Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Graham Cracker Toffee


I think my dentist has given up on me flossing. It's been a gradual shift in her mindset. I remember that when I was younger--maybe 9 or 10--telling me to floss was always one of her priorities. She would mandate she would demand she would insist that I floss. I hardly did. Every time I came in should would ask if I was flossing. "On occasion" was my generic response. She was stern with me the first few times. So stern that for the next two days I actually did floss, but after that her words meant nothing to me. I wouldn't see her for the next six months so what did I care.

As I grew older she began to stop pressing me. My answer of "on occasion" only warranted a "well you really should." Well I went back to the dentist a few weeks ago, and she posed that anticipated question. I decided to be frank with her. "No, not really" was my response. She didn't say a word but just nodded her head. She had conceded. The battle was lost.

Recently however, I motivated myself to floss my teeth. My mom has a few dishes in her repetoire that she does really well, and one of them is this graham cracker toffee. It's irresistible, it's to-die-for, I can't stop eating it. She got the recipe from Steve Poses' blog a few months ago and has been making it every few weeks since. I tell her to make it less. I'd be thinner. I also wouldn't have to floss my teeth.



Graham Cracker Toffee

Enough graham crackers to cover a large cookie sheet, about two packages. 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 11 oz. chocolate chips (you can eyeball this it doesn't have to be exact)
Handful of chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Line a 17.5 by 13 inch cookie sheet with foil then top with parchment (so that no caramel sticks to your pan).

3. Lay out the graham crackers on top of the parchment, breaking pieces as necessary to fit the whole sheet.

4. Combine butter and brown sugar in a heavy saucepan and stir constantly as you heat over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the sugar dissolves.

5. Pour over graham crackers.

6. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Make sure the caramel doesnt burn.

7. Remove from oven and evenly sprinkly chocolate chips over top. Wait five minutes then use a spatula to spread the now-melted chocolate over the caramel.

8. Sprinkle nuts and fleur de sel over top.

9. Chill in the fridge then break into pieces.

8 comments:

VDOprincess said...

um, if you want to make it EVEN MORE ADDICTIVE, try using saltines instead of graham crackers. I know there's fleur de sel on top, but the saltines cut just a tiny bit more sweetness and OH GOSH THE SWEET AND SALTY COMBO.

::ahem::

Sorry about that. I got a little carried away.

Anonymous said...

I was going to tell you about the saltine version, but someone beat me to it. Oh so very good.

Anonymous said...

This is a classic David Lebovitz recipe...he uses Matzah...the ultimate Passover treat!

Jenny N said...

I'm pretty sure this isn't a classic David Lebovitz recipe.Try my grandma's kitchen from 50 years ago! haha.

Steph said...

Yep, came on to tell you about the saltines. We make it around Christmas and call it "reindeer crack". So good!

bellachef said...

im an 18 yr old investing her entire life savings in opening up a specialty bakery this summer. i was wondering if you had any awesome/unusual recipes for cookies/cupcakes/muffins that you wouldnt mind me plagiarising?

Beth said...

My dentist says only floss the ones that you want to keep. The recipe sounds so good.

Clayton said...

I love toffee. Didn't think about using it with graham crackers though. Usually I have some with my french press coffee in the morning or evening.