Brittle Me This: An Easy, Edible Holiday Gift

On Monday, I presented you with the best peppermint bark on the planet (an edible holiday gift for my sis-in-law). Today, I'm sharing a peanut brittle recipe- which is THE preferred sweet treat for several of MY family members! I'm all about edible gifts; they don't cost a ton of money, they are made with love and they get gobbled up! What's more perfect than that?

On top of being a thoughtful gesture for loved ones, this edible gift is also simple to make! In fact, I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry!

To make your own peanut brittle at home, you will need:

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

1 cup peanuts

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon baking soda

Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside. (I would actually recommend wrapping a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and buttering the foil! You'll see why...)

In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water to a boil. 

Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then stir in the peanuts. Set a candy thermometer in place and continue cooking. 

Stir frequently until the temperature reaches 300 degrees F, or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads.

 

Remove from heat; immediately stir in the butter and baking soda and pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet without too much hesitation. 

With 2 forks, lift and the pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches. It hardens rapidly, so work quickly. 

Admire your handiwork for a moment. Isn't that PRETTY? Now allow your brittle to cool. I placed mine in the refrigerator. 

Now, if you are using a clear Pyrex pan like I did (foolishly!), go ahead and admire your brittle from below. Again, pretty; like edible stained glass.

This is about the time I realized I had no idea how I was going to get my brittle OUT of the pan! The directions I followed, simply said, "Let your brittle cool, and then snap the candy into pieces."

My high-rimmed Pyrex was doing me no favors here, and it took a heavy metal slotted spoon, my husband's brute force and one butter knife that is now "L-shaped" to free the brittle from the pan.

Once it was out though! 

Deeeeeeelicious! This brittle, in addition to the peppermint bark, was presented to the taste-tester in-laws who gobbled up my entire sample bag of peanut brittle, and gave it a hearty thumbs up. 

While I'm not a big brittle person myself, I was very pleased with the results!

A couple of things to note: If you want a nice stiff brittle, make yours on a low-humidity day. I made mine on a dry, winter afternoon, but I'd read a few sad stories online about limp brittle made on a rainy day.

And while looking for tips on extracting my brittle from a well-buttered pan, I also ran across more than one account of folks who had forgotten to grease their pan altogether... I'd like to remind you to butter your pan or foil-wrapped cookie sheet very, very well.

I hope that if you give this recipe a shot, you enjoy!

Making Snow Globes with Vinyl Toys

Confession: I'm a bit of a "collector." Fabric, cooking spices and plants all seem like practical items to collect. The tiny, vinyl toys from places like Kid Robot and My Plastic Heart etc. may appear to be slightly less practical... at least to my husband. To me, the toys are ways of purchasing little pieces of art from contemporary artists and designers. So when I got to thinking about making snow globes this year, it dawned on me that I would MUCH rather look at a glittery globe containing a plastic toy I LOVE, as opposed to some cheap little throw-away toy.

If you too are a collector of similar vinyl toys and are interested in making your own snow globes, you will need: 

Assorted Glitters (You can also use white egg-shell bits for larger "snow")

Marine-Grade Epoxy (At Hardware Stores)

Clean, Empty Jars (Labels & Glue Removed)

Glycerin (At Drug Stores)

Distilled Water (At Drug Stores)

Floral Clay (I bought mine on Amazon)

Assorted Finishing Tapes (I used Electrical- you can use Washi or Duct as well)

Yarn or Ribbon if Desired

A Dinner Plate

A Paper Plate 

Toothpicks

First, pick out jars that will fit your toys. I had a few toys I had intended on using, but ended up only selecting four due to the shapes and sizes of my jars. 

When you place your toy into the jar, you may notice that it's a bit shorter than you would like. I used some floral clay to build up the base of my snow globe and make my toy taller. 

 

While the tape may be slightly visible in the base of the globe, it bothered me less than having a snow globe that I couldn't fully see into. The floral clay is pliable, sticky and water-proof, so it shouldn't end up changing the color of your water, or falling apart within the jar.

Next, I grabbed a dinner plate, set my jar on it, and filled the jar to the very top with distilled water, adding a couple of drops of glycerin to make the glitter move a bit more slowly. I shook in about a teaspoon of glitter in a variety of colors. I then opened my marine grade epoxy, pushed the goo from both tubes out onto a paper plate and mixed it with a toothpick. I smeared the mixed epoxy around the lip of the jar, so that when I screwed on the lid, it would stay sealed. 

 

I carefully placed my toy (adhered to the jar lid) into the glitter-water of the jar. The displaced water dripped out onto the plate, but working slowly, I was able to keep as much water in the jar as possible- which ultimately produces fewer air bubbles in the snow globe. 

I screwed the lid on tightly and let the epoxy set. 

Next, I took my electrical tape and placed strips of the tape across the top of the lid and around the side to give it a more polished look and cover any labels or markings. 

When the globes were done, I sat back and admired them. Sassy little snow globes, I love you!

My finished globes contain toys from Tokidoki...

Frank Kozik... 

And a Super Mario Brothers magnet... 

As far as my husband is concerned, these snow globes take up just as much space as the vinyl toys did, but I think they are a cute, urban way to celebrate the holidays!

I love the idea of making your own snow globes and while some collectors may be gasping in horror that I've "ruined" my toys by putting them into water, I'm happy with my arty little snow globes. And I probably have duplicates of the toys I used in their boxes anyway! 

The Best Peppermint Bark Recipe Ever. Period.

Every year, right around this time, I manage to make a recipe that helps me completely undo any sort of diet or exercise that had been helping me stay somewhat slim for the holidays.  This year, I may abandon my running shoes altogether, sit down and eat this homemade peppermint bark every single day until I die. 

I made a double batch of peppermint bark over the weekend while thinking about edible gifts for my in-laws. One of my SIL's LOVES the William-Sonoma peppermint bark. She'll settle for Trader Joe's brand, but I really wanted to give her the quality of WS without the hefty price tag. 

 

I decided I needed to start by finding the best quality chocolate I could get my hands on. If I wanted quality bark, I needed quality chocolate. I went to a local restaurant supply store called Surfas, where I picked up a solid Callebaut Milk Chocolate brick (1 pound), Callebaut White Chocolate Discs (2-pounds), a container of crushed candy canes and a 4-ounce bottle of pure peppermint extract. Yes, I spent almost $30 on supplies alone. BUT, 3-pounds of the best chocolate ever will get you several batches of the BEST peppermint bark EVER, so stay with me on this. 

I started by chopping up my 1-pound block of milk chocolate into smaller, uniform pieces. I then put these pieces into a make-shift double-boiler (if you don't have a double boiler, just put a heavy pot of water on the stove and top it with a copper or stainless bowl.) As the chocolate melted from the heat of the steam below, I stirred constantly to ensure an even, silky melt.

 

When the chocolate was just melted, I poured it out onto a rimmed cookie sheet that I had lined with aluminum foil and two layers of wax paper. 

 

I tilted the cookie sheet around, to ensure that the milk chocolate had fully coated the bottom of my pan. When it looked like the chocolate had settled evenly, I placed the cookie sheet into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

As the milk chocolate layer hardened in the fridge, I washed my stainless bowl and began the double-boiler process all over again with the white chocolate discs. When the white chocolate was ALMOST completely smooth and melted, I took the milk chocolate pan out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. I'd read that any condensation might prevent the layers from adhering, but it was a VERY dry day when I was making my bark, so there was hardly any moisture in the air, or on my milk chocolate later. Then, I added one teaspoon of the peppermint extract to the melted white chocolate (still melting on the stove), gave it another few stirs, and poured the white chocolate directly on top of the solid milk chocolate layer. 

I swirled and tilted the cookie sheet again so that the white chocolate would cover the entire pan. Then, I sprinkled the full surface of the white chocolate with my store-bought candy cane pieces. You can of course just throw some candy canes in a bag and beat them with a rolling pin.

 

I placed the cookie sheet of milk and white chocolate back into the fridge for 20 minutes, and when the top layer had cooled completely, I lifted an edge of the aluminum foil, pulling the bark upward, while pressing down on the bark with a piece of wax paper and a good bit of pressure from my other hand. This broke up the bark nicely. 

The peppermint bark smelled amazing; cool, chocolaty, and oh so minty. I had to try a piece immediately. And another, and another, and another. Each bite was more divine than the last. 

I brought a generous-sized container over to my Sister-in-Law and her family to sample and they RAVED over this peppermint bark. Mind you, they are tough critics, but not a single piece was left untouched. Children were fighting over the last minty crumbs, adults were distracting children to sneak one last nibble... it was blissful, chocolate-coated anarchy. 

We all agreed that using the "good stuff" was a good move. And while I doubt that the 3 containers of peppermint bark I currently have in my refrigerator will last until Christmas, I guarantee that I will make this recipe again, and again, and again.... 

Inspired by Blobs: A New Favorite Etsy Store

I've enjoyed posting etsy treasuries here on the blog each Friday, but today one of *my* etsy items was featured in a treasury that that introduced me to a shop I immediately fell in love with. Rather than creating an entire treasury, I had to share a few of my favorite pieces from Blobhouse. They are just that adorable.  All of these little guys are on my Christmas list by the way... just in case Santa is reading!

Hope you enjoy!


xoxo
radmegan