Toffee

1 large chocolate bar like Hershey's or your favorite chocolate bar grated on a box grater or food processor.
2 cups whole almonds that you roast and chop.  I sometimes use already roasted and salted almonds chopped.

Using a cookie sheet, lightly spread 1/2 of the chopped almonds followed by 1/2 of the shaved chocolate.

Then prepare the toffee:

1 lb. butter
melt and slosh around sides of pan
add:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup karo syrup
add carfully in the middle of the melted mixture:
2 1/2 cups sugar

Cook on medium heat until sugar is melted, melting the sugar slowly is an important step in all candy making, turn to medium high heat bringing to a rolling boil and cook until carmely brown and registers a hard crack. Once it starts boiling do not stir. If you don't have a candy thermomoter (highly recommended) you can pour a small amount into ice water to check, it should not stick to your teeth, if it does it's not quite ready. Take off stove and pour over nuts and chocolate in small stream covering all of the cookie sheet. You will not be able to spread the toffee so slowly drizzle going in a circle and filling in until the pan is empty.  Do Not scrape the pan, it could turn the toffee to sugar. After the toffee is in the pan, sprinkle the rest of the shaved chocolate followed by the chopped almonds. Top with aluminum foil and press down gently. Cool completely, chop toffee with the tip of a knife to break into medium size pieces.

This recipe is not hard but does take some practice to get it right.  Don't give up, it's worth the effort to learn how to do it.  Please add your hints and tricks to this post so that everyone can make this Hickman family speciality.

Try using pecans and different kinds of chocolate for something different.

Very Lemon Bread

1/3 cup butter melted
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons lemon extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Lemon Glaze:
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

In large bowl, mix butter with sugar, lemon extract and eggs.  In separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt.  To butter mixture, add flour mixture alternately with milk, stirring just enough to blend.  Flod in lemon peel and pecans.  Pour batter into greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove bread oven and with a wooden pick poke holes all over top of bread.  While loaf is still warm, drizzle lemon glaze mixture over top and let cool in pans soaking up all the glaze.  Wrap in plastic and store for 1 day to develop the intense lemon flavor before slicing to serve.

This recipe from the Creme de Colorado is full of citrus flavor and very good.  I doubled this recipe and put it in small loaf pans (6). If using small loaf pans bake for 20-25 min, checking to make sure they are done before removing from oven.

1 loaf or 3 small loafs

Cherry Nut Coffee Cake

1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs room temperture
1 cup sour cream

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 16 ounce jar Maraschino cherries,
         drained and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Grease and flour a flat bottomed tube pan or bundt pan.  In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter and eggs.  Fold in sour cream.  Pour or spoon 1/2 batter into pan and smooth with a spatula. Mix topping ingredients of sugar, pecans, cherries and cinnamon: sprinkle 1/2 topping mixture over batter in pan.  Pour remaining batter into pan.  Sprinkle with remaining topping.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
10-12 servings

This luscious coffee cake from the Creme de Colorado cookbook, will typically have a cracked top and a delicate pink color.  You can glaze cooled cake with a thin frosting made with powdered sugar, butter and a little milk thin enough to be able to pour it in thin lines over top of cake.