Granini's Toffee

Granini's Toffee

Ingredients:

1 pound salted butter, no substitutes
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup almonds, slivers or finely chopped
½ cup almonds, into coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:

1. Line a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) with parchment paper. Lightly spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1 cup of finely chopped almonds. Set aside.

2. Combine butter and sugar in a heavy 3 or 4 quart saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until the mixture boils, and boil gently until the mixture reaches 305º F on a candy thermometer, hard crack stage, stirring constantly.

3. Pour immediately onto the jelly roll pan and spread flat with an oiled spatula or knife.

4. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot candy and let them sit until they can be easily spread over the surface. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup coarsely chopped almonds over the top.

When the candy has cooled, you can simply lift the candy off the parchment paper onto a cutting board, and chop or break into chunks.

Store the candy in an air tight container. Candy gets better each and every day.

YUM!

This is a terrible photo, but I was in a bit of a rush. I break down the toffee into moderate sized pieces. Just enough so that people can get a nice bite or two. This toffee never lasts long in my house. It's a true favorite!

Let it cool and rest

It's resting nicely. And I'm drooling furiously.

Mmmmmmmm.

Enjoy!

I will have lots of other cookie recipes to share this holiday season...
but thought I'd start with one of my all time favs!

Here are a few more:

Granini's Yummy Treats

Alphabetical List of all Desserts

(pies, cookies, tasty treats and cakes)

Apple Pie (top crust and bottom crust)

Apple Pie (crumble on top, crust on bottom) with homemade caramel sauce

Blondies

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Blueberry Pie

Brownies

Butterscotch Fudge

Caramel Apple Cakeballs

Caramel Sticky Buns

homemade caramel sauce

Cherry Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookie "Toffee" Bars

Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Chips

Chocolate Cookies with Andes Mint Chips

Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Granini's Cinnamon Bread

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies with Caramel filling

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes

Coconut Cream Pie

Coffee Cake

Danish Pastry Dough

French Silk Pie

Fudge

Fudge Pie (which is really just slightly underbaked brownies)

Gingersnaps

Grasshopper Pie

Lemon Almond Cake

Lemon Breakfast Cake

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Pound Cake
Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Cookies

Mincemeat Pie with Hot Rum Sauce (coming soon)

Oatmeal Scotchies

Oreo Cheesecake

Oreo Truffles

Peanut Butter Fudge

Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats with chocolate on top
Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with peanut butter filling

Pecan Tassies (Mini Pecan Pies)

Pina Colada Cookies

Pie Crust

Pumpkin Pie

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Rocky Road Fudge
Sand Tarts

Seven Layer Bars

Shortbread Sugar Cookies with frosting

Sticky Buns

Snowballs (Mexican Wedding Cakes)

Sugar Cookies

Snickerdoodles (Cookies made from leftover Pie Crust)

Thin Mint Brownies

Mint OreoTruffles

The World's Most Delicious Toffee

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Granini's Spinach Dip

Granini's Spinach Dip

(This is the cold spinach dip that you serve with french bread. If you're looking for the hot spinach dip recipe, you can find a link to that here)

(Picture coming soon. Meanwhile, take a gander at some of these other tasty and delicious Thanksgiving treats!!)

Ingredients:

1 box frozen spinach
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup parsley (minced)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ can (4 ounces) minced water chestnuts


Directions:

In the microwave, thaw out the spinach. Drain. Then press the spinach in a clean dish cloth or in between paper towels to remove all excess moisture.

Mince the spinach and scoop it into a medium sized bowl.

Mix in the remaining ingredients, stirring thoroughly to combine.

Serve either in a bread bowl, or with bit sized chunks of fresh French or Italian bread.


Kay's Helpful Hint of the Day

My spinach dip appetizer has the same ingredients (except for one) as my smoked salmon dip. So whenever I make the one appetizer, I make the other at the same time. So it's like a bonus two-fer recipe.

Appetizers and Other Tasty Savory Treats

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Granini's Stuffed Mushrooms
Cream Cheese Red Pepper Dip
Spinach Dip
Smoked Salmon Dip (Dead Fish)

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Granini's Smoked Salmon Dip (aka Dead Fish)

Granini's Smoked Salmon Dip

(aka Dead Fish)

(Picture coming soon. Meanwhile, take a gander at some of these other tasty and delicious Thanksgiving treats!!)

Ingredients:

¼ pound smoked salmon
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup parsley (minced)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon horseradish sauce
½ can (4 ounces) minced water chestnuts


Directions:

Remove all bones from the smoked salmon. Mince into teeny tiny pieces and scoop into a medium sized bowl.

Mix in the remaining ingredients, stirring thoroughly to combine.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dip to sit for 2 to 3 hours (overnight is even better). Serve with crackers.


Kay's Helpful Hint of the Day

My smoked salmon appetizer has the same ingredients (except for one) as my spinach dip. So whenever I make the one appetizer, I make the other at the same time. So it's like a bonus two-fer recipe.

Appetizers and Other Tasty Savory Treats

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Granini's Stuffed Mushrooms
Cream Cheese Red Pepper Dip
Smoked Salmon Dip (Dead Fish)
Spinach Dip
(a cold spinach dip not to be confused with the hot spinach artichoke dip listed above)

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Granini's Mincemeat Pie with Hot Buttered Rum Sauce

Granini's Mincemeat Pie

with Hot Buttered Rum Sauce

This is my 82 year old father in law's favorite pie. He has many memories of enjoying this pie with his mother, and says that his grandmother enjoyed it as well. I asked his brothers if they have fond memories of this pie too, but both of them scoffed, saying that no, they allowed their brother to enjoy the mincemeat pie instead. Personally, up until a few years ago, I thought mincemeat pie was a pie made out of minced meats. As in hams and livers and nasty leftover turkey carcass. I was pleasantly surprised that the meat refers to nut meats -- as in, the tasty part of a nut. And mincemeat is actually a pie made out of nuts and dried fruits all soaked in alcohol. My father in law prefers the pre-made jar of Mincemeat that one can find in most grocery stores and online.  You can buy it here. Buying the pie innards in a jar is much less time consuming and more budget friendly than buying everything separately, preparing the fruits and nuts, and then soaking them for a week or so in alcohol.

I prefer pies that are made from scratch, so I've added a few fresher ingredients to the jar of mincemeat to bring up the flavor a little bit. So here's my take on the traditional recipe, along with its accompanied hot buttered rum sauce.

I'll do my best to take pictures tomorrow so that I can update my blog pics accordingly.

Ingredients for the Pie:

1 pie crust, uncooked

1 jar of mincemeat (you can buy it here)
1 cup of fresh raisins, golden raisins, or dried fruits of your choice
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (toasted)
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 cup applesauce (I make mine from scratch, but a store bought jar works too)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cardamom
1 diced tart Granny Smith apple

Ingredients for the Hot Buttered Rum Sauce:

½ cup rum (preferably dark rum, but honestly, regular rum works just fine)

½ cup salted butter

⅓ cup sugar

⅓ cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoons orange zest

and the juice from that orange

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

and the juice of that lemon

½ teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (just a dash, really)

Directions:

Roll the pie crust into your pie plate. 

In a large bowl, combine the mincemeat pie filling along with the remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine. Pour into prepared pie crust. Bake at 350º for 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is lightly brown. After removing the pie from the oven, allow the pie to cool slightly on a wire rack, and prepare the rum sauce.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add in the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add in the remaining ingredients and bring up to a simmer. I have been told that some people like to catch the alcohol on fire in the kitchen, while others like to cook the sauce until the alcohol has evaporated. Others still like to pour the warm sauce into a dish and bring it to a flambé at the table when serving the pie. With all my relatives around, I like to keep my flames out of the kitchen and away from my guests, so I avoid the mini fire.

Serve the pie warm, and allow your guests to pour the warm hot buttered rum sauce over their own slices.

Enjoy!

Click here for more Thanksgiving Recipes

Or for more of my pie recipes

click here for The Week of Pie

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Granini's Tarte aux Sauterelles Chocolate (Chocolate Mint Pie)

Granini's Tarte aux Sauterelles Chocolate

(Chocolate Mint Pie)

I'm going to make this pie for the first time this afternoon, and will update this post with pictures. Meanwhile...

What's a Tarte aux Sauterelles Chocolate?

A Tarte aux Sauterelles Chocolate is a fancy french way of describing a chocolate mint pie. I've come up with the ingenious plan to merge two of my favorite pies together: A Grasshopper pie (Fluffy Mint Marshmallow pie) and a French Silk pie (a fancy, super fluffy and delicious Chocolate Cream Pie). Then, I'm going to sit them upon a bed of smashed Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. Mmmmmmm. I can not wait to try this!!

If you haven't got a stash of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in your freezer (gasp!), it's okay. You can use mint oreos. They work just fine.

First: Make a French Silk Pie

A French Silk Pie is a fancy Chocolate Cream Pie with either a traditional chocolate crumb crust or, much preferred, a mint chocolate crumb crust.

The chocolate cream is not made from a traditional chocolate pudding. Instead, it is lighter, airier, and much more tantalizingly delicious.  If you want a traditional chocolate cream pie made from chocolate pudding, please click here for my chocolate cream pie recipe. It will also work for this new mint chocolate pie.

(A simple French Silk Pie)

Ingredients:

For the chocolate crumb crust

3/4 cube butter or margarine
2 sleeves of mashed up to smithereens Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

If you haven't got Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, you can substitute
 ¾ of a bag of Oreo Mint Cookies
(or 1 box of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers: you can buy them here)

For the Chocolate Goodness Filling:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
7 ounces of 72% dark chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
Sweetened whipped cream (heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla)

For the Grasshopper Pie (Mint Marshmallow) Filling:

32 marshmallows or one jar of fluff / marshmallow cream

½ cup half & half

2 tablespoons creme de menthe

2 tablespoons creme de cocoa

2 drops of mint green food coloring

1 8 oz. carton heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Make the mint chocolate pie crust: 
Crumble the package of chocolate cookies by placing them in a large plastic ziplock bag and smashing them to smithereens with a hammer or a rolling pin. Pour the crumbs into a large Spring Form pan. Melt 3/4 cube of butter or margarine. Sprinkle the melted butter over the chocolate crumbs. With a fork, press the crumbs together and spread across the bottom of the spring form pan and up the sides. Place in the freezer while you make the insides of the pie.

Make the French Silk Pie Filling:

In a large mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  In a small microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add melted chocolate to the butter and sugar. Beat thoroughly. Add in the vanilla. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to mix for a good solid minute each.

Gently ladle the chocolate mixture into the pie crust.

Pop the whole thing in the fridge or freezer while you make the second type of pie to ladle on the top.

Make the Grasshopper Pie Filling:

Granini's Grasshopper Pie

(A simple Grasshopper Pie)

A grasshopper pie has NO grasshoppers in it. At all. Don't even know how it came about to be called a grasshopper pie. But essentially, it's a creamy, fluffy, mint marshmallowy delicious lip smacker of a good pie, living on a chocolate crumb crust. Here's how to make the filling:

Ingredients:

Filling:

32 marshmallows or one jar of fluff / marshmallow cream

½ cup half & half

2 tablespoons creme de menthe

2 tablespoons creme de cocoa

2 drops of mint green food coloring

1 8 oz. carton heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Melt the marshmallows in the half and half.  Stir, making sure all the lumps are gone.  
2. Add in 2 drops of green food coloring.  Set aside to cool thoroughly. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, add the heavy cream, vanilla, salt, and sugar.  On medium, allow mixture to whip for 1 minute.  Then, turn the mixer on high and beat until the cream is fluffy and smooth and whips up completely.
4. Stir your marshmallow gooey mixture.  Add in both cremes and mix completely. 
5. Fold in whipped cream with a wire whisk until smooth. 

Now it's time to merge the two together.

Gently, and very, very carefully, ladle the grasshopper pie filling on top of the french silk pie filling. Smooth around the top of the pie, making sure to get the mint pie all the way to the edges, but try not to handle the pie too much, or you'll take all the fluffy goodness out of the pie.

• Either allow the pie to sit in the freezer for 1/2 an hour -- and then cover with plastic wrap and allow to remain in the freezer for 3 hours, pulling it out of the freezer about 1/2 hour before you're ready to serve.  OR, chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to set.
• Sprinkle the chocolate crumbs, or chocolate curls, on top of the pie before serving.  

I hope this pie turns out to be as spectacular as I envision it!!

Enjoy!

Click here for more Thanksgiving Recipes

Or for more of my pie recipes

click here for The Week of Pie

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Thanksgiving Timeline -- When to make what for Thanksgiving

Granini's Thanksgiving Timeline

When to make what for Thanksgiving Dinner

and when to put it in the oven

Several years ago I started to prepare a Thanksgiving Timeline. I wanted to make as much stuff as I could ahead of time, so that on Thanksgiving Day, I could whirl around the kitchen like a crazy person, but not feel quite as frantic.

And THEN I had this brilliant idea.

Why not create a fancy spreadsheet, so that I could simply refer to it every year, rather than try to recreate the same list year after year after year??

And so I did.

 I make a LOT of food for Thanksgiving. AND, I make a lot of pies.
So I made spreadsheets.

I also have spreadsheets for grocery lists.

It sounds insane, but it has helped me immensely with preparing an entire feast by myself two separate times in one week. Yes, that's right. I make Thanksgiving twice, each year. Once on Thursday, and once again on Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year, I made Thanksgiving a third time (last Saturday). Yes, I'm that crazy.

I do not give myself a lot of extra time for each item, as I have made every recipe hundreds of times, and I know how long it takes me to make everything. You may wish to add more time to each item if you are a beginner cook, or if you're not as adept at cutting, dicing, and mixing. But for me, these timelines are divine. And they even allow me a quick nap, a good rest period to watch a bit of football and put my feet up, as well as time to eat breakfast and an hors d'oeuvre filled lunch. This year my goal is to add in Drinkies to the list -- Holiday inspired Cocktails. Delish!!

So, for those of you who would like to see them, here they are.

I hope that they help you immensely on the BIG DAY OF DAYS.


The day before Thanksgiving

  

Thanksgiving Day

 




Friendsgiving (smaller Thanksgiving dinner)

 

I'll gather up my grocery lists and post those too if you're interested!!

Links to my Thanksgiving Recipes:

Appetizers and Other Tasty Savory Treats

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Granini's Stuffed Mushrooms
Cream Cheese Red Pepper Dip

Turkey

Roasted Turkey
(or what I like to call bathing a turkey in butter in a toasty oven)

Side Dishes

Cornbread Stuffing / Cornbread Dressing
Bacon Beer Cheese Dressing (recipe to follow shortly)

Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows

Gravy

Dinner Rolls (aka Parker House Rolls)

Ratatouille (for the vegetarians!)

Cranberry Orange Relish
Glazed Carrots

Creamed Corn Casserole
Cheesy Creamed Corn Casserole (recipe to follow shortly)

Sautéd Green Beans with peppers and onions
Sinful Macaroni & Cheese

Additional Recipes you may want to peruse:

Cornbread
Spaghetti Sauce (for the Ratatouille)
Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pie for the days after Thanksgiving

Pies!

The week of Pie 
(all of my pie recipes in one place)


Pie Crust recipe & instructions
Traditional Apple Pie
Dutch Apple Pie with caramel drizzle
Blueberry Pie (with 3 crusts!)
Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Chocolate Eclair Pie
Coconut Cream Pie
French Silk Pie
(it's a fancy chocolate cream pie with chocolate crumb crust)
Grasshopper Pie
La Tarte aux Sauterelles Chocolate
(chocolate mint pie)
Lemon Meringue Pie
Minced Meat Pie with rum sauce
Pumpkin Pie

Snickerdoodles

(What to make with the leftover pie crust)

OR, if you prefer to drool over recipes with pictures, see below:

Dutch Apple Pie with homemade caramel sauce

Appetizers and Other Tasty Savory Treats

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Granini's Stuffed Mushrooms

Links to all Granini's Desserts and Sweet Treats

Pie Crust
Traditional Apple Pie
Dutch Apple Pie
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Pie
Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Cinnamon Rolls and Caramel Sticky Buns
Coconut Cream Pie
Coffee Cake
Danish Pastry Dough
French Silk Pie
Grasshopper Pie
Lemon Almond Cake
Lemon Breakfast Cake
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Lemon Meringue Pie
Lemon Pound Cake
Oreo Cheesecake
Oreo Truffles
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats with chocolate on top
Pecan Tassies (Mini Pecan Pies)
Pumpkin Pie
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Snickerdoodles (Cookies made from leftover Pie Crust)
Thin Mint Truffles

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

The Week of Pie (2019!)

Granini's 
The Week of Pie!

So last year at Thanksgiving, I started a new tradition.

The Week of Pie!

Each year on Thanksgiving day, I eat (and eat and eat and eat) so much food that by the time dessert rolls around, I'm too darned stuffed to eat any pie. And that's just sad.

So I started thinking, what if we had pie every night for a whole week leading up to Thanksgiving? And what if it was a different pie each night?
That way, all of us would get a chance to eat our favorite pie, and none of our favorites would be omitted due to lack of space in the fridge, or room in our bellies.

It was a huge hit!

So here we are, year two, and I've compiled a list of my pies in one location for all y'all to enjoy.

Happy Week of Pie!

(More recipes to come!)

Pies
Pie Crust recipe & instructions
Traditional Apple Pie
Dutch Apple Pie with homemade caramel sauce
Blueberry Pie Recipe
Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Eclair Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Coconut Cream Pie
Dutch Apple Pie
(Chocolate) French Silk Pie
Grasshopper Pie
La tarte aux sauterelles chocolate
( Chocolate Mint Pie - I just made up the recipe!)
Lemon Meringue Pie
Mincemeat Pie with hot rum sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Snickerdoodles recipe & instructions

Pie Crust recipe & instructions

Snickerdoodles recipe & instructions




Traditional Apple Pie and
Caramel Sauce

        

Dutch Apple Pie with  caramel sauce

 

Blueberry Pie Recipe and Instructions (with pictures) 

Triple crust (there's one in the middle!).

Cherry Pie

Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Coconut Cream Pie 

French Silk Pie

Grasshopper Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Links to all Granini's Desserts and Sweet Treats

Pie Crust
Traditional Apple Pie
Dutch Apple Pie
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Pie
Caramel Sauce
Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Cinnamon Rolls and Caramel Sticky Buns
Coconut Cream Pie
Coffee Cake
Danish Pastry Dough
French Silk Pie
Grasshopper Pie
Lemon Almond Cake
Lemon Breakfast Cake
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Lemon Meringue Pie
Lemon Pound Cake
Oreo Cheesecake
Oreo Truffles
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats with chocolate on top
Pecan Tassies (Mini Pecan Pies)
Pumpkin Pie
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Snickerdoodles (Cookies made from leftover Pie Crust)
Thin Mint Truffles

* * * * *

Find other tasty Thanksgiving Dinner dishes here:

And tasty pie recipes here:

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)