Recently my aunt Darlene shared a recipe on Facebook that my mother saved for “later.” As you all know…cooking and me do not go hand in hand. So, this is how it all went down.
Mom is in the kitchen counting graham crackers (well, packages of them from the box).
Me: Hungry?
Mom: Did you see the recipe I printed out?
Me (reading – more like skimming – the recipe): Oh! Are we making these now?
Mom: I have all the ingredients
Me: Yum! (as I grab the ingredients from the pantry)
Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Crackers
Again…keep in mind that my cooking skills are pretty much that of a 3 year old dragging pots and pans out of the cupboards just to bang on them with a wooden spoon!
As mom preps the cookie sheets with graham crackers I calculate how many sticks of butter you need for 1 cup of butter. Did anyone else know that it’s 2 sticks of butter? We had a ziplock bag with what was left of the last bag of brown sugar and also a brand new bag of dark brown sugar. The recipe calls for brown sugar so in my mind dark brown sugar and brown sugar are NOT the same (no, really, they aren’t).
I will also post a recipe card for you, but I feel I need to take you through the cooking process. It is just shy of 8:00 pm at this point. It’s the weekend. No one has to be anywhere in the morning. We have all night.
You are supposed to bring the brown sugar and butter to a boil first. I put the 2 sticks of butter in the pan and throw in the 1/2 cup of brown sugar. My mother notices what seems to be a teaspoon or tablespoon (who’s counting) left of brown sugar and grabs the bag to throw it in the pan. I. Am. Mortified. This is not what the recipe says. It doesn’t say 1/2 cup PLUS whatever else is left in the bag. It says 1/2 cup. Too late – she has dumped the rest in. This goes WAY beyond my cooking ability. How does she even know if it will still be good with that extra brown sugar in there?? By the way – did you know that stirring for 4 minutes straight is exhausting? Not to mention my hand was getting hot. Is that an indication that the heat on the gas stove was up to high or simply that I’m not used to cooking?
After you finish stirring for 4 minutes you are supposed to pour over the graham crackers on the cookie sheet. This is a little late in the process to realize you should use cookie sheets with sides – so be sure you think of this in advance of starting to make yours. You now bake for 8 minutes. Once finished baking you immediately sprinkle your chocolate chips on top, let sit for 2 minutes, and then spread with a knife. Sprinkle the nuts on top.
This is where panic set in. We started just before 8:00 pm. 4 minutes to stir. 2 minutes to pour it over the graham crackers (give or take a minute). 8 minutes to bake. Sprinkle chocolate chips – 1 minute tops. Set 2 minutes. Spread – maybe 3 minutes. Sprinkle with nuts. At best is is now 8:20 pm. Last step in the instructions finally read by me. LET SIT FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS. What?? TWO HOURS! Who are they kidding? Do they want me to bake one of my first ever baking things and wait 2 hours? My mother found this very humorous. Apparently one should completely read the recipe before embarking on attempting it. I guess I should be happy it didn’t say 2 days!
Turns out my aunt shared it from a blog post over at Chef in Training. My friends insisted I bring it to a pot luck that was coming up in the next few days, and have since re-named it from Graham Cracker Toffee to Graham CRACKer Toffee given that it is so addictive! Addictive to the point that someone like me who eats very little chocolate, consumed so much of it in a couple of weeks (we made 2 batches) that I broke out in hives. I suggest you consume at your own risk and proceed with caution!
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Butter & Brown Sugar
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Mixing it up!
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Keep stirring...
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It starts to thicken a little and get foamy
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Cooking in the kitchen with mom
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Baking...
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Pour on the chocolate chips
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Spread
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Taste
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Sprinkle with nuts
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Mom does it best!
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Almost ready
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Are they done yet??
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