Peanut Brittle

Sweet and Crunchy Peanut Brittle

One of the easiest sweets to make is a nut brittle with only a few ingredients needed. This recipe uses peanuts, but any kind of nuts can be used.

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:

1 quart sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1 quart peanuts 

1/3 cup butter

Method:

1. In a heavy pan or pot add the sugar, corn syrup and a dash of water, stir well.

2. Slowly bring to a simmer and using a candy thermometer bring the temperature up to 300F.

3. Add the nuts and butter, stir well till they are evenly coated.

4. Have a flat sheet pan greased with oil and on a surface where the hot candy will not damage it.

5. Carefully pour out the hot mixture and using a heatproof spatula spread it out evenly.

6. Allow to cool completely, then break into smaller bite size pieces.

Note: Corn syrup does not have to be used in the recipe, but will help prevent the sugar mixture from crystallizing during the cooking process.

Cooking sugar to the right temperature 

There are many stages in cooking sugar depending on what recipe you are making; brittle being hard and crunchy needs to be cooked to 300 degrees, which is called the Hard Crack Stage.

Peanuts in the hot cooked sugar

When the liquid sugar reaches 300F it's ready and the nuts can be carefully added using a heat proof spatula. Caution -it's very hot.

Poured into a lightly greased sheet pan

After the brittle is poured and allowed to cool, it can be broken into any size or shape.


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Caramel Apples

Its a new week and a new school project that I helped my daughter with, today its caramel apples on a stick. This cooking project is new to me as well, I have made lots of caramel in my life for different menus but have never dipped a whole apple in it. My daughter wanted to make enough for the whole class, too many for me so I had to haggle the number down to a easy 10. I chose small basic red apples and used chopsticks instead of the common Popsicle stick, a good trick I learned was to chill the apples so the caramel hardens faster and will not drip off, a basic caramel recipe using sugar, cream and a touch of water is made and the apples are dipped and placed on a silpat non stick baking mat to cool. These apples can be rolled in chopped nuts or other ingredients if desired. My daughter is looking forward to lots of smiles from her classmates and maybe some extra credit from the teacher.

Pear & Almond Strudel

I am attending a big crab feed at my daughters high school tonight, I have volunteered to help out by making a strudel for dessert. For the filling I chose to use bosc pears to be a little different from the normal use of apples, I added raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and toasted almonds. The filling is placed in a roll of puff pastry and scored for looks and to release steam from the filling, also the use of egg wash on the puff pastry forms a golden color when baked. With the strudel done its now time to go eat local dungeness crab!

Ring Mountain Wild Blackberry Tart

Wild Blackberry Tart

Fresh Picked Berries

Ring Mountain View

There is a small bay area mountain behind my house here in Marin County called Ring Mountain, its great for hiking and the views from the top are amazing. Today I discovered blackberries growing wild on a mid morning hike up the mountain, they are just beginning to ripen and bursting with a tart juicy sweetness. I had to take advantage of all the berries by picking a bag full for a for a tart I plan to make. I started by using small four inch tart pans to make single serving tarts. I made a basic sweet pie dough using flour, butter, sugar and ice water, after I rolled out the dough and lined the small pans I pre cooked them, this method is called blind baking. Next I tossed the berries in sugar and cornstarch which will help thicken the juice from the berries. Then into a 350F oven for about 20 minutes, the individual pies are now done and need to cool before coming out of the tart pans. Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream are perfect to serve with them while still warm. The kids loved them and want to go back for more.

Farmer's market strawberries and puff pastry for dessert

This last weekend I made a trip to the local farmers market and between rain showers I found a lot of nice fruits and vegetables. There were beautiful strawberries, 10 for a dollar kiwi and blood oranges at a dollar a pound, on and on. The strawberries I bought with the idea of dessert for the kids tonight. To start I thawed some puff pastry that I always keep in my freezer (you should too) and cut a square design, then a little egg wash and into a hot oven to cook while the kids finished eating, when the pastry is done I let it cool and fill with sliced organic strawberries, top with a dollop of whip cream and the kids are promising to clean there rooms and help around the house.