not martha — Meat Hand.

I love the Pioneer Woman always, and I share her affinity for butter. But most of all, I know she is my cinnamon roll soul mate. Just look at these Cinnamon Rolls with maple frosting. But wait, there’s more! How about Orange Marmalade Rolls? Holy cow. But wait, Ginzsu knife fans — that’s not all! Because she went and created Caramel Apple Sticky Buns. Yes she did. And now, as if that weren’t enough:  Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls.

Now I’m not crazy about chocolate in my breakfast, but I might reconsider for those. Although I doubt anything could ever surpass the original. My love for cinnamon rolls is about cinnamon rolls, not spin-offs. Except for sticky buns — which is a whole other world of deliciousness.

This looks so delicious, even in badly translated Googlish. I’m going to give it a try.

Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars

See the delicious toffee bars up there in the header? Those are Chocolate Pecan Toffee.

The recipe is a variation on this one, for Easy Pecan Toffee, from verybestbaking.com. That recipe calls for a base of soda crackers, topped with toffee, chocolate, and walnuts. I have made that recipe with matzoh, which makes for a delightful Passover treat. But the recipe begs for experimentation. Why not try other bases? Other nuts? With and without chocolate?

The version that has gotten the best reception — and by that I mean, moans of pleasure — is the graham-cracker base, chocolate and toffee, pecan-topped version. Full-out decadent.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until top is bubbly and slightly browned. Remove from oven and cool for 1 minute. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top and let sit for 5 minutes or until the chips are shiny. Spread melted chips carefully over topping. Sprinkle nuts on top and press slightly into chocolate.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Cut into squares and serve.

This makes quite a lot, but you can double the recipe if you really want to feed a crowd. You’ll want to use a larger pan for the toffee mixing on the stove.

I recently came across this picture of a cake I made a while back. She looks like an angel, but she has the devil inside — chocolate devil’s food cake. You may not be able to tell in the photo, but her white fluffy angel garb actually sparkles. I used this great Martha Stewart sugar glitter that I can’t find now. It’s big flakes and very sparkly.

In past years, I’ve brought various pies, but I have yet to hit a home run. I make a fantastic Bourbon Pecan Pie, but my hostesses do not like pecan pie. (I try not to judge…) One year I brought a classic Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie — always a crowd pleaser — but I’ve been told I can’t bring chocolate this year because someone else is bringing chocolate cake. (Chocolate cake? for Thanksgiving?) I like the Apple Crumb Pie recipe in my old Betty Crocker checker-front cookbook, but my sweetie doesn’t eat apple pie since a traumatic childhood experience. (Too much pie, is all I’m saying.) There’s Pumpkin Pie, of course, but that’s been a go-to one too many times, and one of my hostesses doesn’t like that either. (Who are these people?)

One year I tried a cranberry pie, which I thought was delicious. It was akin to a tart cherry pie, with a sugary crunch to the filling. I’m not sure the crunch was an intended result of the recipe, but I loved it. However, it didn’t seem to go over well at the Thanksgiving dinner. I am not sure why, unless it was just too exotic for a rather traditional crowd, or they had already had enough cranberry for the meal.

So what kind of pie should I make? Nothing chocolate, pumpkin, cranberry, or apple. Cherries and peaches are out of season. Banana cream? Cheesecake? Pear tart?

I finally stopped there for lunch one day when “lunchtime” was 3:00. Even then, there were 3 people ahead of me. The food is as good as promised.

Puppy Chow
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
8 cups Chex or Crispix Cereal
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

 

Melt peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butter together in a large bowl in microwave.
Pour over cereal in another large baking bowl and stir very well.
Pour the cereal in a large Ziploc or Glad bag and add the powdered sugar. Close bag tightly and shake until evenly coated with powdered sugar.
Best if refrigerated.
Take out and enjoy!

My favorite part of this recipe is the serving information at the bottom of the page. “Serves: 1-20″

This hilarious video allegedly played on BET.

This year’s edition doesn’t include dessert; that’s available in a separate “Dessert Pack.” Instead, it includes the delightful “Antacid Flavored Soda,” along with the usual Turkey and Gravy flavored soda. This year’s sides include Sweet Potato Soda, Dinner Roll Soda, and Pea Soda.

The Dessert Pack flavors provide a choice of pie flavors: Cherry Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime Pie, Apple Pie, and Blueberry Pie.

All flavors are caffeine-, calorie- and triptophan-free.

Happy holiday.