Mississippi Mud Bars

Novio has a friend who’s a drummer and they get together as often as they can with other musician buddies to play their favorite tunes (Classic Rock, British Invasion, you Boomers know what I’m talking about). Mike’s a Jewish guy who was raised in the American South. And his mom cooked in the good ol’ Southern tradition.

When Mike’s mom passed away, she had left for him the small tin filled with her cherished recipes, handwritten on index cards. Every New Year’s Day, he honors his mom by cooking for hours and preparing a big ol’ Southern dinner. And he invites all his friends over to partake of this terrific meal.

So every New Year’s Day, his lucky friends are treated to fried chicken, greens, black-eyed peas, and either mac & cheese or cheesy grits, depending on his mood. Of course, there’s also plenty of cornbread to go around.

And Mike has his friends bring their favorite beverages or desserts.

This year, I thought I’d stay with the theme and look for a  southern dessert to bring along. I found it in Mississippi Mud Bars. I did some research and ended up using the recipe on the inside of the wrapper of the Ghirardelli White Chocolate baking bar (it’s on the inside of their Semi-Sweet bar too). I left the recipe as is. But I did lower the sugar from 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar to a 1/2 cup of loosely packed brown sugar. You know me.

Mississippi Mud bars are right up my alley – a combination/variation of two of my favorite bar cookies, Brownies and Blondies.

Ingredients are simple simple simple.

Ahhhh….. chocolate

I love buying big one-pound hunks of Belgian chocolate. BUT, when time is of the essence and I can’t get to the specialty shop in Culver City that sells it, I head for the market and get a great quality chocolate in a 4-ounce bar. Also, because it’s thin, it’s MUCH easier to chop.

Terrific chopped chocolate in no time. And so simple, Novio did it like a pro. He was compensated well for his efforts. And again and again, as I’ve made this several times since.

Here comes the spreading of the chocolate

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MISSISSIPPI MUD BARS

Thank you, Ghirardelli

Ingredients:

PS My Novio is a man of many talents. He’s a great singer and keyboard player, so I get to be his groupie a lot. And his buddies reap the benefits of bb’s kitchen activities when they’re around.