Happy 4th of July!

I love all the holidays, but the 4th of July is probably up at the top of my list!

One of my favorite pics [our grandkids when they were oh so little!]

For many years when I was young, my parents hosted 4th of July. We had a large yard that was perfect for hosting a summer 4th of July BBQ. I have many happy memories from those festivities.

After my parents retired and sold their home. My sister picked up the tradition. She and her husband have the most beautiful piece of property just down the road from me.

Every year, we take a group photo of our family, usually in front of my sister’s garden shed.

The food, is probably one of my most favorite parts of our 4th of July celebrations. We all bring a salad, and a dessert to share. Most years, the husband and other men in the family grill, BBQ or smoke our meats.

This year, we’re making it easy on ourselves by ordering fried chicken from a local deli. But don’t these ribs look good!

There are always games to play! Badminton, soccer, basketball, ring toss, and more.

And almost always the kiddie pool.

Our grandkids a few years ago! Why do they have to grow up so fast!?

This 4th of July I’m making the annual potato salad. Would the 4th of July be the 4th of July without potato salad? And I made a new treat to bring!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might remember that one of our family’s favorite Christmas treats is Soda Cracker Toffee. It’s so easy to make, and Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it.

The new treat I’m bringing to our 4th of July celebration this year, is our favorite Soda Cracker Toffee with a twist! And it is SO YUMMY! It’s called Churro Soda Cracker Toffee! (recipe below).

I saw the recipe on Instagram a while back and saved it to my recipe folder. I made two batches yesterday in preparations for our 4th of July celebration. We tried it and we love it!

There are a few different variations of Churro Soda Cracker Toffee out there on the web. But I just to make it just like my original soda cracker toffee recipe, with just a couple of the ingredients changed.

Following is the recipe:

A note about making this recipe:

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, my silicone baking pan I found on Amazon! I just set the silicone baking pan on a cookie sheet for stability. Once the toffee is cooled, the whole batch of toffee comes right out of the pan so easily!

I did a lot of research and found that this pan has just the right lip/wall size for the toffee. There are other silicone baking pans out there, but the lip/wall size isn’t high enough. There is also a large silicone baking pan that resembles a large cookie sheet. But it has horrible reviews, so I haven’t tried it.

You can find the pan HERE on Amazon. I’ll try and make a reel soon, showing how easy it is to make the toffee with the silicone baking pan [#amazonaffiliate].

churro soda cracker toffee

INGREDIENTS:

Saltine Crackers

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Cups White Chocolate Chips

A note about white chocolate chips: I made one batch with Ghirardelli white chocolate chips and they worked fabulously. With the second batch I used a store brand, and the chips wouldn’t melt.

MIX:

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Line a rimmed baking sheet with soda crackers (1-2 packages of saltine crackers, depending on the size of your pan) The silicone baking pan takes less than 1 package.

Combine sugar and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes stirring consistently.

Immediately pour over the soda crackers and spread to cover the crackers completely.

Bake in the preheated oven for approx. 5 minutes

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top.

Put back into the oven for a just a couple minutes, keeping an eye on them. You want them to just start to melt.

Take it out of the oven and spread the chocolate chips evenly over the whole pan of crackers and toffee.

While it’s still warm, sprinkle the top with a generous amount of the cinnamon sugar mixture (you might use it all).

Allow to cool completely. (I will pop the pan into the freezer for a bit.

Break or cut the toffee into pieces, and take your first bite! Oh, so yummy!