Damn Good Dessert

This is so good...will feed about 40, so it's great for those occasions when someone wants you to bring a dessert...it's sweet but salty, you'll love it!

Ingredients

40 Saltine crackers
1 Cup salted butter (don’t substitute) -
1 Cup brown sugar
1 12 ounce pkg of chocolate chips
5-6 Heath bars

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Step 1: line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and cover with saltine crackers, careful not to let the overlap. If you don't have a large baking sheet, naturally you will use less crackers.


Step 2: Start the caramel prep by melting the butter and adding the brown sugar, letting it come to a boil, stirring constantly, until it bubbles, then turn it down to medium and let it simmer for a few seconds. The consistency should be thin and that is good.

Step 3. Pour the caramel mixture over the crackers trying to cover as evenly as possible.


Step 4. Place in the oven for anywhere from 5-10 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble.


5. Immediately while its hot, sprinkle the bag of chocolate chips over the hot caramel and watch it melt, should only take a few minutes for the morsels to completely melt.


Step 6. While you're waiting for the chocolate to melt, about 5 minutes...crack the heath bars into little pieces and using a spatula smooth out the chocolate and sprinkle the crushed heath bar mixture...voila, stick it in the freezer, for a few hours until it hardens.



Step 7. Remove from freezer when hardened and bust it up in pieces...bon appetit!

Chili

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons EEVO
2 pounds ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup mild chili powder
2 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped, plus puree
1 (14 ounce) can of red kidney beans, drained
1/2 bottle of beer
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
Sour cream
Scallions
Shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble beef into the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon to break apart as much as possible. Add salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the beef is well browned.

Place the cooked beef, whole peeled tomatoes, beans and broth, tomato paste, spices, and chopped onion and pepper into a slow cooker, and cook on “High” for 5 hours, or simmer in a stock pot on very low heat for about 2 hours.

Make the chili a day ahead if possible, and reheat before serving. Top with sour cream, scallions, cheese, and serve.

Serves 6-8.