As Valentine’s Day is upon us, I thought I would share two fun discoveries with you! As the price of chocolate has skyrocketed, making homemade gifts is a great alternative to store bought chocolates. Lindsay from Food La La shared this lovely recipe for Sweetheart Toffee on the set of California Live for NBC. If you are living in California, hope you tune in to NBC on weekdays at 11:30- Noon where you can see far more of my discoveries, from recipes and restaurants to events and exhibits.
The foundation of this toffee is made up of wallet friendly saltine crackers, and you can also use gluten free crackers if you wish. The requirement is that the crackers are tasteless, pretty much like cardboard–and you can even use those stale crackers hanging out in your cupboard!
The magic happens when you add the other ingredients, like melted brown sugar and butter. These two ingredients together boiled in a saucepan make a low maintenance toffee without the need for a candy thermometer. The third layer is comprised of melted chocolate, and the best kind to use are those chocolate meltaways (I like the Ghiradelli brand). Regular chocolate chips get too clumpy.
Then you can play around with toppings. Lindsay likes sprinkles, cocoa nibs, and edible flowers. To give this recipe a mediterranean touch you can sprinkle pistachios and yellow raisins, and even add rose flower water to the chocolate.
This recipe only needs
- 1 cup brown sugar,
- 1 cup butter
- 1 package of chocolate meltaways, and
- 1 package of saltines.
The toffee will be the size of an entire cookie sheet, enough to gift all of your loved ones.
To see the video technique, click on the video below:
Next up is the Kunafah Guy, or as I like to call him, the Arab Willy Wonka. Arafat is the sweet and humble guy behind this spectacular food truck, which makes fresh kunafah to order around the San Francisco Bay Area. He is thinking of moving to Anaheim, so people in southern California can get a slice of his buttery and cheesy dessert!
I literally chased this man down to get a taste for NBC! His job is literally making and selling the best kunafa outside of the middle east, like an Arab Willy Wonka! Click on the video below to check out the whole experience:
