Prize Winning Chocolate Chip Toffee Grahams

I want to share with you the most awesome, wonderful, crowd pleasing treat ever. I have shared this recipe before but only 38 people ever saw the post. That should not be... Every time I take these cookies to a party, people rave about them. I almost never bring any home and they really are prize winning.
I'll tell you the story at the end of this post.
28 years ago I received this cookbook from my darling, Aunt Susan.

The outfits and crafts in this book are hysterical. 

When I perused the book, I found the recipe. I must have had the Lord shining on me the day I made them, because they came out perfectly. I don't mind sharing recipes and I've given this one out many times.  My friends have told me that theirs didn't turn out the same as mine. 

I will walk you through the recipe step by step to help guarantee success.

• 11 whole graham crackers broken into rectangles
• 1 cup butter (do not use margarine)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 6 oz  chocolate chips (the recipe calls for mini chips but I never use those)

Have everything arranged and ready to go.
Arrange graham crackers onto a lightly greased jelly roll pan. 15 x 10. I arrange them all onto one side because 1 package won't really fill up the pan. You can use a cookie sheet, but the sides have to go up about an inch.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Put butter and sugar in a sauce pan. Turn on burner to medium heat. Do not turn on the burner until both the butter and sugar are in the pan. Melt butter and sugar, stirring constantly. Keep stirring only to stop every once in a while to check to see if the mixture is boiling. You have to stop stirring because the thick mixture bubbles when you are stirring it. When you stop stirring you can see if it is really boiling or just glopping when you stir. (I think this might be where the recipients of this recipe are making their mistake.) Once the toffee boils turn on the timer for 2 minutes and keep stirring. Remove from heat after two minutes and add the cinnamon and pecans. Pour mixture over the graham crackers. Here is what they look like before they go in the oven. 

Bake the crackers for 10 minutes, no more. I never ever, vary the baking time. 

Here is what they look like after they have baked.

Pull the pan out of the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Some of the chips will fall in between crackers. If you want to have perfect looking bars with no dripping, oozing chocolate, you can put the chips on after you remove them from the pan. Make sure the cookies are still hot when you put the chips on. Work quickly to remove the toffee from the pan. If you wait too long the bars will stick and break. 

Place on cookie sheets lined with wax paper. You can cool in the freezer or the fridge.

Here are a couple of tricks. 

You can increase the recipe by adding more graham crackers. Just increase the butter and sugar by equal amounts. I have done 1 1/2 cups of both before but I've never doubled it. 

These freeze really well. In fact I made some two weeks ago and put them in the freezer.

I pull them out as needed. ;) I love them crunched up over ice cream. I also like them without the chocolate chips.

I don't thing you will be able to eat just one.

I promised that these were prize winning. 

My daughter's Junior High 4H club went to the Junior Live Stock Show in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to animals the students could bring baked goods. She brought these cookies and won. She was allowed to get in the center of the arena and auction off her cookies. She was Reserve Grand Champion and received a gigantic belt buckle. It was too much fun.

Make some this weekend. If they don't come out the first time, try making them again. I promise they are worth it.

Sprinkled with chocolate chips,

Katie

Linking with,

Funky Junk Interiors 

All By Myself

As I left work yesterday I was singing to myself.

"All by myself

Don't wanna be, all by myself-anymore."

Eric Carmen circa 1975.

Come on, you know you're singing it. 

Can you believe it has been a month since Bill started traveling?

I have been a busy little bee while he is gone.

The Kardashians and I did some catching up. (don't judge)

Bill thought I had 'Snapped' when out of boredom I was posting pictures of Tiffany blue guns on Pinterest.

Pinterest:

 I was just thinking about personal protection. 

But seriously,

I'm not bored. My nails have never looked better.

I have been researching how to eat healthy-for one.

I have formed some special bonds.

But, it's a little frustrating when he's had a bad day and there is nothing I can do about it. 

I can't even make his favorite dinner. 

All we can do is count our blessings,

be grateful he has a job

and count down the hours to the weekend.

Katie 

Updating a Kitchen With a Faux Vent Hood.

I told you last week that I had something up my sleeve for the kitchen. My kitchen had a very 90s look. 



It had dated oak cabinets but it also had all that open space above the cabinets. 
It was better than the soffits in 70s kitchens but still...
Painting the cabinets helped but the linear look remained. 
I added this little cabinet before we painted to break up the line around the room.

It was originally supposed to go above the microwave but it didn't look good.



As I was writing my blog post celebrating the anniversary of my white cabinets I couldn't dislodge an idea that I had a year ago. 
I went back to the internet to get some inspiration and to get just the push I needed to get going. 
I was a little afraid it would look bad.

I love DIYing when Bill is out of town and last Saturday he was up at my brother's ranch taking the cows to get branded. 
I figured it was a good opportunity to putter in the garage.
 I had hoped he had all the supplies but I couldn't find what I needed so I asked Bill to help me with this easy and inexpensive update.

I told him what I was thinking and I showed him some pins on Pinterest for inspiration. 

He seemed excited to head to Home Depot and get started. 

I can tell when he is fired up about one of my ideas. He charges ahead and takes over. We had this thing done in 2 1/2 hours and that included a lunch break.

 I wanted a vent hood look but we didn't need a vent hood.
Instead I had him build a box as if there were a vent we needed to hide. 
We designed a three sided box.

It consists of 2-1 x 12s for the sides. The front is a piece of 1/2 inch plywood. 

We put each piece up on the cabinet and then used the air gun to tack them together.

We covered the box with pre-primed bead board to match the island.

He trimmed it out with dentil crown molding and trim. The most challenging part was the mitered corners. 
There were some other molding options if you feel you can't do crown. I primed the crown molding and then painted the rest with some oil based semi-gloss.

 Our paint color for our cabinets is Dover White by Sherwin Williams.

I'm loving it!
I have had the little antique shelf for about 3 years. I knew I wanted it in the kitchen somewhere but didn't know where until we finished the "vent hood."  

I like it with the tole painted tray. 
I also went to the thrift store and picked up two more silver trays so both sides would be symmetrical.

I love the look of the silver and the crystal together.

The box is very light weight. I didn't want to add an additional weight load to the top of the cabinets. It was easy and it cost less than $75.00 for supplies. The crown molding was the most expensive part.
There is a plug in the microwave cabinet so we added some lights on the top. 

Some of you observant friends may have seen a sneak peak  of it in my Halloween tree post.

 I think a wreath at wreath at Christmas will look fabulous. 





I am so thankful for a handy husband.
Katie    

Linking with,
Between Naps on the Porch   
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia  
White Lace Cottage   
Savvy Southern Style    
Feathered Nest Friday   
Common Ground   
A Stroll Thru Life   
Funky Junk Interiors

Staging Kitchen Countertops

What is you see in my photos is pretty much what you get with my kitchen.

Once I wipe down the counters and remove the coffee pot I can begin shooting. 

Do you wish that your kitchen could look like the ones on Pinterest?

Well it can and here is how.

Banish the appliances, canisters and utensils and leave the cute stuff. 

This is how my kitchen would look if all of the above were on the counter.

Add in the mail and my laptop and it is just a mess.
Not cute!

Not Pinworthy!
Junky!

Most important- not calm. 

I really believe that in our chaotic world, we need to get away from visual clutter and distractions when we get home.

Maybe you are one of those people that doesn't "see" visual clutter. 

I don't really believe that. 

You may have trained yourself to ignore it but the stuff is still there, affecting a sense of calm for you and for the whole family. 

I don't know why but I have always been a hide the appliances kind of gal. At times it makes my family crazy but I have a little place for each appliance in the cabinet closest to where it will be used.

It takes two seconds to pull out what I need.

You probably don't use all your little appliances daily so 

 it may be possible to hide one or two. If you use something too often to hid away, get the cutest one you can find.

We drink coffee everyday (sometimes several times a day) so our coffee maker sits out on the counter.

It's usually the only appliance . 

The coffee stuff is put up in the cabinet above the coffee maker for easy reach.

My utensils for cooking are in a drawer. 

I don't have a utensil crock and I haven't in years. 

I would rather display a vintage scale or antique spice chest instead of spoons and spatulas.

It's easier for me to get the utensils out of a drawer anyway.

If you have to have them on the counter get something adorable to put them in.

Purchase utensils in all one color to further eliminate visual "noise". 

I have a place in the pantry for all the canisters.

It keeps my pantry neatly organized and cute as well. 

Bill sorts the mail everyday while I put the finishing touches on dinner. 

All the bills go into the office.

Circulars get sorted and moved to my reading area in the living room. 

I may feel differently at Christmas time but lately I haven't even been saving the sale ads.

If you like the look of appliances, canisters and and utensils then remove the knick knacks.

I like my scale 

and 

my bread boards.  

I would much rather display those things instead of

a toaster.

Editing is the key. It has amazed me how much editing I have done since I started blogging. Photos don't really lie. 

I see clutter in a photo that I couldn't see in real life because my brain ignored it before.

Take a photo of your kitchen and have a good look at the stuff that could be edited. Walk out of your kitchen, come back in and try to see what a stranger would see.  

Do I have piles? Yes!

My biggest flaw in the kitchen is the drain board at night. 

If I were super disciplined I would put the pots and pans away immediately after washing.

 Now that I've let you in on my secret, maybe I will start putting the dishes away before I go to bed at night.  

Katie 

Linking with,

 

French Country Cottage

Halloween Tree

One of my students gave me this adorable ornament.

We have a black kitty, so of course, I was smitten.
I found a few more ornaments for just 50 cents one year at the craft mall near the school. It was the following spring so they were deeply discounted. 
They have a vintage Halloween feel.



Last year I had them on my crib spring memo board. 

This year I wanted a Halloween tree but I was too cheap to buy one.

Hobby Lobby had some glossy black trees for $12.00. 

They were a little too shiny if you know what I mean. The branches seemed to be made out of twisted mylar. 

I had some success spray painting Christmas garland last fall so I decided to try black Rust-Oleum on an old alpine style tree I had in the attic.

I went to town on it.  

I figured I had nothing to lose. This tree was old. 

I found a set of these at the grocery store for $14.99 years ago. I've replaced the lights on this one several times. 
After several coats of spray paint it looked pretty good.
It's better than the one from Hobby Lobby. 

I am pleasantly surprised with the results.

I set it on the kitchen island as a background for a Halloween table scape.

The chargers are from Hobby Lobby. 

I've had the white Adam's China plates for a while. They were a thrift store find for $1.00 each. 

I spray painted thrift store Christmas houses black.  

The napkins are dish cloths from Dollar Tree.

So are the bubbles!  

I draped the chandelier in netting also from Dollar Tree. 

I tried to get my photo bomb friend to be a part of the kitchen decor but he has a do not publish policy.

Katie   

Linking with,

Savvy Southern Style