By Five weeks left. The school year is counting down in the particular way that May counts down, which is: the days feel longer and shorter at the same time, the students are restless with the nearness of summer, and I am trying to give everything I have left to twenty people who are about to be fifth graders and who deserve to go forward having received something real from this year.
Darius had his first IEP meeting on Thursday. He sat at the table with his mother and his case manager and the school psychologist and me, and we talked about what he needs and what he can do and what next year will look like, and his mother held his hand on the table the whole time, and at the end she looked at me and said: thank you for seeing him. I said: he was easy to see. And that is true. He was not easy to reach, but he was never hard to see. Some children are just waiting for someone to look in the right direction.
Owen and Nora are twenty-eight months old and they are doing the thing that toddlers do at this age that nobody tells you about: they have become each other's primary companion. They play together now, not parallel play but actual together play, with negotiated rules and shared narrative and the occasional sharp disagreement that is over in thirty seconds because they are too interested in the game to stay in the conflict. Watching them play is one of the best things I have ever watched. They are inventing something. I do not know what it is yet.
I made lemon bars this week, the first time I have made them since before the twins were born, because I found the recipe on a card in a box in the pantry and I had lemons and I had an evening. They are the right May food: bright and sharp and sweet and spring. I left half with Patty on Friday. She texted me "10/10" which is not in her usual vocabulary and which meant she had learned it from Steve, who is in his texting-like-a-young-person phase. I texted back a thumbs up. We are a modern family.
The lemon bars were for May, but the magic bars are for the whole year — for IEP meetings that end with a mother saying thank you, for twin toddlers who have figured out how to play together, for the last five weeks of a school year that asked a lot and gave a lot back. I wanted something layered and a little bit generous, the kind of thing you cut into squares and just hand to people, no ceremony required. These Chocolate Chip Cookie Magic Bars are exactly that: easy enough for a tired Thursday evening, good enough to mean something.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Magic Bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 24 bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan or line it with parchment paper.
- Make the crust. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until evenly combined. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan to form the crust layer.
- Add the condensed milk. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the graham cracker crust, letting it spread to the edges.
- Layer the toppings. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the condensed milk layer. Follow with the shredded coconut, then the chopped nuts. Press the layers down gently with the back of a spatula or your palm so everything adheres.
- Bake. Bake for 28–32 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the coconut is lightly toasted. The center will look slightly underdone but will firm up as it cools.
- Cool completely. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before cutting into bars. For the cleanest cuts, refrigerate for 30 minutes after cooling.
- Slice and serve. Cut into 24 bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or refrigerate for up to a week.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 230 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 85mg