House in the Heights: What We Ate {Delicious Saltines}

Saturday, August 3, 2013

What We Ate {Delicious Saltines}

One of my loves in life is cooking and trying new recipes. I collect cookbooks. I'm half in love with Anthony Bourdain. Top Chef is totally my jam. In fact, if I were to win the lottery and be fortunate enough to extend my summers of leisure into an entire life of leisure, one of the things I would love to do would be to attend culinary school. Not because I want to work in a restaurant (I've been there, done that and know I don't care to go back. Do you know how much your clothes smell when you work in a restaurant?!), but because I know that I would just LOVE gaining actual culinary knowledge. This lottery winning dream also includes a culinary tour of the world. Preferably with Anthony Bourdain. But until I win Powerball, I'm stuck with my collection of cookbooks, recipe websites, and limited culinary skills.

So in honor of my amateur love of cooking, I present to you a new feature on the blog: What We Ate. As I come across to-die-for recipes, I'll document the process and share them with you so that you can try them out. Some recipes will be old favorites, some will be new discoveries. Some will be healthy, others will not. All will be awesome.

Today's entry is one of those old recipes that is too good not to share. We're invited to a Fabulous 40th Birthday Party tonight, where the host has requested only that we bring dishes to share in lieu of gifts. Pretty fun, right?

So I needed something to take to the party, and I wanted to make something that didn't need to be kept hot or cold, and would be easy to transport on the Party Van we rented to take us to and from the party (I TOLD you it was going to be fun!), so I dug out this old recipe for Delicious Saltines, which I can pile in a tin and transport easily.

Delicious Saltines are almost toffee-like and are DELICIOUS, but just a warning: you may want to have your cholesterol meds ready because they are filled with crap. That's why I can only make these when taking them somewhere to share. This way I'll (hopefully) only eat one of two.

Another warning: I'm not huge on measuring (which is why I'm not very good at baking). If a measurement is important, I'll include it. If not....just do what you think is right.

You'll need:
Saltine Crackers
1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used WAY less than a whole bag)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350. Arrange saltines in one layer on the cookie sheet, so the edges are touching.

Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan, and pour mixture evenly over crackers. Bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of crackers and bake one minute more to allow the chips to stick to the crackers. Place pan in refrigerator for 2 hours. Cut or break apart.