December | 2012 | Domestic Evolution

Yummy Yummies!

So, I’m Pennsylvania Dutch. If you didn’t know that about me, now you do! The Pennsylvania Dutch people are mostly known for their funny dialect (examples: outen the light, don’t eat yourself full, rutsching)…and food.

Mmmm…PA Dutch food.

The PA Dutch are particularly awesome at baking, in my experience. My Nana (Marie, of Stella Marie) was a superb baker, way up in to her 90s. (If living till your 90s is not a great motivation to bake with butter and not margarine, I don’t know what is!)

One of her best go-to Christmas cookies were “Yummies”. I have no idea where that name came from, nor if they have an equivalent mainstream* name. All I know is the name could not be more perfect.

So throw on your apron and some elastic waistband pants (these ain’t no diet cookie), and let’s make some pecan-butter-graham-cracker-sugary goodness!

*A similar cookie has been making the rounds, except made with saltines instead of graham crackers. Gross. Just kidding, I’m sure they’re great! But try it with the graham crackers and you won’t be disappointed. I promise.

Yummies
By: Nana

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Lay out 24 graham crackers on ungreased cookie sheet*
Boil together:
2 sticks butter (1/2 lb)
1 C tightly packed brown sugar
Boil for 2 minutes, then add 1 C finely chopped pecans
Spread over crackers
Bake 10 minutes, let cool
Break apart when a little warm
Put in a tin can
*Put graham crackers seams the same way for an easy break

And the delicious, drool-inducing step-by-step picture tutorial:

4 ingredients! That’s it. Doesn’t get much easier!

Lay the graham crackers with seams lined up on a cookie sheet:

Melt 2 sticks of butter on med-high heat.

Yep…there’s all those calories!

When the butter is hot and bubbly and looks like this….

Add 1 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar:

Mix together well and let it boil for 2 minutes. It will look like this:

Time to add the finely chopped pecans! I spotted this little gem on the packaging. Turns out these cookies are practically health food!

Stir in the pecans to make a bubbling delicious liquid masterpiece

Pour the hot liquid on to the graham crackers:

Spread it out as best as you can, covering as many graham crackers as possible:

Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes:

They come out of the oven with a lovely thickened topping:

Wait about 8-10 minutes to let them cool. When they are a little tacky, get them off your cookie sheet and break them apart as best as you can. You don’t want to leave them on the cookie sheet too long or they will stick.

YUM! YUMMY YUMMIES!

When they are super cooled off, break them apart in to desired cookie-size and enjoy. Remember not to feel guilty about eating them…they have antioxidant power! 😉

Some tips:

Make sure you use a “jelly roll pan” cookie sheet (ones with the sides). The topping is really runny when you pour it over the graham crackers, and it will spill everywhere in your oven if you attempt to bake them on a side-less cookie sheet. And then you might even have a small oven fire, like I did. Oops! (Everything was fine, after the butter burned off).

These are truly not meant to be a health cookie, so don’t try to substitute the brown sugar with a brown sugar-substitute ingredient. It ends up just tasting like burnt sugar. Yuck.

If making multiple batches, be really careful not to burn the butter the 2nd time around if the pot you are using is really hot. Butter burns pretty fast, and then tastes completely different.

I couldn’t think of a better way to start my first blog post than with the first crochet creation I ever made up by myself: The Mr. Penguin Mug Cozy!

I got a request for a penguin mug cozy from one of my closest friends, after she saw a cute owl mug wrap I had made to sell at a charity walk. Since I love my friends and raising money for charity, I scoured the web looking for the perfect pattern to make for her, and just didn’t see one I liked. So, I made him* up myself!

In the past year I have made millions of mug cozies**. They are one of my most favorite things to crochet because they are super quick (and cheap!) to make and are awesome gifts. As far as I know, they’re still relatively “new” in the crafting world, so chances are your friends and family don’t have one yet!

I hope you enjoy the pattern and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section.

Happy Hooking 🙂

*Is it weird that Mr. Penguin is a “he”? It must be the whole men-look-like-penguins-in-a-tuxedo thing.

**Millions is probably a bit of an exaggeration. Probably. It must just feel that way.

Mr. Penguin Mug Cozy {Free Pattern}:

Yarn: I usually use Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, but any yarn you have available should do!
To make a penguin:
Black yarn for the base mug cozy and wings
White yarn for the eyes and “belly”
Orange yarn for the beak.

Buttons: You will need 2 very small buttons to make the pupils of the eyes

Hook: For this pattern I use a size H/5.00 MM hook. It doesn’t really matter as long as you measure as you go.

Gauge: Not important. I will indicate where you should measure to fit your mug.

Stitch Abbreviations:
ch = chain
st = stitch
sl st = slip stich
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
tc = triple crochet

Special stitches:
sc next 2 sts tog: Draw up a loop in the next stitch. Draw up a loop in the next stitch (you now have 3 loops on your hook). Yarn over and pull hook through all 3 loops. You have now decreased by 1 sc.

If you are unfamiliar with how to do a magic circle, I find this tutorial the best way to do one.

Pattern for black mug cozy base:
Note: The number in parentheses is the number of stitches you should have on the outside of your circle after each round.

Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (12 sc)
Round 3: * 1 sc in first st, 2 sc in next st…repeat from * 6 times (18 sc)
Round 4: *1 sc in first 2 st, 2 sc in 3rd st…repeat from * 6 times (24 sc)
Round 5: *1 sc in first 3 st, 2 sc in 4th st…repeat from * 6 times (30 sc)

After round 5, you should hold up your circle to the bottom of your mug for the first time. 30 sc is usually a good size for the mugs that are wider on top and taper down to a smaller base, or mugs that are tall and skinny.

If you are stopping after round 5, skip to Round 8.

Round 6: *1 sc in first 4 st, 2 sc in 5th st…repeat from * 6 times (36 sc)

I usually stop after Round 6 for most of my mug cozies, unless I am custom making them for a larger mug. I find that it’s better to make them to snugly fit a standard size mug so they do not slide in the person’s hand while they are trying to use them (we are trying to prevent burns, after all!).

If you are stopping after round 6, skip to round 8.

(optional) Round 7: *1 sc in first 5 st, 2 sc in 6th st…repeat from * 6 times (42 sc)

Round 8: sc in back loops of each st around

Round 9: sc in each st around

It’s time to switch to rows!
Switching to rows will allow you to leave a gap for the handle of the mug.

Row 1: ch 1, turn. sc in each st, until you are 3 st away from meeting the beginning of the row.
For example: for a 30 st circle, you will do 27 sc per row, a 36 st circle you will do 33 sc per row, and a 42 st circle, you will do 39 sc per row.

Row 2-10: ch 1, turn. sc in each st. Repeat for 10 rows OR until the mug cozy is a good height for the mug you are making.

At the end of your last row:
ch 20, sl st in the same st (this makes the loop that will go around the button)

This is what the button loop should look like

And just to make it extra pretty, sc around the entire edge of the mug cozy to give it a nice and finished border.

Fasten off and weave in your loose ends.

Pattern for the eyes:

With your white yarn:

Make a magic circle, ch 1
Round 1: 10 dc in center of ring. sl st at top of first chain to join circle

Finish off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing on to body.

Make 2 of these.

Pattern for the beak:

Ch 7
Row 1: sc in each ch st ch1, turn.
Row 2: sc next 2 sts tog, sc in next 2 sc, sc next 2 sts tog ch1, turn.
Row 3: sc next 2 sts tog, sc next 2 sts tog ch1, turn.
Row 4: sc next 2 sts tog

Fasten off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing onto body.

Pattern for the white “belly”:

The belly of the penguin is some sort of cross between an oval and a semi-circle. A semi-oval perhaps??

Row 1: make a magic circle, chain 3. 5 dc in center of ring.
Row 2: ch 3 (counts as first dc), turn. 2 dc in ea of the next 2 dc. 2 tc in ea of the next 2 dc. 2 dc in ea of the next 2 dc. (12 dc in this row)
Row 3: ch 3 (counts as first dc), turn, 2 dc in next dc. dc, 2 dc in next dc. tc, 2 tc in next tc. tc, 2 tc in next tc. dc, 2 dc in next dc. dc, 2 dc in next dc. (18 dc in this row)

Fasten off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing on to body.

Pattern for the wings:

Ch 9
Row 1: sc in each ch st. ch1, turn.
Row 2: sc next 2 sts tog, sc in next 4 sc, sc next 2 sts tog ch1, turn.
Row 3: sc next 2 sts tog, sc in next 2 sc, sc next 2 sts tog ch1, turn.
Row 4: sc next 2 sts tog, sc next 2 sts tog ch1, turn.
Row 5: sc next 2 sts tog

Fasten off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing onto body.

Make 2 wings

Assembling the penguin:

First center the belly to the part of the mug cozy that will be directly opposite of the handle of the mug. Line it up with the bottom of the front of the mug cozy. I like to pin it with a straight pin before sewing it on. Using a yarn needle and the yarn tails you left after fastening off, sew the belly on to the mug cozy.

Next, sew your buttons in the center of the eyes for the pupils. Then sew your eyes centered over the belly and just under the top edge of the mug cozy.