Week Fifteen -- Layered Liquids and Layered Bars

It's odd how things line up this way. We found this VERYcool experiment online and had to do it. It's from Steve Spangler Science,which is seriously the coolest site ever for kitchen projects. http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/We decided to do the Density Tower, which is less sinister than it sounds. I'llgo through all the steps, but you can also just watch the video on Steve Spangler's site.
What You Need:
·        A tall, thin glass cylinder. This can be aflower vase, a graduated cylinder, or simply a tall glass. ·        A turkey baster·        Honey·        Karo syrup·        Maple syrup·        Dawn dish soap (important as this is a knowndensity)·         Water –colored with food coloring·        Vegetable oil·        Rubbing alcohol – colored with food coloring.·        Lamp oil·        (An optional addition is milk, which we didn'tuse. We thought it might get gross.)
WhatYou Do:

Youmust add the substances in order. First, the honey, then the Karo syrup, thenthe maple syrup. Pour slowly and try to keep the substances from touching thesides of the cylinder. Then, using the turkey baster begin adding the otheringredients in this order: dish soap, water, vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol,then lamp oil. For these ingredients, it's best to also go slowly and let thesubstances slide down the inside of the cylinder. Then you're done!

Magic CookieBars (or Seven Layer Bars)
Bring on theMagic Cookie Bars. Okay, to be truthful, the only magical thing about them isthat they are so easy. Well, I guess they are also pretty darn good. Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
(You will notice that there are only six layers here. The optional layer can be1 cup of peanut butter chips or a drizzle of caramel topping. We went with justsix ingredients.

Our modifications: We (I mean Harrison)aren't big coconut fans, so we omitted the coconut in favor of toffee bits. (1cup). Then we increased the nuts to 1 ½ cups. We used pecans, toasted (duh). Directions:
HEAToven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.COMBINEgraham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of preparedpan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly withchocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.BAKE25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while stillwarm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds. Forperfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edgeof pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked andcooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individualbars.  (Sigh…. That's the Eagle Brandmethod. We just pretty much scooped out what we wanted into a dish and ateit..)
Keep in mind that these aresweet! I mean, make your teeth ache sweet. And, I'm no baby, but whoa.