Gray May morning
Dear friends,
It's thoroughly overcast here, sympathies to anyone who is attached to the sunrise on May Day morning. Me, I think of my father greeting me in his best Gomez Addams voice with, “Such a lovely gloomy day”—which he did something like once a week when I was in high school—and I'm content with the day at hand.
No new publications in April, but there are more things coming soon, so stay tuned! I'm also finishing up a portion of a large project whose different aspects have deadlines throughout the year, so that's very satisfying. I do love to put a project on someone else's desk and make it their responsibility, not mine. Also something something artistic satisfaction something something job well done, right? Sure, sure. But also just sending someone to the Land of Someone Else's Problem--it's a beautiful place, the Land of Someone Else's Problem. I would like so many things to be happy there.
Anyway it's not like we're going to run out of things that are OUR problem any time soon. On any scale.
Welp.
So I wrote that, and I stared off into the middle distance for a bit, and I have just now remembered that I have the rest of a newsletter to write. Ahem! Yes! May is always one of the fullest months of the year in my family. This year is no exception, and it's so busy in May that June has decided to get in on the fun this year. I'll be taking a break sometime around the Fourth of July. Mostly this is extremely good busy, and I hope it is for you as well.
Excelsior,
Marissa
Cashewroos
A family member has developed a peanut sensitivity. Sad times, peanuts are great! But after an adjustment period, we decided that some treats are not to be missed. Especially when it's something that can so easily be shared with friends with vegan or gluten-free food needs! If you need this treat to be gluten-free, simply check and make sure that you're buying a store brand of puffed rice cereal that doesn't contain malt flavoring--the name brand Rice Krispies does, but most store brands don't. If you need it to be vegan, just use dark chocolate chips, which is what I recommend anyway. The substitution for the Karo syrup if you can't do corn syrup will change the flavor, but it'll still be nice: go ahead and use maple syrup there, it's maple-y but that's not a bad thing necessarily.
This is a summer favorite in part because it doesn't involve turning the oven on.
Onward with the actual recipe.
In a large pot, melt 1 c. sugar into 1 c. Karo syrup. You don't have to boil this or do anything wild, you just need the sugar melted into the syrup.
Stir in 1 c. cashew butter and beat well. Add 1 t. vanilla. Then add:
1 c. chopped cashews
5 - 5 1/2 c. Rice Krispies or other puffed rice cereal (just use more cereal if you don't have cashews to chop)
Mix until you've got a well-coated, well-mixed, sticky whole. Press it into a greased 9x13 pan.
Then melt 12 oz. chocolate chips and spread over the top. If you want to use milk chocolate or even a mix of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, I am not the boss of you and cannot stop you, but I only ever want dark chocolate, and I honestly think these bars are best that way.