On the whole Back To School tradition roll, I have to share a recipe that I made every First Day of School as a snack for the boys to look forward to.  Even though they’re not in school anymore, I still made them.  They’re awesome!  And they are EASY!  And my oldest still came by the house after work to get some. 

Since I own about a gazillion cookbooks (I can’t help myself.  It’s a crazy sickness.), I do have several favorite “Go-To’s”.  And I want to share one of my favorites - The Red Hat Society cookbook.

Now, I’m going to digress just a wee bit for a sec and tell you about the first time I’d ever even “heard” of The Red Hat Society.  My boss and his wife and I were meeting for lunch at our local Olive Garden.  When DeWitte (boss) and I got out of the car, there was a . . . rather rotund woman. . . wearing a very shocking purple dress and a very pronounced red hat.  It looked like good old Southern “Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ clothes” meets SHOCKING OMG!  Yeah, I was looking at DeWitte like “Have you EVER?”  And DeWitte being DeWitte looked like he didn’t possibly know what I was referring to.

When we got inside and met Jamie, we saw MORE.  A lot more!  They, in fact, were EVERYWHERE.  Shocking purple clothes and RED hats of all shapes and sizes were everywhere!  Jamie, being the smarter, more well-rounded of the group, knew exactly who they were – The Red Hat Society, of course. (I knew that)  She tried to snap pictures with DeWitte’s cell phone – incognito.

Now I’d never heard of The Red Hat Society at this point, so imagine my surprise when I saw a recipe book put together by none other than The Red Hat Society in the markdown bin at my local grocery store.

WELL . . . let me tell you.  I perused this book for days and even weeks oohing and aahing, and I still return to it when I need a good ooh or aah.  It is full of all the old time recipes from way back when your grandmother was learning to cook. 

I will be featuring my favorite recipes from that book here from time to time.  There were so many recipes that caught my eye.  I saw recipes in there that I’d only ever seen in my mom’s recipe box.  Like her Peanut Butter Cornflake Bars.  OMG!  So yum!  The ones I made for every First Day of School snack.

PEANUT BUTTER CORNFLAKE BARS

2 cups Sugar
1 1/2 cups Karo syrup
2 cups Peanut Butter
12 oz box Cornflakes

Put sugar and Karo into a large pot, mix and let come to a boil on the stovetop. Remove from heat immediently. Add peanut butter and stir until smooth. Pour box of Cornflakes into the mixture. Mix very rapidly until Cornflakes are coated.
Spread into a 12 x 16 greased cookie sheet.
Cut into bars while warm.

NOTE: The “cut into bars while warm” is no joke. If you wait until these puppies have cooled, you’ll need to bring some serious muscle with you.

These things are the bomb-diggity!  A huge family favorite.  And just a side note – I gain three pounds every time I make a batch.