#556 - Chocolate Streussel Bars

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 cup butter OR Parkay margarine
1 egg
1 - 14oz. can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
2 cups Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate bits
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

In a bowl add flour, white sugar and cocoa--stir. Add butter and use your hands to make the mixture into crumbs. Add the egg and mix well. Measure 1 1/2 cups of the cocoa mixture and set it aside. Grease a 9 x 13 x 2 cake pan. Press the cocoa mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan (NOT the 1 1/2 cups of the mixture you set aside). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. In a medium microwave bowl add the Eagle brand milk and 1 cup of the chocolate bits--microwave 1-1 1/2 minutes until the chips are melted. Remove from microwave and stir. Pour this mixture evenly over the baked crust (crust does NOT have to be cooled). Take the 1 1/2 cups reserved cocoa mixture and place in a bowl--add the nuts and the other 1 cup of chocolate bits--stir. Sprinkle this mixture over the Eagle milk layer. Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely and cut into squares--keep refrigerated.