Recipe Box: Peanut Brittle

Making peanut brittle for the first time can be very frustrating. My first try a few years ago took 3 batches before it even began to resemble brittle. My biggest mistake was under-cooking for fear of burning, resulting in a chewy, salty mess that never reached the deep caramel color and flavor brittle should have. If you're going to make brittle, go balls-out. Don't fear the brittle.


Shirley's Peanut Brittle - Makes a little over 1 lb


Ingredients

• Vegetable oil spray
• 4 oz unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 10 oz dry roasted, lightly salted peanuts or mixed nuts (depending on the saltiness of the peanuts you get, adjust the added salt)

Method

1. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with oil. A silicone mat works, too.  Don't use a wax or paper liner of any kind. You need the surface to be about 10" x 15" with edges to help scrape extra peanuts off your spoon. Prepare all your ingredients now. There won't be time to measure later. Mix the salt and baking soda together in the same bowl and set aside with the rest of the ingredients.
2. Melt butter over very low heat in a large-bottomed, metal saucepan. Do not use a nonstick pan. Add sugar, corn syrup and water. Mix until all the sugar is wet.
3. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently with a whisk to prevent burning or boil-over. Once the mixture starts to bubble and rise, whisk constantly. Continue until mixture turns a deep golden brown, the color you expect the brittle to be.
4. Immediately remove from heat and whisk in baking soda/salt blend.
5. Switch to a wooden or metal spoon and fold in the peanuts. Work quickly, as the mixture will seize within 1-2 minutes. Pour onto the sheet pan or silicone mat and spread out as evenly as possible with the spoon.
6. Let the sheet pan of brittle cool completely, about half an hour to an hour, before breaking apart by hand or with a blunt object.

Clean up: Immediately drop empty saucepan, used spoon and whisk under screaming hot water. Continue running water over it until the hard brittle remnants melt away. Use a scrubbing sponge to help the process, just don't burn yourself. 


Happy cooking!

Holiday Food Gifts!

It's that time of year again! I've made my various lists and my friends are (hopefully) getting ready for some delicious holiday treats to arrive in their mailboxes!

A few years ago, we started the tradition of sending food to most of our Christmas gift list. Some people are notoriously difficult to shop for and some people just live far enough away that paying shipping seems like a HUGE waste of money. Besides, I refuse to pay shipping for anything. It's entirely too easy to find free shipping online these days to waste the $5-$6... Lord help you if you try to charge me upwards of $10! To be honest, though, our main reason to start the food gift tradition was that we were relatively poor college students. Food shows you care, while not causing a drastic hit to your wallet. If I buy a friend anything less than $20 I seem cheap, but if I make them something delicious, they'll know I care.

Here's the best part; After that first year we realized that people LOVED our food gifts. We got tons of thank-yous and even a request for more the next year, so it became a tradition. It shouldn't be surprising... I mean, who doesn't love delicious treats that magically arrive at your door?

Tips

A few key things I follow when choosing food gifts:

1. Don't pick anything too difficult. You'll be making several batches of these and if it takes you a week of baking in the evening, the first batch will be stale before you get them to the post office.
2. Choose a mix of items rather than just one and remember that there is only so much that fits in flat rate boxes. You only need to include a few of each treat. If you don't have to mail them, then you can include as much as you like in a gift bag, but it really isn't necessary.
3. Choose 2-3 simple items and one impressive item. Still stick to something simple, but not every piece has to have that "wow" factor. It just needs to be delicious. A phenomenal chocolate chip cookie beats some super-fancy layer cake with tons of decor any day. Another bonus is that if your impressive items turns out terribly wrong, you know you can fall back on more of the simple stuff!
4. People love classics. If it reminds you of childhood and home memories, your friends will feel the love in your cooking.
5. Choose things that SHIP WELL! No cakes. No cupcakes with frosting.

Ideas

Here are some of our favorite and most popular food gifts.

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Peanut brittle
• Biscotti (try a duo of flavors, I've made almond, cinnamon, pumpkin and chocolate)
• Polvorones (simple Puerto Rican butter cookie)

This year's selection will include:

• Peanut brittle (if I don't send this, there will be a riot)
• Lemon drop cookies dipped in white chocolate and nonpareils (sprinkles, why not?)
• Homemade peppermint marshmallows with crushed candy cane decoration

... assuming they all work out. Always have a backup plan!


Planning

You definitely don't want to jump head first into this without a plan. I start by making a list of everyone I'm doing food gifts for instead of other gifts. This usually includes anyone I have to ship to, anyone I have no clue what to buy for, sometimes coworkers, sometimes family even if I plan to buy them something else - it's nice to use bags of treats to fill out a gift bag in place of tissue paper.

After I make my list, I note who will be shipped and who I will hand the gift to. This tells me how many gift bags or flat rate boxes to buy.

Then, I list about how much of each item will fill the boxes. Multiply by number of people and there is my total of cookies/brittle/whatever I need to make.

The final and most important step is to get your recipes in order. How many batches do I need to have enough for everyone? Scale up your recipes to match and make your grocery list based on that.

It seems like a lot, but you'll be done in 15 minutes, I swear (assuming you followed my advice and didn't go with a crazy recipe). Oh, and don't worry about making a recipe you've never made before. Just make a smaller batch first and then adjust and go from there. Nothing is worse than the wasted effort on making a ton of something terrible. Just make a little of something terrible, then it's called a "learning experience" rather than a "massive failure."


Okay, people! I'm off to spread some butter under my eyes like a football player. Game on!


Happy cookies... I mean cooking!

Recipe Box: Potato Gratin with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Here is one my favorite find from Thanksgiving this year! I got it from the November 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, which is actually a very useful (and cheap!) magazine for foodies.

This recipe is a creamy, cheesy side with a deep rustic flavor from the baby bella (cremini) and shiitake mushrooms. Read about Brave New Kitchen's first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner (and special tips on this recipe) here!

Potato Gratin with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Prep: 1 hour
Total: 2 hours
Feeds: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups finely chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only, about 3 leeks, wash after chopping)
1 1/2 lb assorted mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (such as cremini and shiitake)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 lb yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp or more of salt
1/2 tsp or more ground black pepper
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add leeks, saute until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Add mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until soft and liquid evaporates, 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.  

[BNK reminder: Always taste for seasoning along the way. If one of your components doesn't taste good, how will your whole dish taste?]

DO AHEAD: All steps above can be done 4 hours in advance. Let stand at room temperature.

[BNK tip: Keep potatoes in a bowl of cool water so they don't turn brown.]

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Pat potato slices dry with kitchen towel. Combine cream, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a large pot. Add potatoes. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer covered about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid. Simmer until cream is reduced by about half and potatoes are partially cooked, stirring often and watching closely to prevent burning, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Brush 13x9x2-inch (roughly) glass or ceramic baking dish with oil. Transfer half of potato mixture to dish, spreading out in an even layer. Spoon mushroom mixture over in even layer. Spoon remaining potato mixture over, spreading in an even layer. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with foil, tenting in the center to prevent cheeses from sticking to the foil. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 20-25 minutes until potatoes are tender and top is brown. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

[BNK notes: This recipe reheats well, so don't worry if you have fewer to feed than 8. It also hold its form pretty well, so you down have the sloppy-lasagna look going on.]

Happy cooking!