And then there was Toffee for cheaters...

We decided to give yummy gifts away for Christmas this year to save money. So I found a toffee recipe made with saltine crackers, and the reviewers were right! If you do it right, there's no way anyone will know it's made with saltines. And it was so incredibly easy!

Of course, I find that most any recipe needs to be tweaked a little bit. So I had to make a couple changes:

I added an extra 1/2 cup of butter and an extra 1/2 cup of sugar, because the mixture wasn't enough to cover my saltines. Also, I crushed the saltines first, to make it less like cracker squares, and let it break up in more random pieces. When I took it out of the oven, I waited about 30 seconds (toffee hardens up so fast), and dropped in my crushed pecans. Then I waited about another minute and added the chocolate chips (I didn't want them to sink in with the nuts). I had turned the oven off, but I threw the cookie sheet back in there to speed up the chocolate melting process. After a couple minutes, I pulled it out and spread the chocolate with a rubber spatula. It didn't quite cover every morsel, but that's how I wanted it. Then I threw it in the freezer (because I'm so impatient) and it was ready in about 30 minutes.

This totally makes our gift list! I think I'm going to include brownie cupcakes (just pillsbury brownie mix made in silicone cupcakes molds) - they come out perfectly every time and they're so easy! The third delicious morsel will probably be jam cookies. You know the sugar cookies with the well of chewy jam in the center? Ugh I love those. I remember making them with a friend back in junior high. We waited until her family got home so we could share them, but they never made it! No, the cookies. The cookies never made it :)

I think that's a good balance of toffee, chocolate, and light fruity treats, right? I'll post the other recipes when I try them out.

Oh, and since I have so much extra toffee, I'm thinking about throwing some in a box and sending them my sister's way in Massachusetts. Yes we haven't spoken in over a year (can we say crazy bitch?) but I figure this would be a good way to break the ice. Apparently a sister category is forthcoming also.....

Whatever! Go make saltine toffee!