Peanut Brittle

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                            FOOD FUNNY
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Thanks again to Rosemary Zwick for today's Food Funny.

A kind-hearted fellow was walking through Central Park in New
York and was astonished to see an old man, fishing rod in hand,
fishing over a beautiful bed of lilies. "Tsk tsk," said the passerby
to himself. "What a sad sight. That poor old man is fishing over
a bed of flowers. I'll see if I can help."

So the kind fellow walked up to the old man and asked, "What
are you doing, my friend?"

"Fishin', sir."

"Fishin', eh? Well, how would you like to come have a drink with
me?" The old man stood, put his rod away and followed the kind
stranger to the corner bar. He ordered a large glass of beer and
a fine cigar. His host, the kind fellow, felt good about helping the
old man, and he asked, "Tell me, old friend, how many did you
catch this morning?"

The old fellow took a long drag on the cigar, blew a careful smoke
ring and replied, "You're the sixth today."

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                            TODAY'S RECIPE
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Making peanut brittle the old-fashioned way takes a little finesse,
but this microwave method is quick, easy, and darned near foolproof.

Peanut Brittle

1 cup (250 ml) sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) light corn syrup (golden syrup)
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) raw peanuts, blanched or unblanched
Vegetable oil for greasing the baking sheet

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a microwave-safe
bowl and cook uncovered at 100% power for 3 minutes. Stir
thoroughly, add the peanuts, and stir again. Cover with microwave-
safe plastic wrap and cook at 100% power for 15 minutes. Lightly
coat a spatula and large baking sheet with vegetable oil. Remove
the syrup from the oven, remove the cover carefully, and pour
onto the greased baking sheet. Please be extremely careful - the
sugar is very hot. Spread the mixture with the greased spatula,
distributing the peanuts as evenly as possible in the molten sugar.
Let cool to room temperature before breaking into chunks with a
meat pounder or heavy rolling pin.
Makes about 1 1/2 lbs (675 g).
Received on Fri Nov 12 06:19:48 2010