twix salad

i knew it had been a while since i last blogged, but wow...i had NO idea it had been more than a month! now that's out of the way... i'm happy to share a recent recipe success with you. warning: this has UTAH and MORMON written all over it, but that certainly doesn't diminish the tastiness of it.

i like to make yummy things to take to our company potlucks, because they are actually appreciated there. my husband appreciates and enjoys my cooking, and i think my kids do, too, but they really take me for granted. we recently had a potluck for a coworker who was quitting. he has been commuting to logan from farmington for the last year while his house was on the market, and was never able to sell it, so he decided he needed to quit and take a job closer to home. can't say as i blame him; commuting that far would not be ideal for me, either. his favorite candy is twix and i knew i wanted to make a dessert, so i started looking on teh internetz for a recipe, but wasn't finding anything appealing. i didn't want to recreate the twix bar (it's already fairly perfect) as much as i wanted to incorporate it into a dessert. i asked a friend who used to be a pastry chef and he pointed me towards a great recipe for a snickers salad and i tweaked it a bit to make it the TWIX salad. i think you could use any candy bar, honestly... i made a double batch, since this was for potluck, and it fit nicely into a very large bowl. there was NONE left over and some people didn't even get any. did i mention i work with men with hollow legs? maybe i left that part out...

twix salad

*1 12-oz container of cool whip (i used western family brand, cuz i'm cheap frugal)
*1 large box instant vanilla pudding (i used jell-o brand, cuz the WF brand was sold out)
*3-4 granny smith apples, cored and diced, but NOT peeled
*3-4 pkgs of twix bars (or 2 king size bars)
*1 1/2 cups milk

the whipped topping needs to be thawed before you assemble this recipe, so factor that in when you decide to make it. i think if you wanted to whip up something quick and didn't have time for cool whip to thaw, you could whip cream (2 pints, probably) and sweeten it with sugar.

first, mix the pudding with the 1 1/2 cups of cold milk. it will be fairly thick. let the pudding sit for about 2 minutes, and then fold in the whipped topping.

now it's time to cut your apples. i have one of these:



at my house, we call it the ka-chonker. a friend told me this is what he called it, and my kids love that name, so it has stuck. that is the sound it makes when you use it on apples: KA-CHONK.

i used the ka-chonker to speed up the process. it really doesn't matter how big or small you cut up the apples - small enough to fit on a spoon. you'll want them to be about the same size as the twix bars when you cut the them.

stir the apple chunks into the pudding/whipped topping mixture.

cut up the twix bars and add them to the salad, mix well. refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

you'll be popular, i promise. :) enjoy.