It's a walnut brittle experiment gone bad. I have no tips for how to make a successful walnut brittle. But here is a list of things you can't do:
1) Don't change pots mid boil. Just pick the right size pot and then get out your next biggest one and use that.
2) Don't assume your candy thermometer is working incorrectly just because your mixture doesn't get hotter than 250 degrees in less than 15 minutes -- UNLESS you are confident in your ability to use the hard ball test using cold water.
3) After pouring and cooling your walnut/caramel mixture, don't think you can reheat it to correct temperature. The walnuts will sink to the bottom of the kettle, even with constant stirring. They will then begin to smoke. If this happens, find your youngest child and warn them that the smoke alarm will proceed to sound for about 10 minutes because the amount of smoke in your house will be so great you suspect an actual fire somewhere in or around your stove.
4) Don't bother to check for fire under the burner. It's probably coming from your kettle. Turn off the burner and use the actual recipe intended for peanut brittle next time.
5) Don't throw your walnut brittle away in a perfectly good shoe box. Use it to wrap Christmas presents (the box, NOT the brittle) or store toys. You can even use it for shoes.
6) Don't throw your box away in the trash can. This is my biggest regret so far. Put the lid on, wrap it up, and mail it to one of your friends.
3 comments:
I'm sorry it didn't work out as you expected, but I do appreciate the enumerated "what not to do" list. All of the actions listed sound like things I would actually do (or not do). Now I know.
See, some good came of it. =)
Oh Alice, that looks FREAKISHLY like chili. I am a little grossed out now.
And yeah, candy is challenging, isn't it?
I have since successfully made 2 batches of peanut brittle, fudge, hello dollies (and thrown out 2 batches of divinity). But I will not be overcome...
Post a Comment