Go To Gifts

I am a lover of sweets. I have been known to skip the meal and bank those calories to savor a more deserving item like dessert. Honesty is the best policy.

One of my favorite ways to show appreciation for those who teach my kiddos is to bake some holiday treats. These three below are my faithful standbys. I'll be baking and getting these treats out of the house as soon as I can because I have been indulging WAY too much over the past few weeks...that and the fact I have been persuaded one too many times to Run For The Border, if you know what I mean. The hazard of working right next to one....

If you have any must-gift and are willing to share, please do!

Happy Baking and Testing!


King Tutt’s Toffee (‘cause it is so ‘rich’!)
1 sleeve of Saltine Crackers
1 stick of butter
1 stick of margarine
1 packed cup of brown sugar
1 bag of milk chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 400 º. Cover a cookie sheet with foil. Line the saltine crackers up in rows. Melt butter and margarine in pot on high. As soon as butter and margarine are just about melted, add brown sugar and stir to dissolve sugar. When the mixture begins to boil, let it cook an additional 3 minutes. (It could start to burn on the bottom as your are stirring it, so be careful at the very en. Sometimes, I have to take my pot off a few seconds early so it doesn’t burn.) Have a spatula ready to spread. Pour over crackers and spread as quickly as possible. Put in oven for 5 minutes. Take out of oven and evenly pour bag of chocolate chips on top. Let sit 3 minutes and spread chocolate. Put in refrigerator for 3 hours. Break and serve.

Pistachio Bread

1 yellow cake mix
1 pkg. pistachio instant pudding
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1/8 c. water
¼ c. oil
1/3 c. cinnamon-sugar (using 1/3 c. sugar and as much cinnamon as you like)

Grease loaf pans with Crisco. Dust with some cinnamon sugar

Mix 1st 6 ingredients then mix in the cinnamon sugar. Pour into the loaf pans and shake some cinnamon sugar on top. Bake 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until done, depending on size of the pan-light brown on top, springs back to touch, looks moist.

Can use 5 mini-loaf pans per recipe


Mock Turtles

1 bag of pretzels (twisty kind)
2 bags of Rolos
1 bag whole pecans or walnuts

Lay pretzels out on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Place a Rolo on top of each pretzel. Bake at 325 degrees for 4 minutes or until the chocolate is shiny. Remove from oven and immediately press a pecan/walnut half on top of Rolo. Let cool. Store in air-tight container in the fridge.