Aunt Ionia's Toffee Bars

The weather has snapped cold and we are getting a lot of rain.  It is kind of dreary, but the rain is very much welcomed.  I do not know about you, but when it is cold out,  my thoughts turn to baking.  These toffee bars were always on the cookie tray at my Aunt Ionia's for Christmas.  My sister Jacqueline and I are redoing a memory and recipe and memory book for our dear aunt; we are including pictures of her recipes. 

 

 

 

My Aunt Ionia passed away on Halloween night in 2003, but her memory lives on in her acts of kindness and in her recipes.  Aunt Ionia hosted the Christmas Eve party at her apartment every year.  For many years I was honored to be able to help her prepare for the tribe coming over to her home for the big Christmas Eve dinner.  One of my duties was to make up the cookie trays.  These toffee bars were always on the cookie tray.  If memory serves me right, these were a favorite of Mary, her sister.  I forgot how good these taste!  They DO taste like English Toffee, but they are so much simpler to make.  No thermometer needed to make these goodies.

 

 

The Cousins at Christmas Eve at Aunt Ionia's Apartment.  I am the one peeking my head in at the far right.

 

Aunt Ionia's English Toffee Recipe

 

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups flour

Pinch of salt

1 (12-ounce) bag of milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter, sugar, and egg.  Add the flour and mix well.  Pat the mixture evenly into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.  Bake for 15 -18 minutes or until golden brown.  Do not over bake.  Remove from oven and place pan on a cooling rack.  Let sit for a couple of minutes.  While the crust is still warm add chocolate chips.  Let them sit for awhile, until the chocolate is melted.  Sprinkle the pecans on the bars before the chocolate is dry.

 

Notes:  I have also used a whole egg and the recipe turned out fine.  The Culps, my family, always liked nuts on them, and the Clark family, our cousins, never liked nuts.  Ionia would always be accommodating and make two batches of something or leave off nuts on half of a recipe.

 

 

 

I sure hope you make these as they are super easy to make and really delicious.

 

Thanks for dropping by the Couch.



Aunt Ionia's Cold Pizza

 

Welcome to Red Couch Recipes.  Everyone in life should have a wonderful Aunt like I did.  I had a lot of nice aunts, but my Aunt Ionia holds a special place in my heart.  My parents gave me her name as a middle name.  She did not marry and have children of her own, but she was a stellar Aunt to her 17 nieces and nephews.  She loved to entertain and have people over to dinner.  She hosted our annual Christmas Eve dinner at her apartment; it would not be uncommon for her to have 40 people.  It was a sit down dinner, so some times there would be four tables, always nicely set with a centerpiece.   She liked to cook for others and was always finding a new recipe to try.   

Ionia is on the right.  She was always there at all the family gatherings.

 

Cold Pizza was one of the recipes that she liked to make.  I think it makes a nice appetizer for the holidays, maybe cut into squares.   

 

 

She was like a second mom to us.  She took us out to restaurants and did other things that our parents did not have the time to do or did not have the money to spend.  After her death in 2003, my cousin Cindy put together a book of memories and recipes.  My sister Jaqueline and I are working on an updated version of that book, complete with pictures of her recipe.  In the next little while I will be making a few of her recipes to add to the book honoring her.

 

Cold Pizza Recipe

 

Bottom Layer:  2 (8-ounce) packages of Crescent dinner rolls

 

Smooth out the crescent roll dough into 1 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan.  If you are using a round (pizza)baking tin, make two of them.  Bake according to package directions, about 15 minutes.  Cool and set aside.

 

Second Layer:  2 (8-punce) packages of cream cheese

2/3 cup mayonnaise (no Miracle Whip)

1 tablespoon dill weed

1/4 cup (low salt) taco seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt, if desired (taste to adjust)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

 

Mix together well with a hand mixer or with a spoon, making sure to incorporate the ingredients well.  Spread the mixture on the cooled crust.

 

Top Layer:  1/4 cup chopped fresh onion (green are fine)

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped celery (I usually omit this)

1/2 cup green olives

1/2 cup black olives

1 large tomato, diced

1-1/2 cups grated carrots

1/2 pound shredded mild cheddar cheese

 

Distribute toppings over the pizza and top with the cheddar cheese.  Refrigerate several hours or overnight.  Serve cold.

 

 

Notes:  Sometimes I have omitted the taco seasoning, and I have liked it just as well.  Be extra careful with the salt, if you are adding green olives, because they are salty.  You can also add mushrooms, cauliflower,  broccoli, cucumbers or zucchini -- anything you like

 

 



Washington State Chinese Lantern Festival

Welcome to Red Couch Recipes.  I hope you had an enjoyable Halloween.  It was rainy, but we had a lot of Trick or Treaters.  My favorite Trick or Treater was our little neighbor boy, a diabetic, who squealed when I gave him some sugar-free gum.  He is the sweetest little guy. 

Today I bring to you some photos from the Washington State Chinese Lantern Festival held in Spokane, Washington at Riverfront Park. 

This is the entrance.

 I won't write too much more, but just let you look at the displays.  It was a rainy evening so I didn't bring my best camera. 



It was a fun evening with my girls.  It is hard to tell but, all of these configurations are made of a frame, lights, and a silk-like fabric used in Chinese lanterns.  I know, it looks like plastic, but it is not.



The Chinese dragon was the largest display.

Just a close-up.

There were moving figures in this display.



These were hanging vegetables.  It was one of our favorite displays.



The entertainment was so enjoyable.  This man played a gourd.



This man did the changeable mask dance.

There was food to be eaten and artwork to be bought.  If you ever get a chance to attend an event like this, I highly recommend it.  It is still going on in Spokane for another 14 days.

Thanks for dropping by Red Couch Recipes.