I've been trying to think of a way in which I could spice up this blog a little bit. (Spice up? Get it? XD) Having a baking blog is great and all, but there's a lot of baking blogs out there and I would love to find a way to offer you guys something unique and creative while still being helpful and interesting. If I could think of a way to integrate some of my other interests into this blog, that would be fabulous. Unfortunately, my hobbies are not exactly supportive of this plan. I love video games and actually have several video game inspired recipes I've been planning out, but I couldn't really make this blog center on that as there are already some great blogs with the same concept. My other interests include movies, fashion, make-up and reading but... Well, I just have no idea what to do with that. So if you have any suggestions on things you would like to see, I would be eternally grateful to know. Feel free to comment or shoot me a message!
But for now, onto the recipe! Today, in the search of more gift friendly treats, we're making chocolate praline toffee crisps. I'm warning you ahead of time; this recipe may be a bit wonky because it's from a Pampered Chef cookbook which means it was written for specific PC utensils and was a bit difficult to translate to what things I already had.
What you need:
12 whole graham crackers
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter (do not substitute with margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange crackers in a single layer in a rimmed cookie sheet. I didn't have the particular PC brand sheet so the closest thing I had was too big. This proved to work fine though. Just make sure you can fit the crackers.
Combine brown sugar, butter and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk. Boil sugar mixture 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
Immediately pour sugar mixture over crackers and spread evenly.
Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until sugar mixture is bubbly and pecans are lightly toasted. Remove pan from oven to cooling rack. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, microwave semi-sweet chocolate chips on high 30 to 60 seconds or until smooth, stirring after each 20 second interval.
Place ziploc bag into a cup, tucking the excess over the rim. Pour chocolate into bag. Twist top of bag, secure with clip.
Trim corner to allow chocolate to through; drizzle over crisps. Repeat with white chocolate.
Let stand until the chocolate is firm. Cut into 24 squares and, if desired, cut the squares diagonally to form triangles. Store in an airtight container.
Though the finished product looked pretty enough, I wasn't crazy about the taste. I had several issues with this recipe. The graham crackers really didn't work out. They were too tough to cut through and they crumbled apart when I tried to cut the bars into triangles. I thought the topping was far too dry. I expected them to be a bit sticky like the filling in a pecan pie and was incredibly disappointed when that was not the case.
If you decide to try these, I highly suggest just making a crust and either not baking the bars at all or only baking them for a few minutes.
Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie
Source: Pampered Chef Festive Holiday Desserts
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