My Greek neighbor, in Price, used to make these.‏ Actually, I had a Greek neighbor on each side of me. One had married an Italian so her surname did not sound Greek but she was certainly a cook of Greek food. Great food.

Now that my sis, Laurel, is married to a Greek, she makes all of these wonderful foods herself.

It just wasn't Christmas without these cookies.

Melomakarona - Honey Cookies with Walnuts

Though the name is hard to pronounce, Melomakarona (meh-loh-mah-KAH-roh-nah) are delicious and not very hard to make and are also known as Finikia (fee-NEE-kya), If I were pressed to name one Greek cookie that reminds me of Christmas, this would be it. This is an oil-based cookie recipe that produces moist cake-like cookies flavored with orange juice and brandy flavoring that are bathed in a sweet honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. YUM!

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 cup olive oil
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of one orange
1 cup orange juice
1 tsp. brandy flavoring
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup walnuts, ground coarsely
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling
For the syrup:
1 cup honey
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 whole cloves
1-2-inch piece lemon rind
1 tsp. lemon juice

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, using your fingers, combine the orange zest with the sugar – rubbing the grains as if you were playing with sand to release the orange oils into the sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat the oil with the orange sugar until well mixed. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the orange juice and brandy flavoring to mixer and mix well. Slowly incorporate the flour cup by cup until the mixture forms a dough that is not too loose but not quite firm either. It will be dense and wet but not sticky. Once the flour is incorporated fully stop mixing. To roll cookies, pinch a portion of dough off about the size of a walnut. Shape in your palms into a smooth oblong shape, almost like a small egg. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Shape and roll cookies until the sheet is filled. Press the tines of a large fork in a crosshatch pattern in the center of each cookie. This will flatten them slightly in the center. The cookies should resemble lightly flattened ovals when they go in the oven. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25 – 30 minutes until lightly browned. (The cookies will darken when submerged in syrup.) While the cookies are baking, prepare the syrup. In a saucepan, combine the honey, sugar, water, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon rind. Bring the mixture to a boil then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and lemon rind and stir in lemon juice. Place the ground walnuts in a shallow plate or bowl next to the stove top. When the cookies come out of the oven and while they are still very warm, carefully float the cookies in the syrup and allow the cookies to absorb syrup on both sides. Using a fork or small spatula, remove the cookie from the syrup and place on a platter or plate. Press ground walnuts lightly into the tops of the cookies (syrup will help it adhere) and sprinkle lightly with ground cinnamon. Do not refrigerate Melomakarona as they will harden. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.



Melomakarona - Honey Cookies with Walnuts
Ingredients:
1 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups light vegetable oil
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large oranges, juice of (strained)
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups all-purpose flour (do not use self-rising, it has salt)
3/4 cup very finely chopped english walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon, mixed with the nuts

syrup
1 1/2 cups honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cream butter and oil until completely mixed, add confectioner's sugar, add orange juice slowly, add vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, add 2 cups flour and beat, add two more cups flour, and then add the rest. You may not need all of the flour, just don't let it get too thick, knead the dough lightly in the bowl. Using teaspoon, scoop out some of the dough and roll in your palms and flatten slightly in your hands. Bake at 350 for 25 minute and cool. Boil syrup ingredients for 5 minute in LARGE saucepan, as it will foam up, then dip each cake (I do several at one time) in the saucepan, turning a couple of times with a wooden spoon, place the cookies on waxed paper and sprinkle with walnut and cinnamon mixture. Cool completely before storing. Best stored in tins. These cookies will keep in tins for a couple of months, but I can't stay out of them long enough to last that long!

More Pickles (Our family loved the play on words.)‏

From: Gordon Smith

I saw this Pickles cartoon strip in the newspaper.  I love this cartoon strip.  I always read it last.  In fact I read the comic strip page last each day.  That is the most important part of the paper to me.  I need something to smile about.  And like I said, "I read Pickles last because it is the best."

Laughing doesn't make us old.  We get old because we don't laugh.  Find something to laugh at each day even if you have to laugh at yourself.

By the way, did you know about the study which found that birthdays are good for your health?  They discovered that the more birthdays you have, the longer you live. 

I hope I have a lot of birthdays.  However only if I am in good health.  I don't want to be a burden to my wife, or children.

Lots of love to you and yours!

I hope you had a very good Christmas.

Gordon

Myrna to Gordon: We do have something in common. I read the "funnies" last each day also. I also would like to live to be really old but only if I am healthy.

I think the study is valid--the more birthdays you have the longer you live.

Our Christmas was great. How was yours?

Gordon to Myrna: I'm glad someone besides me reads the "funnies" last.  They are the most important part of the paper.

We need to smile and laugh more.

We had a great Christmas.  We had most of our family here at our house for our annual Christmas party. Whole bone in ham and all of the trimmings.  There were over fifty people here.

Keep smiling,

Gordon

Remember

Myrna wrote: Where there is heartroom there is bedroom. We are excited to have fun together. Thanks all.

Amy G wrote: Uh, what?!?


Myrna wrote: It is a saying that means that we can always make room for more than one family at our home for sleeping, eating, etc. LHT's mom used to say that: "Where there is heart room (room in the heart) there is always bed room (room in the house for all who wanted to stay and sleep there)." That was just the way she said it. In my haste I typed it bedroom and heartroom. There should be a space as in, bed room and heart room.

Grandmother Smith was, likewise, always able to find room for a loved one in her home and in her heart. Garth's Grandma Childs would just bundle a bunch of grandchildren together in the same bed. It reminded me of the song, "Five in a Bed," or "Grandma's Feather Bed."

Amy G wrote: Ahhhh.  Makes sense now.  Todd and I were both wondering...

Myrna wrote: In other words--
There is always room at the inn for the people who are important to you.
We make room for the people we love.
There is always room for one more.


There is a children's book, "Always Room for One More" by Sorche Nic Leodhas (Author) , Nonny Hogrogian (Illustrator) that tells a great story about making room.

Lachie MacLachlan, the generous hero, is the exception to the rule that the Scots are a thrifty lot. In his "wee house in the heather," Lachie lives with his family of twelve, and he welcomes to his hearth every weary traveler who passes by on a stormy night.

"There's always room for one more," says Lachie, and his grateful guests say a wonderful "thank you" in the story that provides a warm and tender ending to this hilarious tale of kindness.

The story, derived from an old Scottish folk song, is reflected superbly in the charming illustrations of Nonny Hogrogian.

Always Room for One More is the winner of the 1966 Caldecott Medal.
 

"Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" Sung by Sissel

Long awaited darkness falls
Casting shadows on the walls
In the twilight hour I am alone
Sitting near the fireplace, dying embers warm my face
In this peaceful solitude
All the outside world subdued

Everything comes back to me again
In the gloom
Like an angel passing through my room

Half awake and half in dreams
Seeing long forgotten scenes
So the present runs into the past
Now and then become entwined, playing games within my mind
Like the embers as they die
Love was one prolonged good-bye

And it all comes back to me tonight
In the gloom
Like an angel passing through my room

I close my eyes
And my twilight images go by
All too soon
Like an angel passing through my room


Sissel Kyrkjebø has been singing professionally since she was 15 years old when she first appeared on the Norwegian TV show, Syng med oss (Sing with us). At age 16, she made her international TV debut during the intermission of the Eurovision song contest, which was viewed by over half a Billion people across Europe.

A few months later, on 16. October 1986, Sissel released her first album at age 17. Sissel's combined record sales amount to over 9 million copies sold, most of them in Norway -- a country with only 4.5 million people.


Helen, Leonard and I heard her sing on Dec 15,  2006. She caused a sensation when she sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We loved her performance and, as a treat to us, Helen bought tickets for the three of us to attend, as her guest, Sissel at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City on February 9, 2008.

The lyrics to one of the songs she sang appear above. I found them quite beautiful combined with the music. It has become a favorite.

The Skinny on Chocolate

Chocolate is made from tropical cacao beans, which are transformed by machines into a bitter, brown paste of cocoa butter and cocoa solids.  When this unsweetened chocolate is combined with sugar, vanilla, and other ingredients, the result, of course, is heavenly.

Chocolate's notoriously hard to work with.  If you don't store it properly (preferably at 65° or so), the cocoa butter can separate slightly from the solids, causing the chocolate to "bloom."  This leaves a telltale gray residue on the surface and impairs the taste and texture slightly.   Chocolate will scorch if you melt it at too high a temperature, or "seize" and become thick and grainy if you add even a drop of cold liquid to it as it's melting.  You can prevent it from seizing by adding hot liquids (like cream) to chopped chocolate in order to melt it, or by making sure that anything you're dipping into the melted chocolate (like a strawberry or whisk) is perfectly dry.  If your chocolate has seized, you can still use it in any recipe that calls for chocolate to be blended with a liquid.  Just add the liquid to the chocolate and melt it again.

If you plan to melt chocolate, it's best to buy it in bars.  Chips contain less cocoa butter so that they can better hold their shape in cookies, but this makes them harder to melt and less tasty.  It's easiest to melt chocolate in a microwave oven.  Just break the chocolate into small pieces, heat it for 30 seconds at 50% power, stir, then repeat a few times.  Take it out of the microwave when the chocolate is almost completely melted, then continue stirring until the melting is complete.  If you don't have a microwave, use a double boiler.

To All

Myrna wrote: We have a winter scarf left here on Christmas Eve. It has beige and gray circles on it various shades.

We also have not been able to find Sorina's shoe but not without effort. Mary spent quite a while looking because she said she had promised Sorina she would find it for her. Grandpa will go out today and tackle the biggest snow drift and see what he can find. Yesterday, I nearly lost my own shoe in looking for Sorina's. ;)

Kirsten is coming on Tuesday and will spend the New Year's Eve with us and then head out. Julie and family are also sleeping over. Any other takers?

Those of you who live too far away to join in: just know that you are welcome and that we love you. If we were angels, we would travel in the twinkling of an eye to be with all of you for a minute or two.

Todd wrote: It's Hailey's.

Myrna wrote: Wow! Todd, how did you manage that? Oh, I know, you already are angels and can pop in and out at will.

Melanie wrote: hahahaha...thought it was Braden's... .

Kimberly wrote: Sorina’s.

Myrna wrote: Kimberly, we will get the scarf to you. There is still no luck with the shoe. I found one of AnnMarie's the next spring when the neighbor plowed. I hope it doesn't take us that long.

Kimberly wrote: No problem on the shoe.  Thanks for spending so much time looking.

Amy J wrote: David left his gloves on Christmas eve.  If you find them will you save them for New Years Eve, and we will get them then.

 

Thanks,

Amy

Myrna wrote: We already left them at your house.

Lots of Honey Candy Recipes

Creme Honey Truffles
Makes 32 servings
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
1/2 cup crème honey
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
In top of double boiler, melt chocolate with 1/4 cup cream. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. Beat in honey and remaining cream. Chill mixture for one hour, or until firm. Place cocoa in shallow bowl. Using fingertips, shape honey mixture into 1-inch balls and roll in cocoa. Store truffles in refrigerator.

Honey-Nut Candy
2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. nuts
Mix sugar, milk, butter and honey in saucepan; cook without stirring until forms a soft ball in cold water. Beat. Add nuts and pour into buttered dish. Cut in squares.

Pulled Honey Candy #1
1 qt. honey
1 tsp. vanilla added when finished boiling
Makes beautiful white pieces.
Using a heavy iron frying pan, pour honey into pan and boil on top of the stove until testing in a cup of cold water it forms crisp honey ball crackle. Be careful it doesn't burn, but have the test crackle. Pour into pan into two (cake tins) and cool until you can stretch it with a little butter on hand until white. Stretch into long strings on buttered are and cut into 1 inch pieces and arrange on buttered plate.

Pulled Honey Candy
Pour about 2 cups honey into fry pan. Boil until hard ball stage. Pour into pans to cool. When cool enough to handle, take out of pans and pull until it turns creamy. Pull it into a long 1/2 inch to 1 inch rope. Cut into bite size pieces.

Millionaire Candy
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 c. honey
1/2 lb. butter
2 c. cream or condensed milk
4 c. pecans
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine sugars, honey and butter with 1 cup cream. Stir and bring to a boil. Add remaining cup of cream and never let mixture stop boiling. Cook until firm ball stage is reached. Add pecans and vanilla. Pour in pan 1 inch deep and let stand overnight. Cut into squares and dip each piece in dipping chocolate.

Versatile Honey Peanut Butter Candy
1 c. honey
1 1/2 c. powdered milk
1 c. peanut butter
Mix honey and peanut butter together. Gradually add milk, mixing well. Pour into a square pan, 1/2 inch thick and cut into squares or roll into balls. Variations: Dip plain candy in 1/2 cup crushed cereal flakes or coconut. Add carob chips or walnut meats. Embed with raisins, dried pineapple or Brazil nut in the center of each ball.

Honey Crunch Candy
1/4 c. honey
1/3 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flaked whole grain cereal
1 c. dry roasted peanuts
Combine honey, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in 2-quart glass mix 'n pour bowl. Microwave on high, uncovered 4 to 4 1/2 minutes or until mixture boils 2 minutes, stirring once. Stir in vanilla, cereal and peanuts. Drop by spoonsful onto waxed paper. Cool until set. Break into pieces.

Rachel's No Cook Honey Candy
1 c. honey
1 c. dry milk powder
1 c. peanut butter
Chopped nuts (optional)
Mix ingredients together and shape into small ball. Roll in chopped nuts or chocolate sprinkles, or just leave plain. Roll spoonfuls of peanut butter mix into coconut forming balls. Makes 36 balls - 1 1/2 inches in diameter. A great hit!!

Honey Candy
1 c. honey
3/4 c. powdered milk
1 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. chopped peanuts or other nuts
1/2 c. chocolate chips, raisins or dried fruit (opt.)
Boil honey 4 minutes, stirring to keep from burning. Add powdered milk, oats, peanut butter and the chocolate chips, raisins or dried fruit if desired. Pour into buttered pan. Cut into squares when cool. Wrap in wax paper.

Pasteli: Sesame Honey Candy
In Greek, pronounced pah-STEH-lee
This classic version does not use refined sugar and creates a chewy texture with the fabulous tastes of sesame seeds and honey.
Tip: The quality and taste of the honey will have an effect on the final product.
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups of honey
3 cups of hulled white sesame seeds
1 strip of lemon peel (about 1/4 x 1 inch) (optional, see note)
Preparation:
Note: If desired, add the lemon peel to give the pasteli a light hint of lemon.
In a saucepan, bring honey and lemon peel to a boil. Add sesame seeds stirring continuously and continue to cook while stirring to mix completely and thoroughly. When the seeds are fully mixed in and the mixture has boiled again, remove from heat. Remove and discard lemon peel. Spread a piece of baking parchment on a cool work surface and spread out the hot mixture thinly and evenly, on the paper (about 1/4 inch high). When the pasteli cools to room temperature, refrigerate, as is, on the parchment paper (it doesn't need to be covered). Chill for at least 2-3 hours. With a kitchen shears, cut the pasteli into small pieces, together with the parchment paper on the bottom, and serve. To eat, peel off the parchment paper.
Store in the refrigerator.
Serving suggestions: Pasteli can be eaten as a candy at any time, as an energy booster, and it goes wonderfully well as an accompaniment to tea. Because it is very sweet, cut in small pieces. Those with a sweet tooth can always select several!
To increase or decrease quantity: The recipe calls for equal parts by weight of sesame seeds and honey.
1 pound of honey (16 ounces) = approximately 1 1/3 cups
1 pound of sesame seeds = approximately 3 cups
Note about sesame seeds: Sesame seeds can be quite expensive, especially when purchased in small quantities. Look for sources to buy in bulk.

Passover Candy (Farfelach)
Greek candy. Add almonds and pastel candy sprinkles just before pouring onto the parchment paper.
1 lb. jar honey
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. ginger
1 c. chopped walnut pieces
2 1/2-3 c. matzoh farfel
3 tbsp. water
Pour honey into saucepan. Place on medium to high burner. Add sugar into honey. Stir with wooden spatula. Add ginger and stir. Add walnuts and stir. Add matzoh farfel. Stir until mixture turns golden brown (about 5 minutes or so). Don't overcook! Take off burner. Wet wooden board and pour candy mixture onto it. Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons cold water on mixture to cool it down. Spread out to about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle ginger on top. Let stand 1/2 hour. Cut into bite-size pieces.

Butterfinger Candy
1 c. sugar
1 c. honey
2 c. peanut butter
6 c. corn flakes
Heat sugar and honey until sugar is melted. Add peanut butter, mix. Add corn flakes (not crushed). Place in ungreased 13 x 9 cake pan while still hot. Melt one bag (12 oz.) chocolate chips on top. Cool and cut.

Good Marshmallow Fudge Recipe Variations

Kirsten wrote: Whitney's favorite is smores or rocky road.  When it's cool enough to pour into the pan, add 1/2 - 1 cup of mini marshmallows (and nuts if doing rocky road)... give a quick stir.  Pour into pan, top with more marshmallows chocolate chips,  and a graham cracker cookie.  Delish!  You can also do turtle kind by adding the caramel chips at the very end and pecans.  Sooo tasty!  Thanks for sharing!

There are a lot of different variations:

*Peanut Butter Fudge: Substitute peanut butter chips for the chocolate chips; omit the nuts. 
*Cookies and Cream Fudge: Substitute white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips; substitute 1 cup crushed Oreos for the nuts. 
*Creamsicle Fudge: Substitute white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips; substitute 2 tsp. orange extract for the vanilla; omit the nuts; pour half the prepared fudge into the pan, then stir in 4 drops yellow food coloring and 3 drops red food coloring into the remaining fudge; pour the orange fudge over the plain fudge and gently marble in with a butter knife.
*Chocolate Mint Fudge: Substitute 2 tsp. peppermint extract for the vanilla; substitute 1/4 - 1/2 cup crushed candy canes for the nuts (optional).
*Almond Fudge: Substitute 2 tsp. almond extract for the vanilla; substitute 1/2 cup chopped almonds for the walnuts (optional). 
*Mint Chocolate Fudge: Add in 1 tsp of the vanilla and add 1/2 tsp mint extract
*Walnut Fudge: Add 1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts.
*Marshmallow Fudge: After you've added the vanilla let the mixture cool just a little bit so that you don't melt your marshmallows when you put them into the chocolate about 2-4 minutes. Then add 1/2 - 1 cup mini marshmallows.
*Rocky Road Fudge: After you've added the vanilla let the mixture cool just a little bit so that you don't melt your marshmallows when you put them into the chocolate about 2-4 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
*Chocolate Raspberry Fudge: only add in 3/4 tsp of vanilla and add 3/4 tsp raspberry extract. Because the raspberry flavor is so hard to achieve you want at least a half and half ratio of raspberry to vanilla, you can play with how much raspberry you add. The more raspberry you add the less vanilla you should add, unless you want to add more chocolate chips to off set the extract as it does soften your fudge considerably.
*Mint Chocolate Raspberry Fudge: only add in 1/2 tsp vanilla and add in 3/4 tsp raspberry extract and 1/4 tsp mint extract. As before try to stay within the 1 1/2 tsp extract to the recipe ratio. Do not skip the vanilla all together though. 

Myrna wrote: Have any of you ever used leftover chocolate bars instead of the chocolate chips?

Kirsten wrote: Haven't tried it.  I think wax content is different, yes? Kirsten

Myrna wrote: I don't know. I just have some Halloween chocolate bars, the regular-sized ones, that I wondered about using. The Kraft recipe uses chopped BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate but, as you said, that does not have wax content.

Good Marshmallow Fudge

Aunt Eva's Fudge. Years ago Melanie gave her the recipe after making some to share at a Trauntvein Christmas party. It has become Eva's, as well as Melanie's, trademark. This fudge is seriously tasty and the texture is right. Often fudge gets grainy when not made well, and some of the 'easy' versions are too creamy. This texture is perfect. The consistency of chocolate is there, but it is smooth and firm. 

Western Family (brand) Easy Fudge Recipe:
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
Dash of salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet, dark or milk chocolate chips (I mix equal parts dark and milk chocolate chips)
About 20 Marshmallows, cut into quarters (They can be added whole but it takes a bit of stirring to melt them.)
1/2 cup broken walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

In heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine first four ingredients. Bring to boil over medium heat; boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly (thus negating the need for the candy thermometer.). Remove from heat; immediately add chocolate chips and marshmallows. Stir until chocolate and marshmallows are melted. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Spread into a buttered 9x9x2" pan. (Use baking spray.) Cool; cut into squares.

For a 13X9 pan:

3 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cup evaporated milk

4 Tbsp butter

Dash salt

3 cups (2 pkgs) chocolate chips

About 40 marshmallows

1 cup walnuts, broken

2 tsp vanilla

Fudge can be varied by adding different types of baking chips: butterscotch, mint, peanut butter or white chocolate, for example. 

Melanie: I make this fudge every year by request from friends and family. I have a friend who doesn't like chocolate, so I make her a orange flavored white fudge. Instead of the semi-sweet/milk chocolate chips, I use white chocolate chips. I also omit the vanilla and use 1 tsp. orange flavoring. Last year for our family I made the traditional fudge, but added orange flavoring instead of the vanilla for a creamy orange chocolate fudge. Very smooth and delicious. I have also done the same with peppermint flavoring and when the fudge is almost cooled, I sprinkle crushed peppermint candy canes over the top of the fudge. 

Mel

Frying Pan English Toffee

Frying Pan English Toffee

1 c. butter (laid side by side in the frying pan)

1 c. sugar (poured over the butter)

3 Tbsp. water (poured over the sugar)

Put ingredients into a stainless steel 10” or so frying pan (not non-stick–I use my old Club aluminum pan). Let the butter melt and incorporate the sugar into it without much stirring at all over medium-high heat (I use a 7 out of 10 on my electric burner). Once it’s melted, you can stir MINIMALLY (once around the edge, wait a minute or two, then again in a zig-zag through the middle so it doesn’t burn, and repeat). It will bubble and mix together, and you’ll know if it separates because the butter will float to the top–then you have to start again. OH–use a wooden spoon, not metal or non-stick. Keep cooking and stirring this way until the toffee turns a warm maple/oak wood color–it usually takes 10-15 minutes. You want it to be at a slow, rolling boil the whole time. You can test if it gets to a hard crack stage by dropping a little into a small bowl of ice water–then taste it. If it crunches, you’re good to go, if it’s still a little chewy, keep cooking a little more.

Once it’s ready, remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla. When that’s mixed, quickly pour onto a jelly roll pan (sided cookie sheet) and use a rubber scraper to spread thinly over the whole cookie sheet–it should take up almost the whole space. You have to move fairly quickly because it cools quickly and then it stays where it is!!

Put on top:

3 Hershey chocloate bars, broken up into sections and put evenly over the candy. (I use dipping chocolate, pre-melted in the top of a double boiler.)

Once the chocolate is melted, use the back of a spoon (regular eating one) to spread it around until the candy is covered.

Sprinkle chopped pecans on top, using about ½ c or whatever you like. Cool in the refrigerator until you want to break it apart!

It looks complicated, but really isn’t. I only stress the right tools and stirring as it can be a little touchy and you don’t want to have it separate.