Hello Dollies Redux

When I was in Grades 7 & 8, we girls were tortured in Home Economics once a week by a she-devil teacher named Miss Adams.*  It was a mile from our school to the school with the facilities and there were many days when we trudged there with dread.  I can't say Miss Adams taught me anything that my Mum hadn't already taught me about cooking or sewing but she did teach me a lot about cruelty...however, I digress.  

I first heard about Hello Dollies from my sister Lisa who had suffered through Miss Adams before me.  Hello Dollies were the one thing baked in Home Economics that the students looked forward to.  They helped sweep away the unpleasant memory of the dreaded "Tuna-Touchdown Casserole," which contained an odd mix of canned tuna, canned peas, cream of mushroom soup and inexplicably...crushed potato chips.  Honestly, the girls were made to eat that crap and many were sick just from looking at it.  It was not one of the menu items when we cycled through and maybe too many young girls throwing up was the reason.  But again I digress.  

Hello Dollies are simple to make but I have never been able to make them without them falling apart.  The ingredients are assembled in layers as in melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts or pecans and then pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over the whole shmear and bake.  I decided to try a different way which worked out very well.  Instead of graham crumbs, I used whole graham crackers and instead of layering, I poured all of the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, mixed in the milk and spread everything evenly on top on the crackers.  Nothing fell off or crumbled and they taste just the same.  

Hello Dollies are not a diet food but at this time of year and with all the baking going on, I'm not dieting.  In some ways I can't wait for the season to be over so I can get rid of all temptation again.

* Miss Adams aka "Old Biddie Adams"   Miss Adams disappeared from classes midway through our second year with her.  Rumour has it that she was fired when the school board discovered she was using school funds to purchase the fabric for the snappy 60's outfits she sewed for herself.  The fact that she broke a student's nose by slamming her face into a desk may have also had something to do with it. I'm glad she was gone before my younger sister had to endure her.