Sunday, December 12, 2010

What do you get when you cross a 4 ingredient recipe with 4 excited cross-stitchers on a road trip?

A 45-minute hilarious discussion on tips and tricks to make the best SKORS.

We were road tripping one night to go on a Christmas house tour.  One of Bonnie's friends collects miniature villages and has them displayed all throughout her home;  we were most amazed at the 10 foot tall Christmas tree with 5000 lights and 1000 ornaments on it. That's correct, I said five thousand and one thousand.   Tracey was kind enough to make a batch of Skors for our hostess, but better yet she made a batch for us to eat on the drive.  As we were munching away...Anita exclaimed that she had never made Skors before so we started out by telling her how easy it was because there were only 4 ingredients and you can have them whipped up in less than 15 minutes. 

Each time someone would start to explain to Anita how to make them, one of us would interrupt ..... It went something like this: 

All you need is crackers, butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips.
But you HAVE to use Premium brand crackers, they are the best. No-name crackers do NOT work!
No, they don't, And they MUST be salted. 

Line the cookie sheet with crackers.
Make SURE they are salted side up! 
Yes, they have to be salted side up!

Make SURE you use an old cookie sheet.  The older the better. 
I prefer to call them 'seasoned' as opposed to OLD!  People wouldn't want to eat them if they knew they were made on OLD cookie sheets. 
Oh, and make SURE you use a cookie sheet with and edge  or it will all fall off and boil over.  Don't use one of those fancy-schmancy air baked things with no edge!. 

Melt the butter and then add the brown sugar and mix it together. 
But, make SURE you mix it thoroughly, if you don't it won't caramelize properly and then your Skors will stick to the pan and you won't be able to get them off.  
Ya, there can be NO separation to the mixture at all. I use a glass Pyrex measuring cup, that way I can see if there is any separation.
I use one of those hand-held mixers, they work great.  But you have to be careful because if you mix it on high for too long, then it makes the mixture to 'sugary'. 
Ya, you want it more 'caramelly' than sugary. 

Once you have that mixed up, then you just pour it onto the crackers. 
And then all you have to do is spread it evenly all over the crackers.
Then pop it in the oven for 8 minutes.  It will bubble like crazy so be really careful taking it out of the oven or the crackers will slip off and burn you. 
Ya you really have to be careful. They bubble like crazy right on the pan.
Oh ya, and when you take them out, the crackers will have shifted with all the bubbling of the caramel, so you just take the tip of a fork and carefully rearrange them again.

Then you just take it out of the oven and sprinkle a package of chocolate chips all over it. 
The recipe calls for 2 packages, but I find that one is enough. 
Actually, I tend to use one and a half packages because 2 is too much and 1 is not quite enough.
Don't you have to MELT the chocolate chips first? 
No, you just leave them to sit on there for about one minute and they will soften and then they will spread easily. 
And then I use a knife to spread the chocolate chips.   I  actually bent a knife , just a little, so that it was easier to spread them and that way you won't get chocolate or caramel on your hand when you are trying to spread it around.  Then I just keep that knife to the side and only use it for my Skors. Everybody asks me why I have a bent knife in the drawer.
Or you could use a fork because it's already bent. 
OH, shuddup! 

BUT, make sure you use MILK Chocolate chips. 
Ya, because if you use semi-sweet, they just don't have that same chocolate bar taste.

AND, they must be Chipits.  Don't get Hershey's because they don't melt. 
They don't melt?
No, they don't melt.  Years ago when I was trying to make something, they wouldn't melt so I called the 1-800 number and spoke to someone at Hershey's and they said, "No mamme, they aren't supposed to melt. They are chocolate chips.  When you bake your cookie, you don't want the chip to melt".  Well I'll be.  I've used chocolate chips before and they melted.  "Not Hershey's mamme. They aren't supposed to melt." 

Anyway, once the chocolate is spread evenly, put the tray in the freezer and let them set.
After about an hour you can take them out and break them into pieces. I take the pan and twist it on opposite ends, just like an ice cube tray.
Oh that's a good idea!
Sometimes when you break them apart, the entire batch pops out in one GIANT piece. 
Oh, don't you just love it when that happens! It looks like one huge chocolate bar!! 
Recipe: 
1 sleeve Premium brand crackers 
1/2 pound butter 
1 cup brown sugar 
1.5 packages MILK Chocolate chips  
350 degrees - 8 minutes

Now: I'm going to let you read the instructions above to figure out what to do.  In the meantime, please take notes because we are dying to hear all the tips and tricks that you discover while making your SKORS!   Enjoy. 

Bonnie

2 comments:

Chantelle said...

Oh Bonnie, that is too funny! I can just hear all of you. I haven't made skors in a couple of years, was going to email Mom for a reminder on the recipe. Now I don't need to! I didn't really need a reminder for the tips though, I have heard them every year since childhood, I don't think I could forget! I definitely had fun reading them though :)

Oh and a good one to add is to make sure that your cookie sheet fits into the oven before you have the melted butter and sugar mix poured over the crackers. This happened to me one year in a new apartment, the cookie sheet I bought was too big and I didn't realize it until that moment! Luckily it was below zero outside, so I put them in the backyard over night! They were great, even though I hadn't used an old cookie sheet ;)

jayne@~an eye for threads~ said...

Oh boy oh boy, Can you remember this for the end of May???? I can imagine the entire group nibbling on this discussion wooops no I mean this treat.... Way to funny and I can sooooo here you guys going through this routine. lol
and man 5000/1000 hummm hydro must be cheaper the farther west you go...again I lol. What a fun entry.
Be always in stitches.

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