Groovy Kid Stuff

How cute is this grass growing in the bulb pots? Just a couple days ago, nothing. Now -

This year I decided to add peanut brittle to my usual xmas baking. I tried out a couple recipes and read a couple books about candy making and finally came up with a recipe of my own that I think is really good. I call it “Georgia Brittle”:

2 cups white sugar, 1cup brown sugar, 1 cup corn syrup, 1/2 cup water. Bring this to a boil over medium heat, remove from heat stirring until you have a clear brown liquid. Add 2-3 tablespoons butter and return to heat. Boil again, until liquid reaches soft ball stage (forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water.) Add 2 cups nuts - I used a combination of chopped peanuts and pecans - and return to boil. Keep stirring occasionally while it boils, after several minutes it will stop steaming, turn darker, and you’ll smell the nuts toasting. Keep stirring and test a drop in cold water - it should be at the hard crack stage (hard ball of sugar) and remove from heat. Stir in a tsp. of vanilla and 2tps. of baking soda. The mixture will foam up, when it is uniform in color pour it out onto two sheets of parchment paper (half on each sheet) and smooth it out so it is a uniform thickness. Cool for about an hour, break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Here is a pic of my most recent batch cooling: