Since Super Bowl Sunday is just a few days away, I thought I'd post this recipe. It's super easy to make, usually disappears REALLY quickly, and is a great last minute thing to take if you end up going to a party.
Mom gave me this recipe a few years ago after she had it at an open house. I have made it multiple times for parties, carry-ins, Bible studies, chocolate cravings, YOU NAME IT. I will warn you that it's highly addicting, not at all good for you, and yet SO SO good. In fact, I kind of wish I had a pan of it right about now!
The Recipe:
1 sleeve of saltine crackers
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 bag of milk chocolate chips
chopped nuts to taste
Line a cookie sheet (one with four sides) with foil and spray well with nonstick spray. Lay out saltines to cover the entire pan and set aside. Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil, turn down heat, and cook for three minutes. Pour mixture over saltines and bake at 300 degrees for 5 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, let it stand for one minute, and spread chips out. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the top. Refrigerate until cold, break into pieces, and serve.
I have used both real butter and margarine, and I have to say I think real butter works a little bit better. Just my preference. I have also made this with both milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chips. MUCH prefer the milk chocolate. But then again - I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate, so maybe that's why I don't like the semi-sweet on this.
I use a really old cookie sheet that is mostly only good for projects where the sheet itself is covered. It's imperative that you use a sheet with sides or the sugar/butter mixture will run all over the oven! Make sure you really really coat the foil with nonstick spray or you will have a gooey mess on your hands. Get the spray into all the corners and clear to the edge. I really don't think you can over-spray this one.
Pretty much the whole sleeve of crackers should fit on the pan if you're using a standard size pan. Sometimes I have to break the last row in half to get them to fit.
I cut up the butter into smaller pieces to help it to melt faster. And I stir this mixture well while I wait for it to boil. Don't want the brown sugar burning on the bottom of the pan.
I wait until the boil is a good, rolling boil before I start counting the three minutes of boiling time.
The mixture will be kind of thick as you pour it out. I try to make sure I spread it as evenly as possible over the crackers, because it's usually thick enough that it doesn't completely run all over the pan. It spreads out a bit, but it doesn't run. The crackers will start to float a little as you pour it in - but they'll stay relatively wherever you put them.
It's okay if you don't get the mixture over every square inch - it will spread out a little bit as it bakes. When you pull it out of the oven, be careful. If you tip the pan much at all, you could spill out the butter/sugar mixture. It will be very runny right at that point. I wear oven mitts when I do this recipe because if it does spill, I don't want it pouring onto my bare hands!
Spread the chocolate chips all over the pan. The milk chocolate ones melt a little bit faster. You won't want to leave it much more than the minute the recipe says. If you try to start spreading them out before that, you're going to mess up the crackers underneath. If you wait much longer, the chocolate will start to harden.
I just use a metal spatula to spread out the chips.
Since I usually make this to take somewhere, and I know some people are allergic to nuts, I cover half the pan with nuts and leave the other half plain. This time when I made it, I left the pecan pieces somewhat large. I actually prefer it with finely chopped pecans. You can buy them that way or use a food chopper to chop them up.
I typically put the pan in the refrigerator overnight to make sure it's good and solid. The next morning, before leaving for wherever I'm taking it...I break it into pieces. If you didn't grease the foil well enough and you notice that it's breaking apart, be sure to check the underneath side of each piece as you break it to make sure you chip off the foil. No one wants to bite into that! Just break the pieces - however large or small you want them.
I arrange them according to whether or not there are nuts on top so people can easily find what they want! I also usually store mine in the refrigerator before serving (and if there are any left over) because it keeps them from becoming sticky, melty messes.
11 comments:
So since desserts are my weakness and it's unfair of you to tempt me like this, do I get to pick the menu for next game night :)
I saw your dad's pic in 87 and 89 group. My sister isn't happy that she is in quite a few of the 89 group pics haha
Jennifer B sent me the 89 group picture. I was cracking up at his glasses! I haven't seen the one for the 87 group.
And yes, you may pick the dessert for game night. This is what i made for the last one - so at least you've tried it. Does that help you not be tempted?
I'm glad to see you only put nuts on half of it. That means there's some for me...
Skyepuppy - and me. I don't mind nuts in general...snickers is my favorite candy bar. But in brownies and cake and stuff like this - NO THANK YOU
Peanuts are not nuts, you know. They're legumes (like kidney beans and garbanzo beans and lentils). They grow in the ground as part of the root system. I don't know why God would do something silly like that, but He does have a sense of humor. I like peanuts and peanut butter.
Nuts are seeds. The ones people eat (mostly) grow in trees. The strong ones (walnuts, pecans, fresh coconut meat right out of the coconut) taste really bad. The milder ones (almonds, macadamia nuts) are tolerable when covered in large quantities of chocolate. I hate nuts and baklava.
I'm glad you share my distaste for the ruination of good desserts with nuts.
I did not know these things! ANd I must say I would never put beans and peanuts in the same category - poor peanuts!!!
I tried baklava once and HATED it. and I hated it that I hated it because I so wanted to like it.
It's very nice of you to think of those with allergies when you make your desserts, but just so you know, putting them in the same travelling container could still cause problems for someone with an allergy.
It would be best to separate the hypo-allergenic ones before you put the nuts on the non-hypo-allergenic once, just to be on the safe side, then transport in two little tupperwares.
I learned this little tidbit from one of my AWANA parents who has a little guy with a peanut allergy.
Look at all these things I'm learning today! THis is good to know and has now been taken under advisement.
Hey Bekah! I too share your (and Skyepuppy's) distate of nuts in deserts. I can do peanuts just fine, but not true nuts.
I will say that I like slivered almonds in certain dishes and crushed pecans on top of sweet potato casserole (only because there's lots of butter and brown sugar on that).
I wonder if cashews are true nuts or more like peanuts? Because I do like salty cashews just plain.
I know, no one cares, so I'll just stop now and say a quick "Hi!"
Christina - do you like nuts if they're coated in sugar? Like I LOVE the coated almonds and pecans you can get at the mall kiosks and at the fair. But I think it's really the sugar I love and I just put up with the nut.
AND I CARE!! :)
Bekah,
I like the smell of the sugar coated nuts, but I've never really had them so I don't know if I would like them.
The few nuts I do like, I prefer to eat on their own (like mixed nuts) and I think I like them primarily because they are salty.
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