Peanut Brittle

This was my Dad's favorite recipe.  I'm not as fond of the brittles as my Dad was.  I don't like how hard the nut brittles are.  I also vividly remember my Dad breaking teeth on a couple of occasions while eating peanut brittle.  So... consider yourself warned.  This is one of those recipes I made every year with my Aunts in the days after Thanksgiving.  I've made this recipe using cashews instead of peanuts.  It's still really hard, but I like cashews better, so I like the mix a little more.  I believe you can sub in any kind of nut that you want in place of the peanuts.

One last word of advice before you begin this recipe... once things move, they move fast.  Measure out all of the ingredients and keep them close by, ready to add in as you go,

Peanut Brittle
You will need a candy thermometer for this recipe.
1 1/2  tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 TBSP Nature's Balance vegan butter + extra for buttering the pans
1- 2 pound nuts (Chop them up if you want...)

1) Using the Nature's Balance, (but not the part you've measured out, but the extra), butter two cookie sheets.  Place the buttered cookie sheets in a 200* oven while you work.  The warmth of the oven will help the brittle spread when you add it.

2) Mix sugar, 1 cup water, vanilla and corn syrup into a large, heavy duty saucepan.  Stir frequently until the candy mix reaches 240* on the candy thermometer.  (soft ball stage)

3) Add in butter and peanuts, stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 300*. (Hard ball stage)
Remove from heat and add the baking soda and salt.  Stir until the mix is light and bubbly.  (This is the coolest reaction!)

4) Pour half the mixture onto each sheet.  Cool completely before removing from the sheets and breaking into pieces.  (Truly, you can lift the entire sheet out of the cookie sheet.  My Aunts would break up the mixture with meat mallets.  A true Marylander would break this recipe up using crab mallets!)

Buckeyes

This was one of my Dad's favorite recipes.  I remember making batches of this when I was five and Dad was stationed in Vietnam.  We made a batch that filled an entire five pound coffee can with Buckeyes, and another with fudge.  The man loved chocolate, but he loved chocolate and peanut butter even more!

I have tweaked the family recipe to include non-dairy items.  The original recipe called for parafin was to be added to the melted chocolate.  I don't use parafin in my recipe - so for that reason the Buckeyes must be kept in the fridge.  Otherwise, the chocolate will melt.

Buckeyes

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 TBSP Earth Balance Margarine
1 pound gluten free, dairy free chocolate chips.  (I use Good Life)

1) Stir together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter.
2) Shape the mixture into 1 inch balls.  Place them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and let them sit for an hour to dry out.
3) Melt the chocolate.
4) Dip the balls one at at time into the chocolate, and then removed to the wax paper.
5) Put the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer until the chocolate hardens.
6) Store the Buckeyes in the fridge.

Super easy to make!  These little confections really are the personification of the phrase: "A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."

Tailor's Buttons

I originally published this post on Dec. 14, 2014.

 

Many years ago, when middle child was in second grade, he was in a "literature enhancement group" at school.  They read a series of books together, and then at the end of the series, the children had a large celebration party.  We were to send in something for the kids to eat that was related to the stories that they had read.  One of the books they read was a story about a tailor. As son and I tried to figure out what to make, I began to fixate on these things.  I'd had them before, but I couldn't remember what they were called.  Desperate for something quick and easy, we decided to call these things "Tailors Buttons".  The premise is very simple.  A pretzel, topped with a Hershey Kiss, topped with an M & M.  When I made them years ago, I used the circular pretzels, so that they would look more like buttons than this iteration does.  I still vividly recall the frustration involved with figuring out how high to set the oven, and how long to put these things into the oven.  I destroyed a full bag of Kisses before I finally struck upon the magic combination of time and temperature required to make these wonderful little concoctions.  They have become a family favorite!

Tailor's Buttons

Ingredients:

1 Bag of Pretzels

1 Bag of Hershey Kisses

1 Small Bag of M&M's

*Note - I have yet to find a way to make this recipe gluten and dairy free.  I'm still searching.  Let me know if you know of any gluten and dairy free version of M&M's and Hershey Kisses.  I really would love to know

Step 1: Pre-Heat oven to 350*.  Place pretzels in an even layer across the bottom of a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Step 2: Unwrap all the Kisses and place each one on a pretzel.

 

Step 3:  Put the cookie sheet into the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.  Check after 3 minutes, and every minute there after.   If the Kisses are soft and beginning to melt, pull them out.  It's really, really, really easy to burn the Kisses - a minute or two can make a big difference.

Step 4: Working Quickly, push an M & M into the center of each Kiss.  Cool completely before storing.  Make sure the chocolate hardens up again before you remove these guys to a separate storage container.  Note - I put mine in the refrigerator for a while.

The hardest part of this project is cleaning up the wrappers!

Cracker Toffee

The Large Sheet of Molten Goodness

Note: I originally published this last year, on Dec. 3, 2015.  

Do you have a favorite Christmas candy that you come back to year after year?  I have my favorite
candies that are rooted in long memories of time spent with my Dad's family getting ready for the holidays.  We would gather at my Aunt Rosie's house, and spend the days before Christmas making up these favorite confections for Christmas Day.   When my Dad was stationed in Vietnam, we got together and made a large batch of candy for him at Thanksgiving, and shipped it on the day after Thanksgiving.  It arrived to him just before Christmas - a melted mass of candy that he stuck in the fridge and nibbled on for days.
Until the day he died, Dad would make a mass batch of buckeyes, peanut brittle, fudge, and pralines, and then take a handful of each finished candy, toss them all together on a cookie sheet, and melt them together.

All broken up and ready to eat!

Fudge, Pralines, and Buckeyes are the time honored Christmas Candies in our family.  (I am not a fan of peanut brittle.)   The recipes are burned into my head, and I in turn have had my kids memorize them.  20 years ago, I found these delightful things and added them to our must make every year list.  If I have to take desert to a function this time of year, this is what I bring.    They're kind of like a bark, with a saltine base to them.  I experimented at home with the ingredients until I hit it right, and this is the recipe that I've used ever since.  I've posted this before, on my defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I might have also posted it on here before, but I don't think so.

This is my favorite Christmas candies to make.  It is quick and easy, and it is easy to make a vegetarian version.


Here's the recipe:

Cracker Cookies:
Saltine Crackers (1-2 sleeves)  I use Shaar Gluten Free Saltines
2 sticks of butter  (Use Earth Balance Vegan Butter or Coconut Butter to make it vegetarian.)
1 cup of brown sugar
1bag (12-18 ounces) of chocolate chips  (We use Good Life soy, gluten, dairy free chips)
1 cup of nuts, chopped (use your favorite kind of nut, and this part is optional)

Preheat oven to 350*
Line a jelly roll pan with foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Place crackers on the jelly roll pan. Snuggle them up next to each other until the entire pan is covered.
In a small saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar over medium heat. Cook until the mixture comes to a rolling boil.
Pour the butter mixture over the crackers.
Bake the crackers at 350* for five minutes.
Remove from oven, pour chocolate chips evenly over crackers, return to oven for 2 minutes.
Using the back of a spoon, spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers.
Put nuts on top of the chocolate. (optional)
Allow to cool. Put the pan in the fridge... it'll set in about 30 minutes.
Break apart and enjoy!


*Note - I store these in the fridge to keep the chocolate and butters from melting.