AlphaMom used to do lots of baking during the holidays in Saudi. I remember some Christmases in the old house on 11th Street when it seemed as if some sort of confection or bread loaf was on every surface or in every corner.
Bear in mind of course that 85% of these were not for consuming in our house -- they were gifts! But she would go to her annual cookie exchange and bring home a collection of unusual and decadent items, plus there were those few special treats she always made for us at home. (Like Lemon Squares for Dad and Snickerdoodles (what y'all call Haystacks) for me and KT)
One of the things that she frequently made both for the family and as a gift was a Chocolate Nut Toffee, a recipe from her friend Vicki in Tennessee. She kept our family stash in a holiday tin, refrigerated. I recall one year I just couldn't get enough of the rich candy and would sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to indulge in chocolate-toffee-debauchery. It's a wonder I didn't gain 5000lbs that year!
Vicki's Chocolate Nut Toffee
Note -- Mom always used pecans, but you can experiment with other nuts. Peanut halves aren't super successful, because their smooth side had a tendency to fall out of the toffee.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pecans
- ½ cup margarine
- ¾ cups brown sugar
- 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Spread nuts in bottom of well greased 9 x 13 pan.
2. Boil margarine and sugar 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over nuts, let stand and cool. Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Spread over nuts and topping.
3. Refrigerate until completely cool. Then break into pieces.
GFCF Note -- To make this GFCF Diet friendly, just use your preferred brand of dairy-free, casein-free margarine and GFCF diet chocolate chips (I like Fleischmann's and EnjoyLife GFCF Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips).
5 comments:
Those were fun times. The house would smell so good, and all our friends loved to see me coming with my little foil packages! And you are right about the toffee and the snickerdoodles. Those were family favorites that had to be made. Maybe you should post the snickerdoodle recipe, so that your readers can see what We mean by them. They are so much better than the cookies by that name.
Sounds great! Kind of like Almond Roca? I always loved that at Christmas. Have you tried replacing the margarine with something more healthy?
And... I left you a comment, on your comment, on Native Food and Wine.
Cheers!
Hi again Michele,
Oh, I forgot to mention - I am lactose intolerant too.
I can drink goat milk though, and eat goat cheese, thankfully. How about you?
Alpha -- great idea on sharing the snickerdoodles (what some folks call haystacks). I wish I could still eat them....yuuuuummmm....
Amber -- thanks for stopping by! I cannot tolerate any milk products, not even goat. Which is a bummer because I love feta! I have not tried subbing the margarine, but if you do so successfully, please let me know!
I want Lemon Squares!!
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