As mentioned before, the great cooking calamity that is Christmas bakery is coming this weekend.
And, while I enjoy making Nuts and Bolts as it is quick and easy, the cookies have become something to dread.
Thinking of scaling it back some, but still wanting something to give out, coupled with a craving, I dug out the treasure trove a few days ago.
An interesting story on this treasure. I was visiting my Grandmother, and as I was leaving, I went to the trash compactor to toss something away. There, pirched on top of the garbage was a PILE of recipes. I was told they were too hard to make, incomplete, and some even listed ingredients you can’t find anymore. Shocked, I rescued them from their fate, and took the bundle of them home.
It was mostly filled with desserts. Cakes, cookies, candies, glazes, frostings, you name it. And, just by READING the things, it put new ideas in my head, and has contributed to my knack for just tossing things into a pan and coming off with a good tasting dish. (Though, I’m still wary of that bizarro hamburger recipe that is unlike anything I’ve ever even HEARD of doing to hamburgers…one of these days…)
Every now and then, I get these out and try one. The other day, I went searching for Peanut Brittle. While that was in there, the English Toffee caught my eye as well.
THIS is the kind of recipe this treasure trove contains:
English Toffee
1 cup sugar
1/2 lb butter
3 Tbls Water
1 tsp Vanilla
3 small Hershey bars
3/4 Cup chopped nuts
Place first 4 ingrediants in a skillet and cook until done. About 10 minutes. Pour onto buttered cookie sheet. Place chocolate on top and spread, press nuts into top. Cool and break into pieces.
Scrawled by a hand that bears some resemblance to what few samples I have of my Grandfather. (Mom, I might want you to confirm that) It is certainly his kind of “recipe” from what I’ve come to understand. What’s “done”? How hot do you cook it? What constitutes a “small hershey bar”?
Ah well. Last night, I decided to give it a try, to see if we like it before I go making a bunch.
Choosing to err on the safe side, we cooked this on medium. And, sure enough, about 8 minutes in, it started to thicken a bit, looking quite a bit like my dad’s caramel. By the 10 minute mark, I no longer had a liquid so much as I had a bubbling mass of goo. A quick test told me we were between medium and hard ball. Getting concerned that I would burn it as it didn’t stir so much as it sorta spun around in the pan now, I guessed that it was “done”.
A minute later, all that was left was the cooling, which the freezer took care of in 30 minutes.
This stuff is certainly good. The flavor just literally comes gushing out into your mouth as you chew.
It is a touch on the chewy side, could have been cooked a bit more. And, I think I’ll substitute semi-sweet chips in place of the hersheys bars just on personal preference. There’s also an idea or two I’m thinking of giving a go. We’ll have a complete recipe up once I get all the particulars of that worked out.