Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Candied Orange Peel

Candied peel is beautiful as a garnish on a traditional pound cake, Madeira cake or even chopped and sprinkled on cookies. Dip the peel in some dark chocolate and serve it as an after dinner sweet. 

Ingredients
2 oranges
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups or 310ml water
1/4 cup or 50g caster sugar, for sprinkling on before baking

Note: This recipe is from The Great British Bake Off’s first master class from season 6, as demonstrated by the great Mary Berry. The only change I have made is to switch out the lemon for two oranges. Mary made it to decorate her traditional Madeira cake

Method
Cut the oranges into eight or 16 slices each. Use a very sharp knife to carefully remove the flesh of the oranges and most of the white pith from the peel.

If you’ve cut them into eight, you might want to cut the peel again lengthwise to make narrower strips. (Mary didn’t actually say this but I could tell her strips were smaller than mine.)



Warm the water in a small pot over low heat and then add the sugar. Stir gently until all the sugar has dissolved.

Add the sliced peels and simmer over a low fire until lovely and shiny, about 30 minutes.



Preheat your oven to 100°F or 38°C.

Drain the peel well in a metal sieve or strainer.


The simmering syrup can be cooled and kept refrigerated in a clean jar to be used for glazing cakes or making cocktails.

Spread the peel out on baking sheet lined with baking parchment and sprinkle the pieces with the additional sugar.



Put the baking sheet in your preheated oven for one hour, or until the peels have dried out.

Candied peel should be hard and dry when done, making a satisfying "tink" when dropped on a plate.



And so says Mary Berry.



Enjoy!


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Spicy Georgia Sugared Peanuts #FoodieExtravaganza


Crunchy, sweet and spicy, these peanuts are easy to make and even easier to eat! 

Since March is National Peanut Month in the United States, this month’s Foodie Extravaganza ingredient is, of course, peanuts. And, yes, yes, I know we already did peanut butter last November. It’s not the same, people! Plus, one can never have too much peanut butter or too many peanuts. Especially these little sweet and spicy ones. I could not stop eating them. Then my husband came home and I offered him a taste. He said, and I quote, “You better close the container or I’ll just keep eating them.” They’d be perfect to put around in bowls at a party. They go especially nicely with a cold beer!

The original recipe is all over the internet because apparently Georgia Sugared Peanuts are a thing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Georgia has the largest production of all the peanut producing states, accounting for 46 percent of all US grown peanuts. According to the Georgia Peanut Commission, peanuts are a $2.0 billion industry in Georgia alone. So much for the idiom about working for peanuts!

The one change I made was to add a little cayenne into the mix, because just sweet is too sweet for us. We also need a little hit of heat.

Ingredients
2 cups or about 350g raw peanuts, shelled, with skins on
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml water
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat your oven to 300°F or 150°C.

In a medium size pot over medium heat, combine the sugar, salt and water and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Add in your peanuts and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the syrup is very thick.

Sprinkle in your cayenne pepper and stir well.

Continue cooking the peanuts until they are completely sugar coated and there is no syrup left.



Scoop the peanuts out onto an ungreased baking pan, spreading and separating the peanuts as much as possible.



Bake until the peanuts are completely dry, about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring at five minute intervals.



Allow to cool and then, enjoy!

A bowl for you and a bowl for me! 


Come celebrate National Peanut Month with us! Many thanks to this month's host, Alexis of We Like to Learn As We Go! 

Welcome to the March Foodie Extravaganza!  



Where we all share delicious recipes with the same main ingredient.
This month the ingredient is peanuts!  We have a great variety of yummy recipes from main dishes to desserts to share with you. If you would like to participate in the next Foodie Extravaganza, just go to the Facebook page to join. We would love to have you! 




American playwright Channing Pollock is quoted as saying, ""No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut." I say, "When you are blessed with a list of 11 lovely peanut recipes, courage is overrated."







Saturday, December 14, 2013

Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle

Peanut brittle is a classic homemade gift for the Christmas season. It’s one of those recipes where the ingredients become way greater than the sum of their parts. Who would think that sugar, syrup and peanuts could be transformed into something so divine?

Food Lust People Love: Who doesn't like to get a small box of homemade peanut brittle for Christmas?! This easy recipe for Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle makes one pound for giving away or eating by yourself. It can be easily doubled.


Earlier this year, in June to be exact, we drove from Houston to New Iberia, Louisiana to spend a couple of days with my grandmother. She was in a rehab center, working on getting strong enough to go home again, after surgery to repair her broken femur.

Just before we left, I called my Aunt Nonnie. What can we bring for Gram? Her answer was all candy:  Peanut brittle, licorice and orange slices.  Never mind that Gram had been diabetic for years, she loved her sweets. When you reach the ripe old age of 99, screw the diabetes!

So, off we went on a candy hunt.  My mother, an integral part of the search team, said that she always bought Gram a tin of peanut brittle from Costco, or maybe Sam’s, each Christmas because that’s the only time of the year it was available. I must admit I was shocked. I had no idea that peanut brittle was a Christmas-season-only thing!  I guess I’ve lived outside of the US for too long, in places where peanut brittle is never available. Sadly, she was right.

We brought Gram orange slices and licorice and substituted something else for the peanut brittle. But I always regretted that I couldn’t find any. As I said to Mom, if I had known ahead, I’d have made some. So, Gram, this batch is for you. I am imagining that your heaven includes a daily supply of peanut brittle but I still wanted to make you some.

Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle


Ingredients to make 1 lb+ or 475g of peanut brittle
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 60ml water
1 cup or 150g shelled raw peanuts
2 tablespoons butter plus more for greasing foil.
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method
Line a baking pan with foil and then butter the foil liberally.  Set aside.

Put the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt in a heavy 2-quart pot, and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.  Add in the peanuts and stir again.


If you have a candy thermometer, attach it to the pot now.  Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the thermometer reaches 300°F or 149°C or until a small amount dropped into a glass of very cold water turns into hard and brittle threads as it sinks.


Remove from heat and stir in the two tablespoons of butter and the baking soda.



Pour the now frothy mixture immediate into your prepared pan.

Food Lust People Love: Who doesn't like to get a small box of homemade peanut brittle for Christmas?! This easy recipe for Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle makes one pound for giving away or eating by yourself. It can be easily doubled.
My original instructions from Good Housekeeping suggested that I use two forks to stretch and spread the mixture in the pan but I found that jiggling the pan vigorously did the trick.

Food Lust People Love: Who doesn't like to get a small box of homemade peanut brittle for Christmas?! This easy recipe for Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle makes one pound for giving away or eating by yourself. It can be easily doubled.
See how it has spread almost to the corners now.


When the peanut brittle is cool enough to handle, use your hands to break the brittle into smaller pieces.  Share with someone you love.

Food Lust People Love: Who doesn't like to get a small box of homemade peanut brittle for Christmas?! This easy recipe for Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle makes one pound for giving away or eating by yourself. It can be easily doubled.
Enjoy!


Visit all the other Christmas Week Peeps for more Holiday Baking Goodness:

Pin Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle!

Food Lust People Love: Who doesn't like to get a small box of homemade peanut brittle for Christmas?! This easy recipe for Gram's Favorite Peanut Brittle makes one pound for giving away or eating by yourself. It can be easily doubled.
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