On my drive home yesterday, I was mentally thinking about my crop night in the evening and that I had signed up to bring dessert. I’ve made this wonderful pan of chocolate chip/ coconut/ walnut mix a couple times in the past week so I was trying to remember if I had all the ingredients on hand.
When I got home, I checked- graham crackers crumbs- check. Walnuts- check. Chocolate chips- check. Cocunut- almost- check. Sweetened condensed milk- (I never have this on hand)- check! What? Everything? Awesome. So I got to work.
Mix the graham crackers with melted butter. Layer on the botoom of the pan.
Open the sweetened condensed milk (not evaportaed milk that I strangely keep confusing it’s name with)- and that thing would not come off.
WOuld. Not.
So I kind of tried to pry the lid off and then I saw it. Yellow gooey-gunk just sitting there. Not that pretty, creamy looking stuff I remembered from my last batch four days before.
Hmm, thought I. I wonder how long this stuff has been sitting in the pantry? I don’t remember buying it recently. I wondered aloud what the expiration date was on it.
And then I looked. And laughed. A lot of laughing.
Can you see it?
September 2004!
That thing is over 5 years old. And worse. It moved with us. Twice!
I laughed again. Dana called right at the moment, we enjoyed a laugh out loud at my expense. Then I drove to the store and got a new can. Awwwww- the look of a fresh can of sweetened condensed milk:
The moral of the story: check your sale-by dates before you go makin’ some scrumptious desserts. You never know how long things have been waiting around to get used. Gulp.
…
Bonus: The Magic Bar Recipe
1 1/2 c. crushed graham cracker
1/2 c. melted butter
14 oz.(fresh) can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. crushed walnuts
1 1/3 c. coconut shavings
Directions:
1. Mix melted butter with crushed graham crackers. Press into a greased 13 X 9 pan.
2. Pour sweetened condensed milk on the cracker crust.
3. Layer first the chocolate chips, then the walnust and finally teh coconut.
4. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until the coconut is lightly browned.
5. Take out and immediately pull the sides slightly away from the edge. Let stand and cut into bars a couple hours later.
Divine!
(recipe taken from Eagle Brand products)
11 Comments
Those look so yummy!
That’s a great story. At least you knew enough to not use the yellow gunk!
That’s older than two of your children!
Your Eagle Brand looks like it’s turned into caramel!! It does that if you boil the can in hot water for a couple of hours…my Spanish teacher did that for Cinco de Mayo one year.
Either way, good call buying a new can.
And every year when my Mom makes snow ice cream, we always have that 5 second debate of whether we need Sweetened Condensed Milk or Evaporated Milk…
That’s the recipe on the container right? I think that will be my goal this year-start making recipes on containers. I swear they are always SO GOOD but I never seem to bother. They probably print millions of them for a reason though!
I have come across old cans of that stuff in our pantry, too. Can’t say they were 5 (!) years old, though. Impressive, Susie! And glad the bars came out great. . . they look SOOOOO yummy!
beautiful bokeh!!! I want to crop with you!
Oh, I’m glad you were laughing, because I’m laughing, too!!! =^) And the fact that it’s moved with you TWICE? Well, my friend, that just makes me feel normal. We have so many things in our pantry that have moved with us… and moved with us… and… I need to go through and throw out anything that was acquired before we moved to Colorado the second time. Wait. Okay, anything that we had before TWO moves ago. There, that would be better. =^)
Ohh, Susie, you’re a crack up! FYI, I’ve made different combos of these and butterscotch chips are super great on these too! By the way, I’m sorry I haven’t returned your call… we’ll chat soon, I promise! Love ya & miss ya!
I absolutely love this story…it made my whole day. I’ve been sick for about a week now (why I didn’t make it to the one stop shop which I do hope was a big success). I can tell I’m feeling better because it’s the first time food has looked good. Those look AWESOME!!! I might have to make some myself…so delish! Thank you Susie. Glad you didn’t use that nasty stuff. YUCK!
that’s a great looking dessert. i’m glad you checked the bottom of the can