Day Two of Seven Days of Christmas Treats

 We got a wee bit of snow last night. It looks nice, but isn't so much that it makes life difficult. 

However, if you still have lots of shopping to do or whatever else may still be on your list of to-dos, maybe this will scare you into action:

Yes, fourteen days, including today, but not including Christmas day, because quite frankly, by Christmas morning, if you haven't done it, you probably never will. I realize not everyone has plans, or has tasks to take care of, but for those who do, yikes! How many weekends are left?!?

Anyway, enough of that, let's get to the good stuff. This is a non-bake recipe (in that you don't need to heat up your oven, but you will need a stove, or if you are brave, a microwave).

As you can see, I write extra little notes on my recipe cards, the same way I do in my recipe books, my text books, my journals, my calendars... 

Here are your ingredients. Yes, the butterscotch chips are "name brand", but that's because they are constantly sold out at Food Basics in the cheaper variety, but these were a good price at Walmart.

For those of you with easy access to Costco, you can probably get enormous packs of these things, but Costco is well over an hour for the closest one. If you order your baking goods online and get an Amazon box at your door, well, we live in different worlds. Just can't embrace it.

I don't know if you are familiar with the chow mein noodles. They are available at this time of year, packaged up like this (although it took me three stores to find them), I'm guessing specifically for this cookie.

To melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips, I use a double boiler. 

I hear that you can use your microwave to melt them, but I tried one time, for a different recipe and I messed up, essentially "burning" the chocolate, so I stick with a tried and true method.

For this go round, I used two cups of chocolate and two cups of butterscotch. It makes tons! 

Little by little, the chips melt until they are all creamy and blended and you can't see anymore individual chips. Then dump in the salted peanuts and chow mein noodles. This is not an exact science. I started with a cup each, then more, and then more until I thought it was enough. You want to stir things around, (still with the double boiler over a low heat at this point) to make sure everything is well coated. Don't worry if you break any noodles. It doesn't matter.

In the end, I used up that whole container of chow mein noodles. Prepare probably three cookie sheets by putting waxed paper on them (not parchment, too expensive, and you just need to be able to peel these "cookies" off after they cool, you're not baking them). 

I use two spoons to scoop and scrape onto the cookie sheets.

They are not the most attractive treat in the world. Son has always called them "Spider Cookies". They are, however, very nice if you like a "snap" to your treats and that sweet/salty combo. 

When you put them on your cookie sheets, don't worry about nice little rows and spaces. They won't spread, so just cram as many on as possible.

When you've scooped and scraped out as much chocolatey goodness as you can from the double boiler, put your cookie sheets in the fridge to set up (I'm fortunate in that we have a second fridge out in the mudroom and have room for that). You can also put them in a freezer if you have room. When they are nice and solid, peel them from the waxed paper and store in an airtight container. I usually keep them and all other Christmas treats in the fridge in plastic, lidded containers. If it is too far ahead of Christmas, I put those containers in the bottom of my chest freezer and hide other things like bags of rhubarb I'll never get around to using or ground beef on top to keep them from being eaten before needed.

So...who makes these? Who does the "haystack" thing, which I  believe involves coconut instead? Who thinks these are weird and have no intention of making them? Who is wondering if I'll be making fruitcake or Christmas pudding? (Don't hold your breath on that one).