Recipes from Grandmary -- "Cracker Bark"

There were few opportunities for Auntie Nettie to get in the kitchen whilst on her long winter break. Grandmary and Grumpa Max guard their domain with sharp words and elbows. However, they did try to make room for grandsons at times, for a segment called: Cooking with Drew, aka Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen.

One night, after a long (arduous, exhausting, tiresome) hike and an almost too late dinner, suddenly Grandmary decided to start teaching us how to make the "Cracker Bark."

It's good to know how to do this, but it was late, and it's not one of those recipes you get instantaneous gratification from ... not good if you are a tired and cranky almost 40 year old, er, I mean 7 year old.

Also, turns out, it's not even original to our family, or called Cracker Bark.

Julie's (who the heck was Julie?) Chocolate Crunch

2 tubes (1/2 box) saltine crackers [approximate]
1 cup sugar, white
1 ¾ sticks butter
1 12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips [2 cups]
1 to 1 ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans.

Line a jellyroll pan [or cookie sheet] with foil, leaving a 2 inch cuff.

Line with a single layer of crackers.

Put sugar and butter in a saucepan.

Heat on low until it bubbles, mixing well.

Turn off heat and leave on the burner for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour mixture over crackers and spread evenly. [Make sure to cover all the edges and sides of the crackers.]

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 13 minutes. [Insert Monty Python and the Holy Grail Holy Hand Grenade* joke here if you are Auntie Nettie, get odd looks from family.]**

Remove from oven and pour chocolate chips evenly over crackers.

Allow to sit 30-40 seconds [or] until melted, then spread evenly with a spatula. [Spread again to the sides and edges of crackers.]

Sprinkle nuts on top of the chocolate. [Grandmary also added bits of the cooked sugar coated crackers from prior batches to the nuts sprinkled on top of the chocolate.]

Refrigerate overnight.

Break into bite-size pieces and store in an airtight container.

Yummy, caramel buttery goodness. Or so I recall. I don't think I got any of this batch! How did that happen?

* Seriously? You don't know this reference?! What is geekdom coming to? For Robin's sake, go look at this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk

** Look, I know the whole Monty Python reference is a stretch, 13 not being 3 or 5, or even 4, but you have to admit that 13 minutes is a random amount of time to be cooking something. Why not just say until caramelly brown? Ovens differentiate!