Almond Lace cookies

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 2 large cookie sheets. Cook brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a 1 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring often until smooth. Remove from heat and add flour and almonds. Drop mounds about the size of a marble 3-4 inches apart on sheet and bake in center of oven for 4 minutes-then watch every 30 seconds until they are the color you want. Let cool 1-2 minutes, then carefully lift onto rack with metal spatula.

These are fun and forgiving to make. If batter gets too stiff to spoon easily onto cookie sheet, just reheat. If they get too brittle to get off cookie sheet, just stick back into the oven for a few seconds. You can make them any size-just experiment. These are a great Christmas dessert, serve them with peppermint ice cream. You can cool these over a muffin tin to create a serving cup.

Hot Chicken Salad

1 cup cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
1 cup cooked rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup mayo
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3 tsp. lemon juice
bread crumbs or potato chips

Mix soup, mayo and lemon juice. Add chicken, rice, celery, onion, almonds and eggs. Mix gently but well. Place in 9x9 inch pan, sprinkle with bread crumbs or chips. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Note: Chopped water chestnuts and or shredded cheese can be added.