5/31/2010

An Ode To Buc-ee's?

Well, I am not really sure I have anything clever to say about Buc-ee's.

What the heck is the fascination? My kids will really "hold it" 262 miles if it means that I stop there. They worship the place. They actually pooled their money today to buy Beaver Nuggets (see below) and worse, I almost found my self in line buying a Buc-ee's t-shirt until I came to my senses!
If you are not familiar with Buc-ee's, pat yourself on the back, it is a very large truck stop/gas station. Found along major highway's here in Texas. They are famous for clean bathrooms, beef jerky, homemade fudge and beaver nuggets.

This is the jingle my kids treated us to all day today...

Buc-ee's is great!
Better than chocolate cake.
Can we have some beaver nuggets?

Then they got stuck because they could never find anything that rhymed with "nuggets"!
I didn't have time to call my grandma, but I swear she has a recipe for these things. Last time she checked she couldn't find the recipe. Up North at Hy-Vee, they sell these bags of puffed butter flavored popcorn like things that she used to send me bags of all the time. Then I made a sugary like syrup and poured it all over the puffs. They tasted just like Beaver Nuggets. I have never been able to find them down here.

Does anyone have a recipe like this? I could forever be my kids hero!
Have you ever stopped at a Buc-ee's?

Photobucket

8 comments:

bethf202 said...

I have a recipe for this but it is carmel flavored puffed thingees. It is not butter flavored. It is surprisingly addictive.

Mom2Boys said...

We always stop at buc-ees, I love the fudge :) and the bathrooms are the best.
If you get a recipe for these I would love it to! My kids think they are the best

Mandy

Unknown said...

We LOVE Buc-ees, they have the coolest, cleanest bathrooms. Plus, you have to give them kudos for their creative marketing!

Deb said...

Friends of ours will plan their travels around stopping at Buc-Ees (ie, they're going somewhere anyway, so they'll plan to stop at Buc-Ees on the way - not make a special trip :P). The first Buc-Ees I ever saw was your typical tiny gas station, so we finally had to make a special stop at a big one to see what all of the fuss was about. The big one was the cleanest, fanciest truck stop I've ever been in, but the small ones are nothing special. I do enjoy their marketing, though. :)

Anonymous said...

I live in the same town as the owners and where they all started. There is a Buc-ees on every corner in our town!! Ive followed you for a while and always forget that you live in Houston. And NOOO I dont have a t-shirt either!

cora said...

Ingredients
1 lb Butter (not margarine)

3 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Water

2 tb Karo syrup

1 Large bag corn puffs
Preparation
Combine all ingredients but puffs & bring to a 250 degree boil. Stirring constatly-let it reach the "soft ball" stage. Pour over puffs & stir till evenly coated. Spread out on cookie sheets to cool.

bethf202 said...

Here is another version:

1 stick butter
1 C brown sugar
2/3 C light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 bag puffed popcorn (like Chesters). Can find at Wal-Mart or Kroger in the chip section

Preheat oven to 250F. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Place puffs in a large roasting pan or large bowl

In a 2-qt saucepan, melt butter, sugar and syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook 4 minutes WITHOUT stirring. Remove from heat and add baking soda. The mixture will foam.

Pour half of the caramel sauce over the puffs and mix well. Add remaining caramel sauce and continue to mix well.

Divide puffed popcorn between 2 cookie sheets and spread out evenly.

Bake until almost crisp, stirring every 15 minutes for a total of 45 minutes. Rotate pans halfway through baking.

Using a metal spatula, loosen from cookie sheets and let cool completely.

Just Me said...

Tell the kids that "chug it" rhymes with "nugget", so they could continue their song with:

And a coke so we can chug it....

hope this helps :)