And the winner is....Chewy Chocolate Pan Cookies

Well last night I drank my fair share of festive drinks which could go with coconut cream pie (minus the pie). A very lovely evening.

Tonight is the annual beach supper. Every year, for as long as I can remember, the unique little community where Mary lived and much of my family still resides, holds a celebration to vote for a new community club president. Their duties entail organizing events throughout the year and the annual 4th of July celebration (monumental). Juniper point, is one of my favorite places on earth.

 picture circa early 1900s

Mary often made spaghetti pie for the beach supper, but this year's theme calls for appetizers and desserts, so I am going to whip up a batch of her Chewy Chocolate Pan Cookies.

What has been so great about this adventure are the stories that have emerged when the topic of Mary's recipes are brought up. My aunt Suzanne told me that this recipe for pan cookies was a favorite of my cousin Nick (who's birthday is today! Happy birthday Ditty) and his roommate Jake when they were in college. Mary used to bake up a batch of these and mail them to their college, packed in a tin container full of rice krispies to keep them moist. The problem was that Mary liked to eek out as many servings as possible from a recipe, often making a 4 dozen serving into a 6 or 7 dozen serving. By the time they got to Nick and Jake, the small bars would not have survived the mail and disintegrated into crumbs....which the boys still managed to consume.

 A grown up Nick at Matt and I's wedding this past July

Mary's cookies made him invincible!

Mary always thought of you while you were away at college. By the time I was at UMass Amherst she became accustomed to sending money; $3 to "not spend all at once". This usually got me a couple of drinks out of the vending machine or a load of laundry. Not like my mother's days in which Mary's money bought her a box of cheeze-its and a 6 pack of cheap beer.

Chewy chocolate pan cookies
(recipes ripped out of paper, taped onto white recipe card)

1 1/4 cups of butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10oz bag of peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350. Grease a jelly roll pan. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely, cut into bars.
Make @ 4 dozen bars.... not 6 or 7 dozen!