forgotten about this recipe until I came across some soft ginger snap type cookies on the internet. I knew my sister in-law Suzanne had an amazing recipe for some, so I grabbed our family's cookbook and got cooking. Oh I'm so happy I did. I am not going to wait for Christmas to make these again. I LOVE them, and I think they might just be my favorite cookie ever. So SUPER chewy and soft, but hold their pretty circle shape well. Not in the least bit crumbly. Basically they are the perfect cookie, just trust me. :)

Ginger Chewies
from Suzanne Christensen


Makes 6-8 dozen *I halved this recipe and it was still plenty, but if you are going to give them away go for the full recipe! You'll be glad you did.

¾ c unsalted butter, softened

2 c sugar

2 eggs

½ c full flavor molasses

4 c flour

4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 T ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

Sugar for coating

*I did add about 1/2 tsp ground cloves, but it is optional

In a large mixing bowl beat butter, sugar, eggs and molasses together well. Sift dry ingredients and stir into butter mixture until blended. Wrap and refrigerate dough for one hour. Preheat oven to 350. Form dough into 1 tsp size balls. *I used a Tbsp, I like a bigger ginger chewie, like Lofthouse's. Roll in granulated sugar to coat. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 6-8 min. *add a couple minutes if baking a larger cookie. Do not overbake. Cookies will be puffy when removed from oven, but will flatten as they cool. Cool on rack.

Hot Tamale Candy Popcorn

 

Isn't that such a festive looking treat? I came across this recipe here at Jamie Cooks It Up. She used cinnamon bears and colored her popcorn red. I thought it was such a clever idea, cinnamon bears and popcorn! Maybe it sounds weird to some of you, but trust me it is a match made in heaven. I used hot tamales because I couldn't find one package of cinnamon bears here in Hawaii, can you believe that?! It worked out great though. I gave them to my young women at church and they loved it!

Hot Tamale Candy Popcorn
adapted from Jamie Cooks It Up who got it from Katherine Rose


24 C popped popcorn (1 C unpopped)
Hot tamales *approximately 1 cup, really just however many you like and I cut them in half. You may also use cinnamon bears, red hots, cinnamon gum drops, etc!
1 C butter
1/2 C corn syrup
1 1/2 C sugar
1 t vanilla
4 C mini marshmallows or 16 Large marshmallows
Food coloring of choice!

First, pop up your popcorn. Sprinkle it with just a bit of salt and set it aside. *I used a light microwavable popcorn. Snip your tamales in half with a pair of kitchen scissors. In a medium sized sauce pan combine the butter, corn syrup and sugar. Heat it over medium to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat and add your vanilla, marshmallows and green food coloring *or whatever color you desire. Mix it all around to get everything  melted in and combined. Stir in the Hot Tamales. They tend to clump together but just keep stirring, they will break apart when you mix them in with the popcorn as well. Add the mixture to your popped popcorn. Stir it all around until well combined.

Hawaiian Melts

These were SO good and SO easy. It reminded me of Hawaiian haystacks, but with a fun twist. This is a perfect meal for when you REALLY don't have a lot of time. We're talking takes 10 minutes or less.  They were so yummy and we will be eating these again and soon! Thank you See Jane in the Kitchen!

 

Hawaiian Melts

adapted from See Jane in the Kitchen

bread
tuna or chicken *Can use canned to really make it easy
mayo *or cream of chicken soup
celery
green onions
crushed pineapple
tomatocheese

Toast bread and place on a cookie sheet. Mix your chicken or tuna with mayo;, celery and green onions. Put chicken mixture on each piece of toast, top with crushed pineapple, tomato and cheese. Put under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Tania's Peanut Butter Fudge

My friend Tania is always making fantastic food and sharing the secrets with me. She calls this one her famous fudge because whenever she shares it, she is asked for the recipe. It is just that good people. I wouldn't even consider myself a lover of fudge, until I tried hers and now I want to make this fudge every Christmas. The 2 flavors, peanut butter and chocolate, complement each other so well to make one rich and DELICIOUS treat. Thank you Tania!

Tania's Peanut Butter Fudge


3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 packages chips *You make two batches, one with chocolate chip, one with peanut butter chips. So that's  1 1/2 of each kind!
1 jar of marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla


Take a cookie pan and line with wax paper.In large saucepan add evap. milk, sugar and butter. Heat on medium STIR CONSTANTLY. Bring to rolling frothy boil (about 4-5 minutes). Remove from heat. Add marshmallow and peanut butter chips. Stir until completely melted and blended together. Add vanilla. Stir. Spread evenly in lined pan. 

Make another batch, this time with chocolate chips and spread on top of peanut butter fudge. Cover top with wax paper. Take gloved oven mit and smooth out the top surface. Let cool 4 hours.

Lift out of pan using the edges of wax paper to pull free from pan. Take large pizza cutter or knife to cut into 1 inch squares. Makes A LOT!!!

Homemade Sloppy Joes

I have always wanted to like Sloppy Joes, and I've tried lots of times, but Manwich just doesn't do it for me. I don't know why I never thought to just make them myself, from scratch. Well, I needed a quick, casual meal for some friends at the last minute and since Sloppy Joes are such a crowd pleaser I decided to give it a try. I wasn't going to serve my guests Manwich, no way! I relied on my trusty source, Pioneer Woman, who never lets me down. This recipe was delicious! It got rave reviews from the guests. I'll definitely be making these again and never going back to a canned mix again! It was such a cinch and they were the best sloppy joes I ever did have. :)

Homemade Sloppy Joes
adapted from Pioneer Woman

2-½ pounds Ground Beef

½ whole Large Onion, Diced

1 whole Large Green Bell Pepper, Diced

5 cloves Garlic, Minced

1-½ cup Ketchup *Instead of the 1/2 cup of ketchup I substituted in our favorite BBQ sauce

1 cup Water

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons Chili Powder (more To Taste)

1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

½ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste) *I did not add these

Worcestershire Sauce *I used about a Tablespoon

2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste 

Tabasco Sauce (To taste)

Salt To Taste

Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste

*For a more smoky taste to your sloppy joes try a titch of smoked paprika

Sesame Buns, or whatever buns you like!

Brown ground beef and drain most of the fat and discard. Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft. Add ketchup, *bbq sauce if desired, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add tomato paste, Worcestershire, and Tabasco if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Spoon meat mixture over the rolls, topping with a slice of cheese if it makes your skirt fly up. 

*Pioneer Woman suggests they are yummiest when you grill the buns first!

Egg Nog Bread

I love egg nog and until this year I had no idea people actually made stuff with it! I had to try some of these recipes and this one was at the top of my list. I was really glad this turned out as well as it did. It is a very moist, and sweet bread. The egg nog flavor was there, but not overpowering. The family really enjoyed this one and I would definitely make again next year. Try this out egg nog lovers! For step by step instructions go to Mommy's Kitchen.

Egg Nog Bread
adapted from Mommy's Kitchen


Makes 5 mini loaves or 1 large loaf


2   eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups eggnog
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 - 3.4 oz package instant french vanilla or vanilla pudding


Egg Nog Glaze

1  cup Powdered Sugar
Enough eggnog to make a glaze to drizzle over bread *I used about 1/4 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of bread pan or mini loaf pans. Beat eggs, add sugar, eggnog, butter, rum and vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix well. Add the instant pudding and blend. Pour into greased mini loaf pans or large loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes for mini loaves and 60 minutes for 1 large loaf. Bread will be golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan(s) 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a baking rack. When cool drizzle eggnot glaze on top.

To make the glaze: Mix (1) cup powdered sugar with enough eggnog to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle over cooled loaves. Let glaze set before storing bread.

Shoyu Chicken

Moving to Hawaii has its benefits, and I'm not just talking about the sandy beaches or warm weather. I'm talking about the food! They have some serious "ono grinds". We have picked up a few recipes from the locals here, recipes we will most certainly be bringing back home. This is one of them and it quickly became my favorite chicken and rice dish ever! The chicken is tender and has a perfect sweet and salty combination. My favorite part of the dish is the shoyu sauce to pour over the rice. Together, with the chicken, makes this the perfect Hawaiian dish! It is so unbelievably easy too. You can have this dinner ready in 45 minutes!

Shoyu Chicken

1 cup Shoyu (soy sauce for us mainlanders, Aloha brand best, but pretty sure that it is just a Hawaiian thing. Kikkoman is okay, not as sweet, more salty, so add a bit more water if needed)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water, may need a little more if it is too salty

12 chicken drummies, skin removed (the slimy hard part)

1/2 onion, diced *can use green onion, or use green onion to garnish after

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Cooked rice

Combine shoyu, sugar, and water. Heat until sugar dissolves. Throw in garlic and onion. Stir. Throw in skinless chicken drummies.* Bring to boil. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring a couple times throughout. Serve with cooked rice, and the extra sauce poured over the rice. Garnish with green onion if desired. Enjoy!

*I know it seems like there is not enough water, but the water level will rise as the chicken cooks. I promise you don't need to add more water. The chicken will come out great. Just mix the chicken a couple times while it is cooking, to give them all a chance to sit in the broth. It will be fine!

Garlic Noodles aka Chicken Scampi

I think this recipe started at my mom's house, and got passed along to my sisters. Since I live far from home, I was never around to try this, but boy did I hear about it! This is one of Jamie's family's favorite meal! They call them Garlic noodles, but you may know it as chicken scampi. It definitely lived up to its' expectations. I can't wait to eat this one again!

Garlic Noodles
Jamie Matthews



Chicken tenderloins cubed (I used about 8 tenderloins, whatever fit in my pan. You could use chicken breast)
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
1 green pepper *I used frozen red, yellow, and green pepper strips
1 can chicken broth *I don't use the whole can, but most of it
1/2 cup cream *I used milk and it was great
2-3 T flour
5-6 T Butter *divided, and you could always use more if desired
2 T olive oil
Salt/Pepper
1/2 lb cooked linguine or spaghetti noodles


Cook your chicken in a little olive oil and butter.  Flavor with salt and pepper or I've used Salad Supreme before and really liked it. Once chicken is cooked, put on a plate with tin foil over it to keep warm.

Prepare noodles by cooking them according to package directions. Drain and set aside. 

In same saute pan as you used to cook the chicken, add a few more TBSP butter and saute 1-2 cloves garlic, 1 onion and 1 each of red and green peppers. Let saute until soft. If needed added another 2 Tbsp of butter, if no butter left in pan. Then sprinkle the 2-3 T flour on top of the veggies. Stir in flour, then add slowly the chicken broth, while heat is on HIGH. You don't need the whole can of chicken broth. Add about 1/2 cup of milk or cream. Let it thicken. 
Place cooked noodles in the pot you cooked them, pour in thickened garlic sauce. Throw the cooked, cubed chicken in and mix well. Then enjoy!!! 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

This is one of those desserts that is so easy you think, "why didn't I think of that", but so, SO good that you think "how have I not seen this recipe floating around before now?!" One look at the ingredients tells you it is going to be a hit. You really can't screw this up, it is that simple. In fact, I was so confident that it was going to be easy and delicious that the first time I made it, I took it over to a friends house for dinner, without even trying it first! Everyone decided it was superb and were super glad it made an appearance for dessert. :) You have to try this right now! For step by step pictures check out Mommy's Kitchen.

Sopapilla Cheesecake
found on Mommy's Kitchen

2 cans crescent rolls

2-8oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups Sugar *divided

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 stick butter *I only used 1/2 stick and it was plenty

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into the bottom of your baking dish and press the seams together. In a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread this over top of dough. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents. Mix the reaming 1/2 cup of sugar & cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture generously over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown. Cool, slice and enjoy! It was delicious served warm, but the next day straight from the refrigerator was pretty awesome too! Just like cheesecake!

Bean and Rice Burrito

I really REALLY love looking at food blogs. In fact, I spend most of my free time browsing and bookmarking recipes. It is so fun! I will never be able to keep up with the amount of recipes I have saved, but that doesn't stop me from trying. 95% of our dinners are brand new recipes! My husband doesn't mind my experimenting, most of the time they work out great anyway. This recipe was one of the "lucky" recipes chosen from my browsing around that actually made it to my "sounds good right now and must try" pile. When I'm looking at so many recipes a day, only a few get by to be put on my grocery list!  Anyway I'm rambling....I was very happy with this recipe and so was the hubby, even my 2 year old gobbled it right up! I tried them quesadilla style the next day, and it was really good. 

Bean and Rice Burritos

adapted from Emily at Scrumdiddlyumptious

1 can (16 oz) pinto beans
1 can corn
1 1/2 - 2 cups brown rice, cooked *I used 1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup water *The original recipe doesn't say to drain the corn or beans, but I did. I also ended up using much more water than 1/2 cup.  I think next time I won't drain the beans, and just add water slowly until it is the right consistency.
2 T. taco seasoning *I think I may add more next time

1/2 onion diced *optional, but not in this family!
*Salt to taste
Shredded cheese

Remember, the rice needs to be cooked, so be sure to do this step well before dinner time! 


Combine cooked rice, beans, corn, tomato paste, water, taco seasoning and onion in a large pot; bring mixture to a low boil; turn down heat to medium low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt if desired. Prepare burritos with warm tortillas and sprinkle with cheese. Roll them up and serve with sourcream, salsa, guacomole, olives....whatever you like! You can also grill up your tortilla and serve it quesadilla style, this may be my favorite way. :)

Rudolph Reindeer Bars

I don't even remember how I stumbled upon these. All I know is I made them the very next day I found them, and I am so glad I did. I love me some maraschino, chocolate, and coconut. They were super yummy, and kinda Christmas looking with the white coconut and red maraschino cherries, so I decided to rename them Rudolph Bars. :) If you have the patience, I thought these were best when chilled. But you may serve them any way you want!

Rudolph Reindeer Bars
adapted from Eagle Brand's Cherry Magic Cookie Bars

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
• 1 (14 oz) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 6 oz. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 (10 oz.) jar maraschino cherries, drained, patted dry and chopped *I think next time I'll just slice them in half.
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees for dark pans, 325 degrees for glass baking pan. Spray 9x13 dish with non stick spray. In small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Press crumb mixture firmly on bottom of 13x9-inch baking pan. **Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. After milk has been poured evenly over the graham crackers, begin to layer your chocolate chips, cherries and coconut evenly. Press down firmly with a fork. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Store at room temperature or in refrigerator.
• 
  
• **I poured half of the milk onto the crust, then poured the rest of the milk on after all the other ingredients, to help bind them. (Some people commented that they fell apart if you pour the milk on first.) If you do pour the whole can on the crust, just be sure to press firmly with a fork after, as it instructs. Also, do not attempt to smooth the condensed milk evenly over the graham cracker layer, it is very tempting to do so. It will lift up the graham cracker crust and create a mess!

Maraschino Cherries