Aunt Roses Fantastic Butter Toffee Food

AUNT ROSE'S FANTASTIC BUTTER TOFFEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a shallow baking pan, toast almonds until golden brown, 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Pulse chocolate in a food processor until finely ground (do not overprocess); transfer to a bowl. Pulse almonds in food processor until coarsely chopped. Sprinkle 1 cup almonds over bottom of a greased 15x10x1-in. pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup chocolate., In a heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugar and water. Cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 290° (soft-crack stage), stirring occasionally., Immediately pour mixture over almonds and chocolate in pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate and almonds. Refrigerate until set; break into pieces.

BUTTER TOFFEE FLOWER SANDWICHES

Steps:

• For cookies: Spoon cookie mix into a wire-mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Sift the cookie mix through strainer, leaving the chocolate chips in strainer (reserve the chocolate chips for another use). Add flour, eggs, oil, and butter flavoring to cookie mix in bowl. Stir until dough comes together. Shape into a ball, then wrap in plastic wrap. Chill dough in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper and set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch flower-shaped cookie cutter, cut 12 shapes from the dough. Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut out each flower center. Re-roll the scrap dough and cut out another 12 flower shapes, but do not cut out centers. Transfer the flowers to the prepared cookie sheet(s), spacing cookies 2 inches apart.
• Bake cookies 8 to 10 minutes or just until starting to brown. Cool on cookie sheet(s) for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For filling: In a medium bowl, stir together frosting and powdered sugar until well mixed. Gently stir in 1/2 cup toffee bits.
• Spoon a heaping tablespoon filling onto each of the whole flower cookies. Top each with a cut-out flower cookie. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon of the remaining toffee bits in the center of each cut-out cookie.

AUNT RO'S BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet and cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels, crumble, and set aside. Drain bacon fat from the skillet.
• Using the same skillet, cook the ground beef and onion over medium heat, stirring until the meat is no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain.
• Transfer the ground beef to a slow cooker. Add the pinto beans, butter beans, baked beans with pork, barbeque sauce, ketchup, and brown sugar to the ground beef mixture; stir to blend well. Cover and cook for 4 hours on High. Top each serving with crumbled bacon.

AUNT ROSE'S REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

Steps:

• Place cucumber slices, red bell pepper, and onion into a large bowl. Mix in salt and celery seed and let the vegetable stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Mix sugar and vinegar in a bowl, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and pour the mixture into the vegetables. Stir again.
• Spoon the pickles into the canning jars and pour any excess liquid over the pickles. Cover the jars with lids and rings. Refrigerate at least 24 hours; pickles will keep in refrigerator for 3 weeks.