Gretchen’s Mom and her Toffee Recipe
Mrs. Carlson has brought some incredible Swedish treats into the Greenroom this morning: Lefsa (Swedish pancakes), Spritz (sugar cookies), Kringle (coffee cake w/almond filling), Julukake (sweet bread) , plus toffee bars, candies and penuche. She’ll be on the set any minute now to share some of their family Christmas traditions. But she already gave me the recipe for the Swedish toffee bars to share with you:
– 1 cup of butter
– 1 cup of brown sugar
– pinch of salt
– 1 teaspoon of vanilla
– 1/2 teaspoon of almond flavoring
– 1 cup of white flour
– 8 Hershey’s milk chocolate bars
Mix ingredients and pour them into a 9″x 13″ greased glass pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until edges are brown. Take out of oven and while still hot cover with the 8 Hershey’s bars. Once they’ve melted, spread chocolate around top of toffee with a knife. When cool cut into pieces and serve at room temperature. Yum!
GRETCHEN’S DAUGHTER GETS READY FOR HER CLOSE-UP
Gretchen,
This has nothing to do with the recipe (which, by the way, is a good one), but on the subject of Huckabee, Romney, etc and the religious advertising, WE ALL KNOW by now where they stand. (I challenge everyone to get a straight answer to religious beliefs questions from Democrats) I happen to be a Southern Baptist, but these religious ads MUST STOP! Please urge them to campaign on the issues.
Thanks
Gretchen -
We live in a Swedish town called Lindsborg, Kansas – Steve Doocy may be familiar with it – and we just had our St. Lucia celebration. I work at a shop in town where we make the REAL Swedish wooden clogs and I hand paint them with Swedish Kurbits! The Swedish have wonderful traditions and it is wonderful to see that your family is continuing to carry on their heritage. One of our Lutheran churches in town has the Christmas service in Swedish!!!!
God Jul!
At the end of the spot w/Gretchen’s Scandanavian Mom…why was Santa Lucia being played? Precursor to tomorrow….or simply a confused intern?
;>)
I should probably get Gretchen to answer this one. She explained to me that there is a Swedish connection with Santa Lucia. I’ll ask her to expand on that for you.
December 13th is Santa Lucia day and tradition is that the oldest daughter in the house would come downstairs wearing the candle crown bringing goodies and coffee to everyone. It is an old Italian song but the Swedes put their own words to the tune.
Gretchen
Great segment!!!!!!
Gretchen (and Steve) have you ever visited the American Swedish Historical Museum at 1900 Pattison Ave.(FDR Park), Philadelphia, PA 19145? They asked me to spread the word and although my Swedish ancestors (Great Grandfather Frank &Great Grandmother Lena) immigrated in the late 19th Century, I very much enjoyed the artifacts, history and tradition.
Google the site for information.
Ilove Fox and Friends.
Ron Malmgren
Washington, PA
No, but there is a Swedish Museum in Minneapolis and the Swedish Institute in New York City, both of which I’ve been to.
Gretchen
THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH for that receipe for the fudge, it had brought tears to my eyes, you see my Mother had passed-away in Jan. of 1977,(at the age of 49) and she had used to make something very close to that fudge recepie. for only one of the wonderful things that she had made.
Again,
Thank you Very much
Love,
Steve
That’s the very reason we decided to do these segments — to bring happiness to people and to rekindle your own family memories.
Gretchen
Beautiful children!! Just like their mother and her mother. I too was raised Lutheran and still attend a Lutheran church. I have attended a Lutheran church in Grand Meadow, MN which started as a Norwegian Lutheran Synod church and loved the Scandinavian influence all around me. It was wonderful to hear your mother share some of the same experiences. Thank you!
I loved seeing Gretchen & her family. I look forward to seeing the rest of the gang this week. Fox & Freinds are the best. I look forward to the after the show show.
What beautiful children! It’s so nice of you to share the pictures.
I’m definitely going to try the toffee recipe.
I think it’s great that you all are featuring your families during this very special time of year.
Merry Christmas!
The key to the toffee recipe is how long you bake it. Be sure to watch it carefully. The trick is keeping an eye on it.
Gretchen
Two beautiful children. Grethchen, as I’m sure she is, must be very proud of them.
Beautiful children ! Are they both yours Gretchen ? I only caught the very tail end of the show
My wife and I enjoyed the Swedish Yule Tide show. My wife’s grandfather emigrated from Sweden and there is still a strong Swedish tradition in her family. We have been in contact with my wife’s relatives in Sweden and made our first visit in 2006. We have taken one year of Swedish language at the University of Denver and have met many Swedish emigres in the Denver, Colorado area. The recipe will be a welcome addition to our holiday tradition. Tack så mycket!
I loved how her daughter was on a sugar high, too hyper to stop and sing. I love kids being kids.
HAhaha, Gretchen, her mom, and daughter all look so much alike!
Her daughter looks so much like her… what a little cutie.
Thanks for the recipe. I do all the cooking in my house ( my wife loves it this way). Christmas dinner is the traditional Italian extravanza ( spaghetti with tuna sauce, ton’s of pastries, expresso with Sambuca, and at least two days of gluttony.
Alisyn if at all possible see if your Mom has a good recipe for a moist Italian Cream Cake. For some reason ours come out dry and its our favorite.
Ed
These are the cutest little girls!!! Merry Christmas!
God Bless
Arlene
Loved the segment!! I too am Swedish — and Norwegian – with a little Irish, Scotish and German thrown in. My grandmother who was Norwegian is long gone and so are her wonderful traditions. I attend a Swedish Lutheran church in Brockton and with the help of the ladies there have learned some of the traditions. We have a Lucia ceremony, Christmas Kafee Stuga bazaar every three years in which all the parishoners participate; lots of good Swedish foods. What I have learned I try to pass down to my daughter and grandchildren.
God Jul and Lyckligt nytt år.
Sincerely,
Barbara from Brockton, MA
What beautiful children! I wish I could have seen the show. My maternal grandparents came from Sweden but not at the same time. My grandfather (who had passed before I was born) was much older than my grandmother. She came to the United States when she was 18 and always told us about some man that kept bothering her on the boat so she slugged him and knocked him out. My grandmother has also passed and I’ll always remember when she would get a letter from the relatives in Sweden and we’d ask her to read it to us since we didn’t speak Swedish and well, she’d read it in Swedish! I’ll have to try the toffee bars.
Three things that I will prepare for the Christmas holidays:
1. Fudge.
2. Green bean casserole.
3. Gretchen’s Mom’s Toffee Recipe.
===========================================
A talented cook for a Mom, and beautiful children too-
Looks like Gretchen has it all, through and through.
Mary Elizabeth Rumsey
Three by M.E./Rhymes of the Times
Gretchen,
Your children are just beautiful. I loved there singing. I also enjoyed your mom. Would it be possible to post the swedith potato pancake or whatver they were called. I thought those sounded like they might be good.
Yesterday you said you were going to put the Switsh pancakes of your blog. Where are they?
We’re compiling all the family recipes right now and will post them before Christmas.
I just watched the Camerota after-show; saw yours (Gretchen) yesterday. I just love this idea of seeing the families of the “Friends” and the Christmas stories and traditions shared are very touching. I look forward to the “Doocy” family – even if they are fake-bird believers – I believe in real Tigers (he will know what this means). Obviously, I am from Missouri! Please have the very merriest of Christmases and may we all have an extremely happy 2008.
I was so looking forward to making the Swedish Toffee Bars, but something went wrong along the way. I followed the recipe and it came out runny and it never set. I even added more time thinking that was what was needed, but that didn’t help. So could someone tell me if the recipe is correct on this web site. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!
The secret is to watch it very carefully. Sometimes even my Mom’s don’t come out perfectly. Try keeping it in the oven a little longer. The recipe above looks right. Good luck!
Gretchen
Gretchen,
Your kids are adorable, and Alisyn; your mom seemed lovely. I am looking for a great fudge recipe- I saw that someone mentioned one, but I can’t locate it on the site. Please help!
I enjoy reading your posts, keep them coming