Feeding the masses

The title of this post refers to the fact that I think I have made enough batches of this over the past few years to sink a ship. I have, by now, made this recipe for pretty much everyone I know, and it is one of my go-to quick and embarrassingly easy baking recipes. Of course, if I have never made them for you, that means that either I don't value the friendship as much as you thought I did, OR I haven't seen you for way too long, and you need to rectify that.

This recipe is one that is close to my heart for another reason also - it comes from a recipe book called The English Rose Restaurant Cookbook, named after a little tea shop in San Carlos California. The restaurant was founded by two English ladies, who had clearly made the effort to export for the interior all of the most stereotypical (and perhaps tasteless) aspects of English decor - from the wildly patterned floral wallpaper, to the little doilies weighted down with beads that draped over the sugar bowls, and the ghastly oil paintings of thatched cottages, their doorways surrounded by magnificent English flower gardens. My favorite though is probably the numerous framed photographs of the late Queen Mother, smiling down beatifically on patrons as they munch on their ploughman's lunches or fruit scones. Going to the English Rose was like walking back in time (and across the Atlantic) to a 1970s England, where if you liked patterned wallpaper AND patterned carpet, then it was OK, you could safely fill your living room with both, because so did everyone else, and there was no such thing as too much. {Insert wistful sigh}

I am also posting this recipe because I have been asked to so many times before. Its addictive qualities are by now legendary. It's a great one to take camping, as it doesn't spoil if out of the fridge, and it also keeps for AGES (assuming your family don't scarf it all in less than a day... If you cannot get butterscotch morsels, then it also works with Heath Bar bits, or chocolate chips.

Most recently, I baked a batch for my youngest son's teacher. I am happy to say that she enjoyed it - happy primarily because she is such an excellent teacher, and someone whose love for the job and for every one of the students in her classroom was palpable. Thank you Mrs W, and happy baking!

Pecan Slices
(Makes 24)

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 14 oz can condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup butterscotch morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray the inside of a 9" x 13" baking tin with canola oil spray.
3. In a bowl, combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg and beat with a handheld mixer on low speed until crumbly.
4. Press mixture into base of prepared pan.
5. In a small bowl, beat together condensed milk, the other egg and vanilla extract until blended.
6. Stir in pecans and butterscotch morsels.
7. Pour mixture over cake mixture in pan.
8. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden.
9. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.