When I made a lasagna on break on Monday, I cooked ground beef for burritos/burrito bowls for last night so supper was easy peasy. You got your Spanish rice, spicy ground beef, black beans, corn, cheese and salsa, and diner is assembled in minutes either in a bowl or a wrap. that meant easy clean-up and room to start a bit of treat making. I decided to tackle the ones that were very few steps, and make a plentiful amount. This way, should my energy wane later, I'll have something in the holiday spirit to share.
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| Before breaking toffee into pieces. |
I don't know if it is called crack because of the cracker base, or the addicting nature of it, but super easy and makes a great additional to a candy plate. This is the one my mom made a few times.
Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with foil (I sprayed it lightly though I remember her peeling sticking foil off the back! Line a sleeve of saltine crackers, touching but not overlapping on the foil.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Lay as many pretzels, either little twists or the circles (I have circles this year) on the parchment as you have Rolos. Unwrap Rolos, place in the center of pretzel. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 3 minutes until the caramel gets soft but not too melty. Place a pecan half in center to push down and spread chocolate/caramel. If you prefer no pecans as I will do with 1/2 (sister has a nut allergy), just press down with a teaspoon and pop a red hot if you can find, or as I've done, once cooled, put a dot of icing paste to add a little color. I must have used ally red, so green it is. Cool then pop off the parchment.
Edit: Rolos are delicious. Pretzels are delicious. Pecans are delicious. Put them all together and man, I need to lock on my refrigerator and hide the key!
I wrote about my fudge last Wednesday so no need to repeat, but I tackled the Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge. I bought an extra can of sweetened condensed milk and more white chocolate chips, but wasn't sure these were right for the straight up Peanut Butter, so will buy a can of vanilla frosting when I get Oreo's and pb cookies for truffles.
These three different treats took about an hour from start to finish and that was with me sitting at my little kitchen island cart streaming YouTube. I'll make up a festive plate to take along tonight to Trivia. Depending on how my work afternoon goes, I night get the Puppy Chow/Muddy Buddies made to bring some of that too. I'll stop for the missing items ( frosting, Oreos, nutter butter) either on route or after and get the last of the fudge made tomorrow, though will hold off on the truffles and Mounds bars until Saturday. I have 1/2 a lasagna taking up too much space though that will get eaten tonight or tomorrow for supper. How's that for lazy holiday prep!
I tried making the simple fudge, using dark chocolate Hershey bars, instead of the chocolate chips. It got quite thick, shortly after adding the sweetened condensed milk. I'm not sure if that was normal or not. I did chop up some pecans and add to the fudge and poured (scraped) it into a lined loaf pan. We tested it yesterday, and despite how it had originally looked when I put it into the pan, it tastes like fudge. My husband is not a dark chocolate fan but, he agreed that the SCM reduced the intensity of the dark chocolate and said he will have no problem eating it. It wasn't made for any reason, other than to see if it would work and despite still being unsure if it looked like it was supposed to, we have fudge! I have heard about the Christmas Crack for years and say I'm always going to try it and never do. I may give it a whirl this year. I have not been having good luck in the kitchen as I burned my bark for almond bark (I roast raw almonds which makes a huge difference and put a pound of almonds to one pkg of bark) and burned the spicy/sweet pecans at the last second so will have to try them again and my apple pie cooked over and burnt juice stuck it to the foil lined cookie sheet. When I attempted to remove the pie and place on a piece of foil, on a cooling rack, I needed a third hand, as I dropped the pie. I scooped up what had escaped and kind of threw it on top of the pie and walked away. Thankfully, not for anyone else, just to use up apples from the freezer that my dad sent home with me. Taking up precious freezer real estate. I'm staying out of the kitchen today. No new recipes until my focus returns from floating around out in the universe or wherever it is. Your recipes are familiar and have done the one with the Rolos. CC is on the horizon, though. Have a good rest of the week. Ranee (MN)
ReplyDeleteI haven't tackled the chocolate with SCM, so glad for your review. I'm going to use semi sweet chocolate chips. I'm on the fence on the Christmas crack. It sure is easy and makes a lot, but I personally find it so sweet I couldn't eat more than a nibble. I'll put pieces in a cupcake liner along with fudge and other goodies as gifts.
DeleteYum, all of those look delicious, Sam. The burrito bowls sound good too.
ReplyDeleteI'll be eating the burrito bowl for several days for lunch. I need to make some more treats tonight to keep my progress. Trivia will be on pause this week as too many have conflicts.
DeleteOh now I want candy, you have inspired me my friend.
ReplyDeleteI did an edit. The rolo with pretzel and pecan is so delicious! I need to hide them.
DeleteOh everything sounds so yummy! I am now craving chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI really have a glut of chocolate treats on my list.
DeleteEverything sounds so delicious! I'm thinking of ordering pizza tomorrow, in a true lazy nod to the end of the week (I have Friday off). :-)
ReplyDeleteWe'll likely get pizza at some point as well. My daughter s home tomorrow or Saturday- waiting for road conditions.
DeleteChocolate is the best treat. I was salivating reading this post. I will not pretend I mean to make anything.
ReplyDeleteThe rolls pretzel pecan is so good and so easy.
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