Toffee Nut Bars

This recipe comes from my Great Grandmother's friend Roz.

Toffee Nut Bars

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup plus 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2T flour
• 2 eggs
• 1t vanilla
• 1T baking powder
• 1/2T salt
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cut nuts
• oven preheated to 350 degrees

1. Mix shortening, butter, and 1/2 cup brown sugar until thoroughly mixed then, add in 1 cup flour

     2. Press into a lightly greased 13x9 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes

    

     3.  Beat eggs and stir in vanilla and the remaining cup of brown sugar

     4. In another bowl mix 2T flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine flour mixture with egg mixture

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     5. Mix in coconut and nuts and spread over pre-baked crust.

    
     6. Bake for another 26 minutes. Cool and then cut into squares.

 

Spaetzle is delicious

Today I woke up some of my German roots and made spaetzle. These little dumplings/noodles work with everything. They are great sauteed with some butter and a little crispy. Also, wonderful with just about any sauce or protein. This recipe may not be the truest of spaetzle but I don't care. They taste good.

Ok, my recipe starts with:

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 eggs
• pinch of kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups of water
• 2 TBS melted butter

1. Mix the flour, salt, and eggs together
2. Slowly add the water until you get a smooth dough. A consistency between bread dough and pancake batter.Stir with a wooden spoon until you get some bubbles and the dough sticks together.
3. Then add the melted butter and stir until well combined. 
4. Have a bot of salted boiling water ready. This is where I change things up from traditional methods. German housewives have an amazing technique where they have a smooth cutting board and scrape the dough off in thin strips into boiling water. I can't do that. Then you could buy a spaetzle maker, I don't have one. You could use the colander method and squish the dough through the holes of a large holed colander. I don't have one of those. So I use my trusty slotted spoon. It is basically the colander method but on a smaller scale.
5. Use one of the many spaetzle forming methods and drop the dumplings into boiling water. Let them float to the surface and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Do this in several batches and DO NOT crowd the spaetzle in the pot. They will glob together.

6. Scoop out the spaetzle into another colander with a bowl under it. I like to take the water that drains and dump it back into the pot of boiling water so I don't lose to much cooking water for the last batches.

What to do with these weird looking yummy things.

1. Sautee the cooked spaetzle in a pan with some butter and make sure to let it get a little crispy and browned. 
2. Eat until you can't move.