With Turkey day behind us, the holiday season is in full swing. For some, this is the season to fire up the oven and crank out tray upon tray of delectable sweet treats, but for others, the joy of spreading holiday cheer can be tempered by the nervous anxiety of planning and executing a holiday baking campaign.

While I’m not naturally a baker, I don’t mind taking on the occasion holiday project. The thing that gets me is when some organization you belong to has a bake-sale, and they guilt you into making a big batch of something to sell. I have a tiny oven and can only do about 12 cookies at a time, which means it could take a whole day to make enough of something to put up for sale.

That’s why I like to have a repertoire of simple no-bake treats that I can turn to when I need to make lots of something in a short span of time. These Chocolate Cornflake bars come together from just a handful of ingredients with a bowl, a spatula, and a microwave.

Chewy, crispy and chocolatey, these decadent treats come together in about 5 minutes, and it’s easy to scale up, or repeat the recipe, to make hundreds of tasty treats. What’s more, because there’s no need to use the oven, the kids can join in and help you “bake.”

I like to press these into a square mold and cut them once they’ve set, but you can also roll them up into balls or press them into small “cookies.” Together with treats like my Butter Almond Toffee and Peanut Brittle, you can pull off an impressive array of sweet holiday treats in minutes rather than hours.

Chocolate Cornflake Bars

Chewy and crispy, these chocolate cornflake bars come together in about 5 minutes. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 2.5 ounces unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 7.8 ounces marshmallows
• 6.4 ounces cornflakes
• 4.2 ounces chocolate chips

Directions

1. Line a 9-inch x 9-inch brownie pan with parchment paper.
2. Add the butter, cocoa powder and marshmallows to a microwave safe bowl and heat until the marshmallows start to melt.
3. Stir once, and then return to the microwave until the marshmallows are completely melted.
4. Stir until the mixture is uniform in appearance.
5. Add the cornflakes and chocolate chips and stir to coat evenly.
6. Empty the mixture into your prepared pan and use another sheet of parchment paper to flatten the top and press the mixture into the corners of the pan.
7. Refrigerate until set, and slice into bars.