The Supermom Chef

Call this candy what you like, I simply call it crack because it’s just that dang addictive! If you are a salty/sweet combo person, you are going to LOVE this treat. I am simply powerless when it comes to resisting this dessert. Yesterday when I was making it my husband came home and asked me to leave the chocolate off some for him. He’s not a big chocolate person…WHACKO! He immediately dove into them and enjoyed himself. I’m telling you, they are simply irrestible! Quick and delicious, what a perfect combo!

Our star players:

Start by grabbing a sheet pan and lining it with foil (so you’ll have an easy cleanup job). Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray and spread a layer of Ritz crackers. It’s okay if they overlap.

Meanwhile, cook the brown sugar and butter over medium-high until boiling. Once boiling, cook for about 3-4 minutes until super hot and bubbly.

Pour over the crackers.

Pop in the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to sit for about 5 minutes or until soft. Spread with a knife over the entire pan. See my husband’s itty bitty corner over there on the far right with no chocolate?

Put the entire pan in the fridge for a couple hours to allow it to harden and then break into pieces. Store in the fridge. And check out this beautiful dish! My sweet best friend gave this to me for Christmas!

Ritz Cracker Candy

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 sleeves Ritz crackers (the full size ones)

chocolate chips (you can use either semi-sweet or milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Layer the Ritz crackers flat on the sheet pan. Meanwhile, cook the butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat until boiling. Allow mixture to boil for 3-4 minutes. Pour mixture over the crackers and bake for 5 minutes. Immediately after removing from the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the crackers. Allow to sit for 5 minutes (this gives it time to melt somewhat). Spread the chocolate over the crackers. Refrigerate for 4 hours, or until hardened. Remove and break into pieces. Return to refrigerator for storage.

A few days ago I posted on my Facebook asking for family recipes from friends that they like to make this time of year. A sweet friend and huge prayer warrior for my son sent me a message suggesting that I make Hello Dolly bars. Since I have never made these, but have heard about them for years I decided to look in an old, old cookbook of my grandmothers. Turns out it was in there! But, sadly it called for coconut and that’s just one of my LEAST favorite things on this earth so I decided to leave it out. These turned out to be absolutely delicious! Since I made a few changes to the recipe, I decided to call them Hello Mandy bars for fun.

You’ll need these items

In a small bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, water (not pictured), and butter. Stir with a fork to combine.

Pour into an 8×8″ baking dish. Pat gently…no need to pound it down.

Sprinkle that layer with the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, followed by the chopped pecans.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk over all of that.

Bake ’til done! They are easier to remove from the pan if you allow them to cool completely. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard…I can’t ever wait that long to dive into them.

Hello Davis Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9 cookie sheets)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon water

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3  cup  butterscotch morsels

1/4  cup  chopped pecans

1  (15 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line the bottom and sides of a 9″ square baking pan with foil. Place crumbs in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter and 1 tablespoon water; toss with a fork until moist. Gently pat mixture into an even layer in pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and butterschotch morsels over crumb mixture. Top evenly with pecans. Drizzle milk evenly over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly around edges. Cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe adapted from: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001687691

Have you ever had a Take 5 candy bar? If you haven’t, you are missing out. It is our family’s all time favorite candy bar. So much so that I keep a stash of them hidden in my, NOPE! Can’t tell you where or you might come eat them! They are called Take 5 because they have five goodies in them…pretzels, peanut butter, chocolate, caramel, and nuts. My kids and I decided to call these Take 4’s because they have four delicious items in them and taste an awful lot like Take 5’s. Simple, delicious, and healthy…well, two out of three ain’t bad!

Pick these items up at the store.

Place the pretzels flat on a baking sheet, like so.

Unwrap the Rolo candies and place one on each pretzel.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 3 minutes, or until just starting to melt.

Immediately press a pecan half into each Rolo candy.

They are delicious when they are hot and gooey but also still delicious once they have cooled!

And for some reason my gooby kids decided they needed their photos taken with the candies. They did help after all!

This is my HERO! He’s survived 15 surgeries and will need a lifetime more of them but still always has that sweet, sweet smile on his face!

And this is my angel, my sweetheart! My other sweetheart was napping while these pictures were taken…otherwise she’d be eating all the candy!

Take 4 Treats

Rolo candies

miniature pretzels

pecan halves

Place the pretzels on a baking sheet. Top each pretzel with a Rolo candy. Bake at 350 degrees for 3 minutes, or until the candies are soft and melty. Press one pecan half into each Rolo candy.

I’ve been making these a batch at a time for at least the last two weeks, and my family (especially the baby) has been gobbling them up right and left. These are beyond delicious and are a welcome sight on any dessert tray this time of year. You can substitute any kind of candy that you prefer for the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. We like to switch it up and use miniature Snickers or just regular old Hershey’s kisses sometimes too. It doesn’t matter what you use because with a combination like chocolate and peanut butter, you just can’t go wrong.

This recipe only requires two items. Nothing could be simpler!

Take your already prepared dough (and if you have a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe, you can certainly substitute that) and roll it into small balls. Place each ball into the well of a mini muffin pan.

Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees until JUST done, don’t let them get too brown or they’ll be crunchy. While they are baking, go ahead and wrap the appropriate number (amount will depend on how many wells your mini muffin pan holds) of candy pieces. Unwrap a few extra in case little hands…like in my house…sneak by and take some before the cookies are done baking.

As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, place each piece of candy in a cookie, and press down slightly. You’ll end up with a pan of cookies that looks like this.

Leave them in the pan for 10 minutes or so, just long enough to allow them to cool slightly and hold their shape. Remove and serve. YUMMY somehow just isn’t an appropriate enough word…it’s even better than yummy!!!

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

2 rolls peanut butter cookie dough

1 package Reese’s peanut butter cups (miniature size)

Grease a mini muffin pan. Roll cookie dough into 1″ balls and place in muffin wells. Cook as directed on package. While this is cooking, unwrap the peanut butter cups. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press the peanut butter cups into the center of the cookie. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to place on cooling racks.

This is probably THE all-time favorite Christmas candy of anything that my family has ever made. I can only think of one person who doesn’t like these, and that’s my dad. But he doesn’t like peanut butter, so it’s a given he wouldn’t like these. I can’t imagine anyone ever not liking peanut butter because I hold that as one of my top five favorite things of all time, but I guess it’s different strokes for different folks. I made these last week for a party I was having over the weekend and within just a day or two they were gone. A little rat (named Matt, aka my hubby) kept sneaking in the tin of them after I’d go to sleep! He did leave me two of them though so I can’t complain too much. He’s already requested another batch so I’ll be making those soon this week. We’ll worry about the diet later I suppose. It is Christmas after all!

Grab these items when you run to the store:

Pour the corn syrup and sugar into a large metal pot (for lack of a better word).

Stir well and cook over medium-high heat until they are melted together.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until it’s all combined. Add cereal and stir again, until well combined. You’ll end up with a mixture that looks something like this.

Now grab a stick of butter, a couple spoons, and a friend to help you roll out the balls. Rub the stick of butter over your hands until they are covered. This will keep the mixture from burning your hands (it’s gonna be hot) and also keep it from sticking to you. Grabbing about a tablespoon at a time, roll the mixture into balls and place on waxed paper. Allow to cool and dry out somewhat before storing or else they’ll all stick together. Then grab the whole recipe and hide in a closet and eat every last one of them. Oh wait…that’s just what I want to do when they are finished but maybe you should do the right thing and share.

Peanut Butter Krunchies

1 cup corn syrup

2 cups crunchy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

5 cups Special K cereal

Melt sugar in corn syrup. Add peanut butter, stir until well combined. Add cereal and stir again until well combined. Roll into tablespoon-sized balls and place on waxed paper to allow to cool.

Note: When rolling into balls, the mix is extremely hot so coat your hands well with butter before rolling.

This time of year something just makes me want to eat sweets…doesn’t matter what it is as long as it has LOTS of sugar in it. I can’t resist so why even try? I’ll work it all off after the start of the new year, right? So since I’m in baking overload, I made this pie for my hubby (it’s his favorite). He prefers his pecans (pronounced puh-cans, not pee-cans around here) chopped but you can leave yours whole if you’d prefer. Either way, it’s gonna be yummy and irrestible. And yep, you guessed it. This is yet another recipe that I’ve been using for so long that I can’t remember where it came from or else I’d give credit where credit is due.

Grab these items:

Whisk eggs

Add corn syrup, vanilla, sugar, butter, and pecans. Mix all until well combined.

Pour into (unbaked) pie crust. I like to place mine on a foil lined baking sheet just in case I have runover from the pie while baking.

Bake at 350 degrees until done, about 50-55 minutes.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 9″ deep dish pie crust

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/4 cup pecans, chopped if you prefer

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs. Add sugar, corn syrup, margarine/butter, vanilla, and pecans. Stir until blended. Pour into crust and bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

This is one my favorite quick chowders to prepare for my family, and yet another one of those recipes that I’ve used for so long that I can’t even remember where I got the recipe. It comes together in just minutes and is absolutely delicious. Such a great meal for you family, especially on a cold day like today. According to the news, it’s 43 degrees here right now, but feels like 37 degrees. I absolutely LOVE this kind of weather. This is the best time of year to put a good Christmas movie on, and curl up on the couch with your family and eat yummy comfort foods like this chowder. I apologize ahead of time for having only the final photo. The day that I prepared this meal, I was in a huge hurry baking goods for others and completely forgot to take photos of the steps as I went.

Chicken & Vegetable Chowder

3 bacon slices, chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 (15 oz) cans mixed vegetables, drained

1/2 cup fat free half & half (you can use the regular half & half or whipping cream, but using the FF will save you lots of calories and it tastes just as good)

1 onion, chopped

2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth

1 (15 oz) can whole kernal corn, drained

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

salt & pepper, to taste

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat about 10 minutes, or until crisp. Set aside on paper towels, leaving the bacon grease in the pan. Add onion and saute 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour; whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in canned vegetables and remaining ingredients; cook until thoroughly heated. Top each single serving with the crisp bacon; serve immediately.

Note: You can also use other vegetables that are your favorites in this chowder. Sometimes if I am out of the canned vegetables, I will use canned potatoes in its place. That is actually my family’s favorite version of this chowder.

It’s cookie season! For me, at least. This time of year I am a baking fool, constantly making lots of goodies to share with all of my friends and family. Actually one of my favorite things each holiday season is our annual candy/cookie making day that my mom, sister, and I always do. We go seriously overboard with the baking and make everything that is our favorite all at once. These are probably my favorite cookie for this time of year. This is yet another recipe that I only seem to make this time of year, and I’m not really sure why. I always tend to forget about them during the year, but can’t seem to get enough of them during the holidays. This recipe comes from a very sweet family member, Alice. She goes out of her way to send a card to each of my kids (separately, which they love because they all get their own mail). It truly makes their day! Make some today to share with someone that you love!

Oh, and I apologize for such a long delay in posting a new recipe. My internet was out most of this week and I wasn’t able to log on and share any new recipes with you. It’s AT&T’s fault, not mine.

You’ll need these items:

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, molasses, and egg by hand with a large spoon (no mixer).

In a separate mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, stirring well to combine.

Mix all together until completely combined.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Form into 1″ balls and roll in additional sugar.

Place on a cookie sheet, allowing room for the cookies to spread as they bake.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Leave the cookies on the pan for a few minutes after baking to allow time for them to firm up a little. Place on a cooling rack. Finally…try to resist eating the entire recipe yourself!

Molasses Cookies

1 2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup light molasses

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Beat well without a mixer. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix all well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Form into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Place on an ungreased baking sheet about 2″ apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Leave on the baking pan a few minutes to allow the cookies to firm somewhat. Place on a cooling rack.

If you are looking for a great last-minute dessert for Thanksgiving, this is it! Super simple to make and you only need a few ingredients. The first time I mentioned something about this dessert to people that weren’t from around here, they could not believe that “down here” we ate a pie made out of buttermilk. Just trust me on this! If you like custard or a similar pie, you’ll love this one! I completely forgot to take photos of the recipe as I was preparing it, but at least you have a finished product photo. Just enough to make you want to make it!

Southern Buttermilk Pie

4 eggs

1 stick butter, melted

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 unbaked pie shell

Mix all ingredients together well; pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until set in the middle.

I have no idea where this particular recipe comes from, or how long my family has been making it. But I do know that of all the recipes I’ve ever had, this one has always stood out as my favorite. My mom makes it every single year for me for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and it’s beyond my favorite item on the buffet table on each holiday. I love it even more warmed up, along side a sandwich made of leftover turkey and rolls. Makes me long for the holidays just by thinking of it!

Grab these items:

Pour the boiled potatoes into a baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (Make sure not to overcook the potatoes…they will continue to cook in the oven a little so you don’t want them too mushy.)

Mix together 1/4 cup of the melted butter, Cheddar cheese, salt, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and onion.

Pour the mixture over the top of the potatoes.

If you are going to be a busy lady like we always are on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and don’t want to worry with doing all of this the day of, you can prepare this dish the previous day, up until this point. I like to go ahead and crush my cereal and put it in a zip-close baggie on top of the dish (see photo below). That way all I have to do the day of is melt some butter, mix it with the cereal crumbs, and pour over the casserole dish.

Mix the cereal crumbs with the remaining 1/4 cup melted butter, pour over the casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees until the casserole is hot and bubbly.

Mandy’s Favorite Potato Casserole

6-7 large potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup melted butter, separated

1 (12 oz) package grated Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups crushed corn flakes*

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 (8 oz) package sour cream

1/2 onion, chopped

Boil the potatoes until just done, do not let them cook too long as they’ll continue cooking in the casserole. Pour the potatoes into a 9×13″ casserole dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Mix 1/4 cup butter, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, salt, cheese, and onion. Spread evenly on the top of the potatoes. Mix corn flakes with remaining 1/4 cup butter. Sprinkle on the top of the potatoes/cream mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

*Note: When my mom makes this dish she never adds the corn flakes and we like it just as much!