Saltine Toffee Candy

Click here to get original recipe 

I use to make these years ago and couldn't remember why I stopped.  Now, I remember... mine always turn out sloppy.  Thank goodness I doubled the recipe because I was able to get enough GOOD PIECES to make a few good packages.   I will tell you this, I think it is me and not the toffee.  My friend Teresa doesn't bake or cook...she makes it and it is amazing ( see picture at the bottom of the page)  It looks great, taste great and everyone goes crazy over it.  So, I don't know what I am doing wrong but it isn't because I am not reading the directions because I am and I even set the timer. 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.5 sleeves of saltine crackers

1 stick (4 oz) butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups chocolate chips

optional~ nuts or crushed up candy cane

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Arrange the crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet so that there are no empty spaces in between them. Crush any remaining crackers into small crumbs and set aside for now.
3. Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir while the butter melts, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Once boiling, carefully pour the sugar-butter mixture over the crackers on the baking sheet in an even layer, trying to cover most of the crackers. If you miss some spots, don’t worry as the toffee will spread in the oven.
4. Bake the toffee crackers at 350 degrees for five minutes, until the toffee is bubbling all over. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for one minute.
5. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the hot toffee, and allow them to sit for one minute to soften and melt. Once softened, use an offset spatula or knife to spread the melted chocolate over the entire surface of the toffee in an even layer. While the chocolate is still sticky, sprinkle the top with the reserved crushed crackers.
6. Refrigerate the pan to set the toffee and chocolate for about 30 minutes. Once set, break into small uneven pieces by hand, and enjoy! Store uneaten saltine toffee in an airtight container for up to a week.

Here is a picture of Teresa's toffee from, "The 3rd Annual Cookie Exchange."  She used graham crackers instead of saltines,  I guess you can interchange the crackers.  It was so DELICIOUS, like always.

Beef Stew Shepherd's Pie

Recipe adapted from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

What happen was I printed out two recipes, one for Shepherd's Pie and one for Crockpot Beef.  Well, I for some reason thought the Shepherd's Pie had chuck roast not ground hamburger.  So, when I got home from the grocery store and read the recipe, I thought what the heck~ I will just use Chuck Roast, it sounds good. 

I knew the beef mixture was running and would probably be soupy but I thought it would still taste good. 

I was right it was delicious, everyone loved it! 

Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
For the mashed potatoes:
2 pounds russet potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
6 tablespoons unsalted butter I used 1/2 cup of "I can't believe this isn't butter."
Salt and white pepper to taste
For the filling and pie:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 pound ground lamb  I used 2 pounds chuck roast
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 cups chicken or beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour I used 1/2 cup of flour
1 Brown Gravy Packet ( I added this)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup fresh or frozen English peas, thawed
I used 1 12oz. bag of steamfish vegetables   
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (I added this)
Sweet paprika for dusting
Directions
To make the mashed potatoes: Peel the potatoes and cut into 2-inch chunks. Place in a large pot and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.
Place the pot back on the stove over medium-low heat. Add the cream and butter and stir until butter has melted. Return potatoes to the pot and mash until smooth, incorporating the cream and butter as you go. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

To make the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare the filling: Pour the oil into a 12-inch cast iron skillet or oven safe frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrots and sauté just until they begin to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the meat and cook until browned, breaking it up as it cooks. Stir in ketchup, broth and Worcestershire sauce, and bring to a simmer. Sprinkle in the flour and mix well. Continue to simmer gently over medium-low heat until the sauce is thickened slightly, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Add the corn and peas to the meat mixture and stir until combined. Season filling with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up. (Good luck with that!) Smooth the potatoes with a spatula as best you can. Dot the potatoes with bits of butter and dust with paprika.
Place skillet on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the potatoes have browned. Remove and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Salt instead of Sugar

I am having the worse week for baking.  I think I need to take a week off.  Here is what happened today.  I posted my Bread Pudding recipe, I was so excited because I am so proud of this recipe.  I took the bread pudding out of the oven, let it cool off , cut a slice to see if it would keep its form.  Well, it did, I was so relieved.  Now for the taste test!!!!  YUCK, spit spit spit ~ Water, I need Water!  I knew right away what I did wrong.  I am just sick to my stomach.  That was going to be the best bread pudding and I had to throw all of it down the garbage disposal.  I thought I was so clever when I put the salt and sugar in these cute ceramic containers.  I put a salt packet in the salt so I would know that was the salt.  Well, I guess someone used the salt packet because as you can see there is NO PACKET.    Oh~ just so you know I went to fotoflexer to add the WORD "Salt and Sugar," to the containers. 

Chocolate Bundt cake gone bad

I made a chocolate cake and one thing after another went wrong.   I have to think this is one of my ugliest cakes.  And as far as taste goes it didn't taste good either.    Do you see the chunk of cake missing in the picture below?  And yes, the frosting was that dull and ugly.   I don't know what happened but the cake I made from scratch would not come out of the pan.  Finally half of the cake fell out and I had to scrape the other half out.  I then pushed the pieces back together and you see how that turned out.   Then if that wasn't bad enough, I ran out of frosting.  I happen to have a can of Wilton's Chocolate Frosting in the cupboard.  I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds so I could use it as a glaze.  It didn't get any better.   

Flop Flowers fall on top of the Pie

Master of Disaster

 The flowers fell on top of the Banana Cream Pie's

 I was taking the pictures and the back drop fell forcing the vase of flowers on my pie. 

Last night I had another M.O.D.  I don't have any pictures because my dogs licked away all proof.  I will just tell you what happened.  I was holding a pastry bag filled with pudding, while I was looking for the tip for my piping bag.  I kept re tracking all my steps.  And nothing, I just couldn't find the tip.  While I was circling the kitchen looking, I step into a pile of pudding.  Yes, while I was walking holding the bag, some of the pudding was seeping out of the bag.  I was so irritated at first and then it hit me~ this will be a funny picture for my M.O.D. section.  I ran to get my camera and when I got back my dog had licked up all the pudding.

Katie gave me this awesome apron.

Katie and I went to Perry Creek today, to wine taste with our husbands.   Well, when she showed up to my house, she came bearing gifts.   It was this AWESOME apron.  What a great surprise, it made my day and week.  It is great to have friends that lifts you up and supports all your crazy endeavors.   You would think the apron was enough but no, she had 2 loaves of bread in hand.  I will post pictures and recipes in the next post.   

Master of Disaster~ Rice Pudding

After talking about rice pudding yesterday I had to make some today.  I tried Dave Lieberman's version with Arborio rice. 

I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out DELICIOUS. 

It just didn't sound that good to me, but all the reviews were excellent, so I decided to trust the people. 

  I put the oil I needed for my pasta in the rice pudding pan.  Do you see the big oil bubble?  I was lucky and got most of it out.

M.O.D. Crispy Chocolate Chip cookies and almost fell on the ground

Since I am the "Master of Disaster," .  I decided to start sharing some of my M.O.D. moments with you guys.   So, here is a picture of a cookie sheet with 1 cookie out of place.  Can you look at the picture and figure out what happened?  If you guessed that when I pressed the cookie onto the sheet the pan almost fell off the counter, that would be correct.
 Anyways, I was able to save the cookies to only over cook them.  I took them off the cookie sheet right away and rushed them into the refrigerator.  I needed to stop the cooking process.  It worked, they are crispy but this delicious.  Oh~ not to mention they don't look good at all.