They sound like Pecan Pie Squares, except with chocolate added and walnuts instead of pecans. Sort of like a ham sandwich, except with apples added and with chicken instead of ham! :o) Anyway, I've made this recipe several times, even though I don't usually use cake mixes, and people really inhale them. I bet you could add a layer of chocolate and make them even better. (I got this from someone who got it from her sister-in-law, who said she got it from Paula Deen, but I'm not so sure about that.) Pecan Pie Squares 1 box yellow cake mix (she used Duncan Hines butter kind, so I did, too) 1 stick butter 4 eggs 1 1/2 c. light corn syrup 1/2 packed dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring 2 c. chopped pecans Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 13 pan. For the crust, in a bowl mix the cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter. Measure out 2/3 c. of this mixture and save for topping. Pat the rest of mixture in pan and bake for 15 mins. Stir reserved crust mixture, 3 eggs, corn syrup,brown sugar, and vanilla. Last stir in the pecans. Pour this mixture over partially baked crust. Increase the oven temp. to 375 degrees and bake an additional 30 mins. or until cake is set. Cool and cut into bars. If you're not comfortable tweaking that one, you can find lots of recipes by just Googling "Chocolate Pecan Pie Squares." I copied out this one, but there are tons more. I'd love to hear what you end up trying. Chocolate pecan pie squares Yield: 54 servings 2 c Flour 1¼ c Granulated sugar 2 Sticks butter; cut-up, softened 3 tb Butter, melted 1 Egg 3 tsp Vanilla extract 6 oz Semisweet chocolate chips â c Light brown sugar, packed ½ c Heavy cream â c Light corn syrup 3 c Pecans, chopped Recipe by: 365 Great Chocolate Desserts - ISBN 0-06-016537-5 Preparation Time: 1:05 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. To make crust, in a food processor, combine flour and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Add 2 sticks softened butter and process until mixture is in fine crumbs. With machine on, add egg and 2 tsp vanilla through feed tube. Process just until dough leaves sides of bowl and masses together. 2. Press dough evenly over bottom of a foil-lined 10 x 15-inch jelly-roll pan. Bake 15 to 17 mins, or until just golden. 3. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips. Return to oven 1 to 2 mins to melt chips. Spread melted chocolate over crust. 4. In a large bowl, combine remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, cream, corn syrup, melted butter, and remaining 1 tsp vanilla. Mix well. Stir in pecans. Carefully spoon pecan topping over chocolate on crust. 5. Bake 25 to 30 mins, or until golden. Let cool in pan 1 hour before cutting into 54 squares.

Thanks guys! :) OK, I am refining the desk/pantry area. I drew it again and holligator is right, there's too much wasted space there! No need for a 5 1/2' wide desk with nothing underneath! Now I am thinking that only the right-hand 30" or so is a knee-hole for a stool and a counter-height desk area, with a drawer unit base to the left, and then, perpendicular to the desk wall, 18" of floor-to ceiling storage which houses, on the counter and behind appliance-garage-type-doors: microwave and coffeemaker, grinder, etc. Above those doors are two tall sliding panels, below then is just one sliding panel to access the left-hand space, (with a blind reach-in situation back 12-15" or so, and some wasted space behind that.) Since we can't afford all that cabinetry to match our kitchen cabinets, DH says: we'll build shelves into the framed and drywalled space, and he'll build the sliding door panels from cherry to match our kitchen. Since they're on sliders the fit isn't as crucial: he has done this on boats he works on. WE'd get an Ikea base drawer cabinet and he'll make matching drawer fronts and side panel. Another option is make them from poplar and paint them to match the trim... we can wait and decide once the kitchen is in. (might make the space brighter... that's one concern I have about the cherry cabinets in the middle of the house.) I worry because he has so much else to do on this kitchen (all the plumbing, electrical, and finish!) but he says he can work on it at work on lunch break and it'll be fun. I quite like this idea, he can watch the sunrise while making coffee just like he does now, and I'm using more of the space, holligator! I just don't know how those coffee stations work in practicality: doesn't the heat/moisture hurt the cabinets? Or do you have to slide it out onto the counter when in use? Now I can see where having a small sink there would be helpful for filling the coffeepot and stuff, but (even though the plumbing is already there) I don't think I can justify the extra expense for a nice bar sink and faucet (since it's so visible!!! When it was a laundry room I had no problem leaving the existing.) PLUS I rally do like the idea of the desk nook there. It would be my bill-paying area. I was wondering where I was going to store that stuff at the island.... here I have drawers. I do like it.

ok, I will totally fess up. lol! I made just 1/3 batch to test the recipe and it made 15 cookies. I substituted a gluten-free flour mix for the flour and did NOT add a thickener like xanthan gum. On top of that I didn't beat the sugar & egg for 30 minutes. :) I spread the dough on the prepared cookie sheets and let them sit out overnight (not refrigerated). They spread to their current size almost immediately. The fact that they're flat, when sleeperblues says they should be round, could be caused by the lack of beating or the gluten-free flour switch or both. In any case, I LOVE these cookies! Mine (GF) came out super crispy! The "frosting" is a thin hard coating.... very cool! I love the anise flavor, but I'm also going to try an orange version... and I'm thinking I'd like to try a chocolate-mint version. They're a definite keeper for me, even if they are flat, and they're going to be on my xmas cookie platter this year! :)

shoot clair..it won't work... but you can c/p the cookie and it will come up, on search... for some reason they don't let you have the option in the post section, only in the link section, sigh...