Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Catt's Cream of Coconut Cake

I love this cake! I know it's a variation of the "Better than....." cakes, but I like this one more than any I've tried. At the end of this recipe, I'll post some variations too. This cake is very rich - just a small square will satisfy you!

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
1 (16-ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16-ounce) container whipped topping
1 (8-ounce) bag sweetened flaked coconut

Prepare and bake white cake mix according to package directions in a 13 x 9 baking pan. Remove cake from oven and while still hot, using the end of a wooden spoon, a skewer or a fork, poke holes all over top of the cake. Whisk coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk together. Pour over the hot cake. Cool completely then frost with the whipped topping and sprinkle with the flaked coconut. Cover and store in refrigerator.

This Cream of Coconut Cake makes a lovely Christmas dessert. I like to decorate with red and green cherries. Because of the coconut, it looks like snow.

I've also made this cake using a devils food cake mix; whisk together caramel ice cream topping and sweetened condensed milk, pouring it over the warm cake. Frost with whipped cream, and top with Heath Bit's. It's so good, trust me - take either of these recipes to a pot luck dinner or any gathering and you'll have to make sure you take the recipe. You'll be the hit of the party!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Catt's Easy Lemon Pound Cake

I have a pound cake recipe that's delicious, but here's one you can go right to your pantry and make.

Catt's Easy Lemon Pound Cake

l pkg. 2 layer lemon cake mix
l (3.4 oz) lemon OR vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
l/3 c. veg. oil
l c. water

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease and flour bundt or tube pan. Combine cake mix, pudding, eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 25 minutes and then invert onto a dish or serving plate. Cool completely.

For Glaze: You can heat either vanilla frosting or lemon frosting in microwave on high power for l0 to l5 seconds. Drizzle over cake. You can also make your own using powdered sugar and lemon juice. However, I prefer to sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and not use a glaze.

I've used different flavors for this pound cake, depending on what I have in the pantry: I've used chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding: white cake mix with vanilla pudding: Duncan Hines makes a pineapple cake mix, it's good using vanilla pudding - it's perhaps my favorite one so far. I've also used an orange cake mix with vanilla pudding. Just play with it, and use what you have on hand. That's the key to quick recipes: while it's not what some may say 'from scratch' it's all about cooking at home, not buying it from the store already made. This way, you can control the flavors and customize it with what your family likes.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Martha's Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother started baking these after having a large cookie from the mall. You can bake them smaller though, by using a tablespoon instead of a 1/4 measuring cup.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz package chocolate chips (I use Nestle mini semi sweet chocolate chips - I prefer the even small distribution of chocolate, plus they remain creamy in the cookie.)

Cream butter and shortening, gradually adding sugars, and beating well at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well. Sift flour, soda, and salt, then and add to creamed mixture, mixing well but not over mixing. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by 1/4 cup onto greased cookie sheet. Lightly press down. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 17 minutes until light brown.

Martha's Peanut Butter Cookies

I am not sure where this recipe originated, but it is an old one. It pretty much follows along the same lines as the old time peanut butter cookies.

My mother made the best cookies. She took careful time to roll each one the same size, and of course, I was almost 30 and still bringing her cookies to work with me, like a big kid! When she fixed them for me to take someplace, she put them in a box - I mean a box like you get from Dillard's, with the tissue paper and everything. She layered them in just right. Folded lots of tissue paper on top and then off to work I went. I remember one of the men could not figure out what bakery I got them from and he was so surprised when I told him my mother made them. And they do taste just like a bakery cookies. I make a lot of these at the holidays of course, and the last couple of years my mom was alive, she got fancy and dipped them half way in chocolate - talk about rich! She baked them for her Senior Adult class, and everyone got a dipped cookie. When I run into some of the ladies, they still talk about how wonderful the cookies were. I hope they become a part of your family traditions!

1 cup Crisco Shortening
1-cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1-cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Cream shortening. Add sugars and cream. Add peanut butter and eggs, mixing well. Sift flour, soda and vanilla, then mixing to cream mixture just until combined. Roll into balls (I use a little over a tablespoon) and place on cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet. Using a fork, flatten crosswise. (I dip my fork in sugar so it does not stick and the extra sugar on the cookie doesn't hurt.)

Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly brown. Watch them close, they will burn easily. Cool on racks, and enjoy!

You can take these cookies, when cooled, and dip half the cookie in dipping chocolate (you can get chocolate bark for this.) They are so good, but actually, I prefer them plain.

Catt's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I think these cookies just smell like the holidays! I love them, the combination of the orange, cinnamon and nutmeg fills your house with the most wonderful aroma. I took them to a cookie contest at church once, with the dipping half of the cookie in white chocolate then sprinkling them with pecans, and they won first place. They were really gorgeous!

1-cup butter or margarine, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup pure orange juice or apple juice
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel (I would omit this ingredient if you use apple juice instead of orange juice)
3 cups quick cooking oats
1-cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans (optional - I don't use them)

Cream butter; gradually add sugar beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat well. Add juice, orange peel and vanilla, beating well. Sift in a separate bowl; flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg . Add to creamed mixture, beating just until mixed. Fold in oats, raisins and nuts if desired (unless you like female cookies as we do.) Mix just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper on cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 13 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks and cool. If you don't want to use juice, use water.

When they are cool, for extra decadence, dipped half in white chocolate, let dry on wax paper. Before the white chocolate dries, sprinkle lightly with finely chopped pecans. Talk about professional -they look like they came from a gourmet shop!

Catt's White Chocolate Chip cookies

Catt's White Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract1
/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 bag white chocolate chips
1/2 cup macadamia nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream margarine, shortening and sugars - add eggs, and extracts. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt - then mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chips and nuts (you can omit the nuts if you prefer female cookies.)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. I use a cookie scooper to get mine out, if you want big cookies you can use an ice cream scooper. For small cookies, you can get 12 on each sheet: but if you are using the ice cream scoop for larger cookies, you will only get 6 on each cookie sheet. Also - I use a 'Airbake' cookie sheet or food service cookie sheet and parchment paper. They make the bottom of your cookies as pretty as the top. I use the Kroger "better for baking" because it is 80%, and makes the best cookies.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Catt's Lemon Bars

This are just so good, they are almost refreshing.

Catt's Lemon Bars

2 1/2 cups flour, separated and sifted in one 2 cup increment, and a 1/2 cup increment
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
(I use a fresh lemon, and I zest it too and add that to the mix, too. But if it is the difference between using lemon juice out of the bottle and not making the lemon bars because you don't have a fresh lemon, please...use the juice from the bottle. Just as long as you make them. )

Combine 2 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and margarine and mix until blended.
Press dough into 9x 13 greased pan, bringing edges up a bit. Bake 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven until lightly browned. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, and lemon juice (and zest if you have it) until mixed well, and pour over baked crust.

Return to oven and bake until set, about 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then dust them lightly with additional powder sugar, if desired.

Catt's Dill Dip

Catt's Dill Dip

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon Beau Monde

Whisk together all ingredients. Let sit overnight, so the flavors can marry.

Serve in a hollowed round loaf of pumpernickel bread, or in a green pepper and a red pepper, which have been hollowed out also. Can also serve with crackers and vegetables even though I have to tell you, the best thing to dip in this is bread cubes. I just take a loaf of french bread and cut it into bite sized cubes. Yummy!

My Mom's Stuffed Green Peppers

No hamburger and rice for my mom's, this is the best winter comfort food.

If you have some wonderful green bell peppers, here is the best recipe to enhance the flavor. This is not your typical ground beef/rice filling, my mom used leftover roast and it is so good. The smell throughout the house was enough to make your mouth water. Enjoy!

Martha's Stuffed Peppers

Leftover beef roast, chopped fine (usually 2 cups is good)
1 can crushed tomatoes (I usually use a 15 oz can, include the juice)
small chopped onion, chopped fine
I can shoe peg corn*
Peeled potatoes, chopped fine

Mix together in large bowl. Using a tablespoon, stuff inside green peppers that has tops removed and insides cleaned. Mom also rubbed the inside of the pepper with salt and black pepper before she stuffed them. Place in dutch oven (or crock pot even though be warned, your peppers might be a bit pungent if you cook them too slow in the crockpot.) Any left over beef mixture, spread around the bottom of the pan under and around the peppers. Simmer until green peppers and potatoes are tender, about 30 - 40 minutes. Please remember, the ingredients in the green peppers should be diced finely, they cook better that way.

These are wonderful. Mom always served them with cornbread. Absolutely wonderful.

*Shoe peg corn is a white, small kernal corn. You can buy it in cans, but you can buy it frozen as well. Either will work in this recipe, and it really gives the dish a nice balance of colors!

Catt's 70's Style Crockpot Mushrooms

Can you just picture these in your avocado green crock pot?

Rinse 3 pounds mushrooms, and trim off just the very end of the stem (leave stem intact, just remove the rough part) and leaving mushroom whole. Drain well. In slow cooker or crock pot, put one stick of butter in the bottom, and add mushrooms - your top to the crockpot may even be askew, that's ok, they will cook down momentarily. Sprinkle generously with garlic salt. Cook on high 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Serve. Watch them disappear.

These go great with http://mymotherstable.blogspot.com/2007/01/catts-spicy-swedish-meatballs.html

Catt's Famous Hashbrown Casserole

Simply put, most requested recipe ever.


Catt's Hashbrown Casserole

2 pounds frozen hashbrowns, Southern Style (diced) thawed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed and tossed in melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a casserole dish. (I use a 7x11.)

In a large mixing bowl, combine soup, sour cream, melted butter, cheese and onions. Mix until creamy. Add potatoes, fold in until thoroughly coated. Pour into casserole dish and bake 30 minutes. Cover with crushed crackers, and continue baking for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

You can make this in a half size disposable steamtable pan, and take it to a pot luck. Make sure you take the recipe though, everyone will want it.

Catt's Authentic AuGratin Potatoes

Easiest recipe ever, and you'll swear there is cheese in here somewhere.

Catt's AuGratin Potatoes

2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 teaspoon minced garlic clove (optional)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Salt to taste

Peel potatoes - slice very thin, or cut into small cubes. Rinse well.
Whisk together cream, garlic, white pepper and salt - add potatoes and stir, making sure each one is coated. Generously grease a casserole dish. Using a slotted spoon, lift potatoes out of cream into dish. Pour the cream over potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour, or until potatoes are fork tender. Serve steaming hot.

Catt's Spicy Swedish Meatballs

Blast from the past, we had these at every Christmas party, NYE and Superbowl Party...of course, with our Superbowl Party, we cheer for the clock. Is the Superbowl football?


Catt's Famous Appetizer Meatballs,

1 bottle Good Quality Ketchup (Heinz, Red Gold)
1 bottle Chili sauce or Cocktail Sauce
1 jar red currant jelly
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

In sauce pan on top of stove, whisk together first 4 ingredients. Add meatballs to slow cooker or crock pot and pour sauce over meatballs, cook on high 4 hours or on low up to 7 hours. Delicious, really good served with the 70's style slow cooker mushrooms.

You can make your own meatballs, or use the frozen kind. You'll need at least 40-50 meatballs. For the holidays, substitute a can of cranberry sauce or a small jar of grape jelly instead of the red currant jelly.

Catt's Famous No Peek Casserole

This is one of only 2 dishes I use cream soup for. It's just an old standard, and as with some childhood memories, you just can't gourmet the recipe!


Catt's Famous "No Peek" Casserole

2 - 3 lbs beef cut into bite sized pieces (inexpensive cuts work great!)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 can mushrooms
2/3 cup milk

Brown meat, lower heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased, tightly covered casserole or roaster (very important!) and bake for 2 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Don't Peek! Remove from oven and serve over hot noodles or rice. Crusty bread is a must!

Like the recipe says, you can use inexpensive beef for this. And, your house will smell delicious! I made this usually on a Sunday, and my mom would walk in the house and say "ah, this must not be a pay week." I could throw this together with the stuff I had from the pantry.

Pantry Bean Chowder

Catt's Bean Chowder

This is so easy, I am almost ashamed to post it. 10 years or so ago, I went into a local salvage store and was able to get canned northern beans, potatoes, carrots, butter beans, and other canned goods for pennies a can. I put together this recipe as a result of that great find, and I am glad I did. It is one I repeat and people who come to my house to visit request it. My mom loved it, and she said it is not a soup at all, more like a chowder. (Please, so there is no bloodshed, do not call it a stoup.)

In the morning, before I left for work, I would dump in the crock pot:
2 cans Northern Beans
1 can Butter Beans
1 can potatoes, diced into small cubes
1 can carrots, diced into small cubes
enough cups of chicken stock or broth (made with bullion, or base) to cover
1 tsp minced onions
1/4 cup chopped celery (optional)
1 cup diced smoked sausage, ham, or kielbasa
salt and pepper to taste

I turn it to low and cook it all day. If it was a Saturday, I cooked it on high for about 3 hours. When it was done, I served it over fried cornbread. Sometimes, I had a nice cold bowl of cole slaw, the chowder and the slaw paired well with the different textures.

I know it is an easy one, but I have to tell you, I got these canned goods for $1 per case of 12. It made a great winter meal, considering I got the corn meal cheap also, and since at that time I was a single mom, I could not beat the price. To this day, when I get the canned goods 4/$1, I still make this at least once a week.

Chicken for Everyday

For this, you can use either boneless or bone-in. I used the boneless, because Iwas able to get it for $1.66 a pound. I bought 2 bags at Aldi's, they were 3 lb bags for $4.99. So I started with 6 pounds of boneless chicken breasts.I cooked it the way I cook most meats in large quantities: in a large oval roaster, with a tight-fitting lid. I put it in at 5:00pm, and it was ready to use at 9:00pm. I cooked it at 300 degrees, with a cup of water, salt and pepper. That was it. Halfway through the cooking time, I took it out and, using a spatula, I broke it up in pieces and let it continue to cook in the wonderful juice it had in it.When it was done, I let it cool slightly. Then, using the freezer plastic ziplockbags, I separated it into 6 packages. At this point you can leave out what you want and freeze the rest for easy meals. And don't forget to distribute the stock-- it will need stock to thaw it out so it does not become dry. If for some reason you do not have enough stock, you can always make a cup of stock using buillon or, my personal favorite, chicken base. Then just add it to the freezer containers. Here are some ideas:

Chicken Lasagna:
2 cans spaghetti sauce
Oven-ready noodles
Ricotta cheese with an egg and mozzarella cheese mixed all together.
Spoon some of the sauce in a casserole dish. Lay noodles on top. Distribute thawed chicken meat over noodles. Cover with sauce. Add more noodles, then all of the ricotta cheese mixture. Add more noodles, and cover with the rest of the sauce. Top with fresh Parmesan cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Cream of Chicken:
Add the chicken to a saucepan. Add half a cup of stock, which has 2 teaspoons of flour whisked in (stock make from buillon or base). Cook until hot. Add 1/3 cup heavy cream, give a quick stir, and serve over toast, biscuits, or buttered noodles. Good side dishes with this are steamed broccoli, glazed carrots, or a tossed salad. You can also stir in some mushrooms.

Chicken Tettrazini:
This could not be easier! Take the Cream of Chicken and, instead of serving, stir in a can of mushrooms, pimentos and a handful of cooked spaghetti. Pour into greased casserole dish, smother with cheddar cheese, and bake until bubbly.This is one of our favorites!

Chicken Barbecue
Thaw the chicken, add bottled barbecue of your choice, and serve. What is easier?

Chicken and Dumplings
Bring to a boil 6-8 cups of chicken stock ( you can make this from buillon or base.) While that is cooking, take a can of 10 biscuits, flour each biscuit and flatten out until each one is thin. Using a pizza cutter, cut each biscuit into strips, turn and cut again to make small squares. Drop each piece individually into boiling stock. When you are through dropping the biscuits in, give it a quick stir, and simmer gently uncovered and stirring frequently. After 10 minutes, add a bag of the thawed chicken. Simmer an additional 10 minutes and serve.

Chicken Fajitas
Put chicken in crock pot (frozen is ok) with a sliced onion, sliced green pepper, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 2 hours. Serve in warm tortillas with sour cream, lettuce, and salsa. If you like it crisp (as I do), you can stir fry the veggies then add the chicken, thawed, after you remove the veggies.

Chicken and Dressing
Prepare boxed cornbread-style stuffing mix, using 2 cups of water and a whole stick of margarine. When it is done, pour into a greased casserole dish. Top with chicken, a cup of stock (made from-- well you know by now-- buillon or base), dot with margarine, and bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

White Chili
Take 2 cans of Northern beans; add chicken and a can of sliced green chilis. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and a spoonful of salsa. This is so good and easy it is a sin.

"Homemade" Chicken Noodle Soup
Cook a bag of noodles. Cover with enough water to make a soup. For each cup of water you used, use a buillon cube or a teaspoon of chicken base. Add a finely diced carrot, a small amount of diced celery, salt, pepper, and a bag of your chicken (give it a few quick dices so the pieces are spoon sized). Simmer for 20 minutes, and serve. Your family will never want canned soup again. And why would they?

See how many meals you can use this in? And the chicken is already cooked so meal time is a breeze-- and most of the items are things already in your pantry. Cost-efficient, satisfying, and most of all, home-cooked. What can be better?

Saturday, January 20, 2007

YOLANDA’S YUMMIEST SWEET POTATO PIE

INGREDIENTS:
· 2 Pillsbury unbaked 9-inch pie shells
· 2 large cans Bruce’s Cut Sweet Potatoes, drained
· 1 stick of sweet cream butter, softened
· 1/3 cup Karo Dark Corn Syrup
· 1 tablespoon molasses
· 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
· 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
· 2 large eggs, beaten
· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 1/8 teaspoon salt
· 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
· 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
· 1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
· ½ cup confectioners sugar


DIRECTIONS:

1. PREHEAT oven to 425° F.

2. PRICK entire bottom of pie shells with fork, and BAKE for 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

3. MICROWAVE sweet potatoes and butter in large bowl for 3-4 minutes. Mash thoroughly
with fork. Stir in Karo syrup, molasses, brown sugar, condensed milk, and eggs. Stir in
vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. POUR mixture into prepared pie shells.

5. BAKE at 425° F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and continue to bake for 30 to 40
minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

6. WHIP heavy cream together with confectioner’s sugar until soft peaks form.

My Sister's Oatmeal Carmelitas



This is the best thing I have, without a doubt, eaten in my life. When my sister makes them and brings them to my house, I forget the cheesecakes, cookies, fudge, and pies. I eat only these.


But I think it is what I am reminded of when I eat them. As I take a bite, I can see myself back in the late 60's and early 70's. I was in about the 4th grade I think. I had a teacher who was a little standoffish. Around thanksgiving, I took a box with a new dessert my sister had made, called Oatmeal Carmelita's. My teacher at the end of the day called me aside and told me she wanted to talk to my mother when she came to pick me up. So she walked out with me to the car, and asked my mother to make some of those bars for her to mail someone, she had someone very special. My mom agreed and my teacher said she would pay for all the ingredients, and anything else she wanted to make was ok. So off we went, and my sister and mother got busy. They baked cookies, made fudge, and then my sister made the Oatmeal Carmelita's. So when my mother came to get me from school a few days later, my mom walked in with a big box of goodies. My teacher had some money in her hand, and my mother was telling her the best way to package them. My mother was somewhat of an expert, my brother had just returned from a few years in Japan in the Air Force.

After the conversation, my mother asked her whom she was sending these too. And I will never forget my teacher’s response. She said, "My younger brother is in Vietnam. He will be there for the holidays, and a lot of the guys are getting homemade things to share on Christmas Day. I thought there would be perfect for him, because after all.........we worry about him, you know? My mother makes herself sick every time it is on the news. We will miss him this year, and I want him to know how much we are thinking of him." The tears welled up in my mother's eyes. She was lucky enough to have her son home, and her heart went out to my teacher. As my teacher pushed the money in my mother’s hand, I watched my mother gently push the money back, and she reached out and hugged my teacher. She would not take any money, and when my teacher insisted, she told my teacher to instead save it for when her brother comes home, and buy him an extra special Christmas gift. My teacher cried, and later told me what a wonderful mom I had.



As if I didn't know.

Oatmeal Carmelita's


1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup nuts (walnuts or pecans)
3/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp flour



Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, soda, salt and margarine. Blend well at low speed to form crumbs. Press half the crumbs into an 11 x 7 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Blend caramel topping and 3 tbsp flour. Pour over chocolate chips and nuts to cover. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Bake 20 - 25 minutes, until done. If you have any doubts about the way your oven heats, start checking this after 15 minutes. I also line my pan with parchment paper, and I let it hang over the sides - that way I can chill them, lift it out with the parchment paper, and cut them in squares using a pizza cutter.

And just to show you how darn cute I was, I called these "carmel eaters" when I was a kid.