Welcome to the Jungle

The downer....This weekend is my mother in laws memorial, as many of my closest family and friends know, my way of dealing with grief is through food.  Through the years I have channeled this into cooking and baking, so its not all about me running out to get the most greasy processed salty crappy fast food item I can shove into my face as fast as I can.  I love the process of getting from ingredients to finished product, and usually, by the time I have put in the effort to make a recipe, I am very unlikely to go too far overboard with the ingesting of the wonderful deliciousness that I have created...That being said, there are these insanely wonderful things that my mother in law introduced to me, and thankfully passed the recipe to me that I have some serious trouble keeping my paws off of (let alone the rest of the household).

Ok, before I tell you about this insanely wonderful thing, I have to tell you, that there ain't nothin healthy about these folks...That being said, they are well worth it, I promise.  Those who were raised by Sheri know exactly what I am talking about so no introductions are needed for them. 

For the rest of you (you know, all 9 of my followers), behold, the Lunchbox Jungle Chew:

Do not let her common looking crust fool you, she is a sinful wench!

I have no clue where this recipe hails from, I have a copy of what looks to have been a newspaper clipping, if anyone (again, of my 9 followers) can tell me, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due! (and tackle the writer with billions of kisses).

On with the recipe:

Lunchbox Jungle Chews

1 lb brown sugar (do your teeth hurt yet?)
1 C oil (I told you this isn't healthy)
3 Large Eggs
2 C Flour
3 t baking powder
1 t salt (Yeah, this is not a low sodium food)
1 t vanilla (I think I have said in other recipes that I am heavy handed with vanilla)
8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (original said 6 oz, PUHlease, if we are going to have a lb of sugar and a cup of oil in this recipe, lets just use the whole package)
1 C coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 C flaked coconut


Preheat oven to 350
Combine brown sugar and oil until all that sugar is glistening, add the eggs to the party and mix well.  Add flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla and make sure all that stuff is married well (remember, I love the process right, so enjoy the mixing, don't try to get this done as quickly as possible, unless your kids are awake, in which case beat that stuff together quick as you can before they figure out what you are doing) before adding the yummy chunky stuff in.
Spread all that wonderful sticky goodness into a 13x9 inch baking pan (ungreased, remember this has a cup of oil in it so its not all that crazy) and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and the crust is dull.
Even though its supremely hard to let these babies cool, be patient (thanking God that the husband is at work and the kids are asleep, now I only have my hands to slap), they will cut much better once you let them set up well.  The original recipe says "Cut into 36 regular squares or 48 small squares", right, so cut them the way you want, I assure you, if you cut them that small you will be eating more squares, so just cut em big and enjoy :)

I really hope that I can keep these safe before the memorial, I made 2 batches and baked in 8x8 squares so that if we have 1 sacrifice, there are still 3 pans to bring! Wish me luck.