Cristina’s Famous Toffee

Anyone heard of Cristina’s toffee?  It’s wonderfully sweet and delicious!  Cristina was so kind to give us a cooking demonstration and allow us to take pictures while she was cooking up her magic!

Ingredient list:

1 bag mini chocolate chips

2 sticks of butter (not margarine)

1 cup sugar

2 cup of chopped nuts

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You ready?  Let’s go!

Begin by spreading 1 cup of chopped nuts on a greased cookie sheet. This one has a liner…

 

Here is the famous cook with one of THE most important ingredients – the chocolate chips!! 

 

Spread about half the bag over the nuts.  Then eat a small handful. :)  Shhh!

 

Take two sticks of butter (NOT Land O’ Lakes!!) and put them in a pan on the stove.

Add one cup of sugar.  Melt over medium heat.  Be ready to stir with undivided attention at this point (7-10 minutes to be exact.)  Now would NOT be the time to start helping kids with homework, start on another batch of cookies, call your sister in Kansas, etc.

Cristina is quite the model of stirring superiority, isn’t she? :)

Stir, stir, stir!

When you think you can’t stir any longer and you think your butter is going to burn, keep stirring.  It should look “caramely” brown and it will separate.  Keep stirring over heat and the liquid will “absorb” back into the solid.  Some say that when you see a small puff of smoke, you are done.

Pour over your nut and chocolate mixture.  **Note from Cristina:  This batch got a “tiny” bit too overdone.  Your batch should be a little bit lighter brown.

Spread a little.

 

Finish off by sprinkling more nuts and chocolate chips over the top.  Would you call this treat an “over the top” dish?  I would. It is fantabulous!!!

 

Let cool for up to an hour.  Your toffee should break apart and be brittle.

Thanks for teaching us, Cristina!  We are blessed to have your amazing talents in our ward! 

Reindeer Treats

Jackie Phillips brought these to the exchange but we didn't get a pic so I was glad she brought more to my house for my kids when she came visiting teaching. They look pretty self-explanatory but I'll let you know that's a graham cracker with frosting on it. Too fun!

RASPBERRY SQUARES

I'm not trying to show favoritism with this individual close-up but we missed Jackie's cookies in the photo shoot so I pulled one aside when I got home so we don't miss the recipe for this delicious cookie.

makes 16 squares

1 Cup salted butter at room temperature

1 Cup sugar

1 egg yoke

3 Cups flour

1 Cup whole almond, chopped1 1/4 Cups raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9x9 baking dish with a nonstick spray oil.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until well combined.

Add the egg yoke and mix

Add the flour and the almonds and blend well, but keep the mixture a bit crumbly and not too dry.

Pat half the mixture, about 3 cups, into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately spread with raspberry jam, leaving about a 1/4 inch boarder along the sides.

Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top of the jam and pat lightly

Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Store in an airtight container, with wax paper between layers, refrigerated, for several days.

May be frozen.

Easy Chocolate Truffles

1 1/2 (12 oz) semi-sweet choc chips

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

3 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

toppings- ground nuts, coconut, crushed candy cane, cocoa

Melt chocolate in bowl on high 2-3 min. Stir after each min.

In seperate bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar until blended. Add melted choc. and vanilla. Mix well. Refrigerate about 1 hour. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in toppings. Store in refrigerator.

Yield: 5 dozen (mine are kinda big so I only get about 3 1/2 doz)

-Gina Steed

Cake Mix Cookies

Quick and easy recipe that only dirties one bowl. You don't even need measuring devices.

one box cake mix
1 cube butter
1 egg
nuts, choc. chips, or other add-in

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake mix, butter, and egg thouroughly (be patient- it takes some time for the mix to get moist and workable and goes faster when butters really soft). Mix in add-ins. Bake for 13 mins. After they cool you can frost them. You can use white cake mix to make quick sugar cookies for decorating. These ones pictured use carrot cake mix with pecans, toasted coconut, and a little applesauce with cream cheese frosting.

Yield:2 dozen

-Gina Steed

Orange Balls

1/2 c butter, softened
2 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c chopped nuts
12 oz. box Nilla wafers, crushed
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
8 oz. coconut, for rolling

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl except the coconut. I like using my dough hook on my mixer. Roll into 2 inch balls and then roll in coconut. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Don't worry. They're always eaten before then.
This recipe can also be found in the ward cookbook on p.189

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Take a box of brownie mix and add 1 egg and 2 tablespoons of water. Mix well. If it seems to dry add a teaspoon of water at a time. You want them to be a little dry. Once you have a stiff mix take a spoonful of mix and put a Hershey kiss in the middle then make a ball. Roll ball around in powder sugar and put on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 8 – 10 minutes. Cookie should not look doughy.

-Jessica Jones