a candy Lego skyscraper (and recipe)

We love Lego at our house!  There are usually bits and pieces of it to be found everywhere, in every single room of the house…so it’s no surprise that I should get baking inspiration from those colorful little toys!  For my son’s family-only birthday party, at the last minute, I had an idea for a Lego skyscraper…out of candy.  I’m afraid that cracker candy is my new craze.  My friend Dana made us some for Christmas, and I loved it so much, I went online and found a recipe, and I’m afraid that I’ve been making it a lot lately.  So I used the cracker candy to make a skyscraper.  It was really a lot easier than it looks! heh heh. Really.

Here’s what I did (recipe will follow the photos):

First, prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Instead of covering the whole pan as usual, I divided it into 2 equal sides and made sure there was a little edge around the whole thing, so the sugar won’t spill over the sides.  Evenly set the crackers out.

Boil the butter and sugar in a small saucepan for 3 minutes.  Then pour the sugar mixture evenly over the crackers, then bake for 5 minutes.  This next photo is the white sugar mixture.  (I made one recipe with white sugar and the other with brown sugar.  The brown sugar is way tastier!)

The butter and sugar will really bubble in the oven, it looks weird, but it’s supposed to do that.  Don’t overcook, only 5 min!  After pulling the pan out of the oven, right away sprinkle with chocolate chips or candy melts.  I did 2 sides with chocochips and 2 sides with colored candy melts.  I set a skewer across to guide were the colors would go.

Let the candy melts set for a minute or two, then spread them around.  Refridgerate until hard.  Peel the panels from the aluminum foil.  I set up a box to use as a base for the walls.  Melt some candy melts in baggies to use as icing to pipe onto the edges and fill in the cracks joining up the walls.

The panels weren’t totally flat, so the back sides didn’t match up and there was a big gap.  Oh well….

Oh, I had piped the “bricks” onto the panels while they were still flat in the pan.  I had made a square for the roof, but it wasn’t big enough, so I had to patch it in with plain crackers!  I had to do a lot of filling in with the candy melts.  Then to decorate, just add candles, some mini M&M baking bits and lego Toy Story figures.  The whole project really only took half an afternoon and evening, I assembled the whole thing while my son was at his swimming class.  It was worth it to see his face!

 

The Cracker Candy recipe:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter.

soda crackers (I used stoned wheat crackers, they are heavier) maybe about 35? enough to cover the pan.

1 1/2 or 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

(optional: nuts)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking pan (cookie sheet or jelly roll pan) with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Cover it completely with crackers, side by side, not leaving any empty spaces.  Melt the the sugar and butter in a small saucepan on medium-high heat.  When it starts boiling, set a timer for 3 minutes, and stir constantly so it doesn’t burn. Pour the mixture onto the crackers, covering them.  Bake them for 5 minutes, then promptly remove them from the oven.  Right away, sprinkle on the chocolate chips and let them sit for one or 2 minutes so they start melting, then with the back of a spoon, spread them around, completely covering the crackers.  If you like, add chopped up nuts, like pecans.  Refridgerate on the tray until hard (or freeze in the freezer for a little while).  You can peel them off the aluminum foil and cut them into squares, or just break them up.  Store in an airtight container in the refridgerator.  Enjoy!!