Honey Walnut Brittle

This microwave recipe for Honey Walnut Brittle is super easy and quick, yet delightfully buttery, nutty and delicious. I think Gram would approve.

There was really nothing my grandmother liked more than a good old-fashioned peanut brittle so occasionally I used to make or buy her some. She wasn’t really supposed to be eating candy because of her diabetes but, hey, the occasionally treat didn’t kill her. 

In fact, she lived to the impressive age of 99 1/2 years old. When she passed away in July of 2013, we already had a big shindig planned for December to celebrate her 100th birthday. Truly, we expected her to live even longer than that.

Though a child of the early 1900s who rode a horse and buggy to school every day, she eagerly embraced cooking breakthroughs like the microwave and canned "cream of" soup. Her favorite cooking appliance was a little toaster oven. She made all sorts in that thing, from biscuits to baked chicken thighs and mini pizzas. 

As I stirred this microwave brittle, I thought of Gram and how much she would have enjoyed both eating it and how easy it is to make.  

Honey Walnut Brittle

You need a large microwaveable bowl for this recipe! When it boils in the microwave and again when the baking soda is added at the end, the mixture foams up and will overflow a small bowl. This recipe is adapted from one on All Recipes.

Ingredients

1 cup or 200g sugar

½ cup or 120ml honey

1 cup or 100g chopped walnuts 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the foil

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon baking soda

Method

Line a large baking sheet with foil and grease it well with butter.

Mix the sugar and honey together in a large microwave-safe glass bowl. 

Place in the microwave and cook on high for 1 minute. 

Stir, and cook 1 minute more. 

Stir mixture again, and cook until mixture boils and the sugar is completely dissolved, an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. I watched through the microwave door and mine started to bubble up at about 45 seconds. 

Fold the walnuts into the sugar/honey mixture. 

Heat in the microwave another 3 minutes, stirring between each minute. (I took photos all along the way but do you truly need to see them all? I'm guessing not.) The bowl will be hot so use mitts to protect your hands. 

Stir in the butter, salt and vanilla extract. 

Microwave until mixture is caramel in color, an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

Carefully remove the hot bowl from microwave, and quickly stir in baking soda until fully incorporated. This will foam up!

Immediately pour the mixture onto your buttered foil-lined pan. 

Allow to cool until the brittle is set, about 15 minutes in a cool kitchen. It could take longer in a warm place. In hot Texas, I popped mine in the refrigerator when I got impatient. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 23th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter W. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the W recipes below:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Whole Wheat Waffles 
• Culinary Cam: Roasted Watermelon Radish with Maple-Kissed Tahini Sauce 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Homemade Wonton Soup 
• Blogghetti: Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup 
• Food Lust People Love: Honey Walnut Brittle 
• A Messy Kitchen: Whiskey Sriracha Caramel Corn 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Cheesy Wafer Pav 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Salted Caramel Whiskey Espresso Cocktail 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Walnut Chocolate Tartlets
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Whiskey-Soaked Raisin Baked Stove Top Stuffing

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs 

P. Homemade Piri Piri Sauce 

Q, Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread 

R. Leek and Lobster Mushroom Risotto 

S. Cheesy Sausage and Egg Casserole 

T. Stuffed Turkey Cutlets 

U. Spicy Urad Dal -

V. Spicy Vinegar Braised Chicken 

W. Honey Walnut Brittle - this post!

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Blueberry Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

I’ve undoubtedly mentioned this before but every day my husband gets an email from NYT Cooking with descriptions of dishes and links to the recipes online. And every day, he forwards those emails to me. Once in a blue moon, he actually mentions a recipe he thinks one of us should make. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was a version of these blueberry cornbread muffins. As Muffin Monday was coming up (end of the month sneaks up on me regularly) I was happy to oblige. I scoffed at the one commenter who said that just lemon zest was too much lemon and upped the ante by adding lemon juice as well. 

It was a good decision. In my opinion, lemons are life. You can never add too much lemon! 

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. Sadly, it's behind a firewall but I included the link so at least subscribers can access it. (Or people who have turned off Javascript for the site.)

Ingredients

Zest from 1 lemon

Juice from 1/2 lemon

< 1 cup or 240ml milk, poured into the measuring cup after the lemon juice up to the 1 cup mark (See method.)

1 cup or 155g grams fine-grain yellow cornmeal

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

½ cup, packed, or 100g brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for greasing pan

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 cups or 280g fresh blueberries, plus extra for garnish

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Zest the lemon into the dry ingredient bowl and stir. 

Use a reamer to juice the lemon into a measuring vessel. Remove any seeds and discard. Add milk up to the 1 cup or 240ml mark. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk and egg until well combined. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. 

Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. This gives the cornmeal time to hydrate.

While the batter rests, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it generously with butter.

Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. 

Top with a few more blueberries, if desired.

Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month aka Muffin Monday and the literal last day of the month. Those two days don’t often coincide! Can you believe it’s already October tomorrow? Check out the great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing below. 

• Banana Avocado Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Blueberry Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Caramel Apple Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Molasses Bran Muffins with Cherries from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Jersey Slow Cooker Beans

The perfect dish for a leftover ham bone or pork knuckle, Jersey slow cooker beans are a traditional meal in the Channel Islands, baked in a bean crock. 

Given the many, many vintage bean crocks I see on the shelves of charity shops here on the island of Jersey, not many families are using those to cook the Jersey bean mix still found in grocery stores. I can only assume that they are using slow cookers or perhaps even pressure cookers. 

Back in the olden days, the Jersey bean crock was filled at home and baked overnight in a nearby baker’s oven as it cooled down, since homes didn’t have modern ovens as we do now. 

Most recipes online agree that a mix of beans is essential, as is some type of pork and/or beef. These days, the meat tends to be pork belly, pork knuckle or ham but years ago, it was pig’s trotters, that is to say, feet and beef shin. For my money, something on a bone adds the most flavor, hence my use of pork knuckle or ham.

Cheap cuts of meat add a lot of flavor and, of course, beans are fairly inexpensive as well, making Jersey slow cooker beans a filling meal for farmers and townies alike. 

Fun fact: People native to the island of Jersey are known as “Jersey beans” because of this ubiquitous traditional dish! Once upon a time it was pejorative but now they’ve embraced the nickname and use it proudly. 

Jersey Slow Cooker Beans

The traditional mix includes at least six different kinds of beans, including the most enormous butter beans I’ve ever seen. Check out my photo of the beans below but you can use whatever mix of beans you have on hand. One old article I read said that Jersey bean crock was a great way to use up the leftover odds and ends of your bean supply.

Ingredients

1 pork knuckle or ham bone, with some good meat still on

1.1 lb or 500g mixed dried beans

1 medium carrot

1 medium onion

2 stock cubes (preferably ham, if you can find it, but chicken or vegetable will work)

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

If you have time or have planned ahead, you can soak the beans overnight in cool water. If, like me, you are slow off the mark when meal planning, boil a full kettle of water and pour it over the beans in a heatproof bowl. 

Cover the bowl with a plate and set a timer for one hour. 

When the hour is up, if using the quick soak method, or the next day, if soaking overnight, pour off the water and rinse the beans in cool water. 

Peel and chop your carrot and onion. 

Add the beans to the slow cooker, along with your pork knuckle or ham bone. 

Tip in the chopped carrot and onion. Pour in water to cover everything. Rather than add salt, I like to use stock cubes which add salt AND flavor. Add those in now. 

Cook on high for 6-7 hours.

When the beans are tender, transfer the pork to a plate with a slotted spoon. Discard bones, cartilage and gristle and return the meat to the bean pot. Season the mixture to taste with fine sea salt and black pepper. 

Serve, as is traditional, with crusty bread. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing slow cooker recipes. For some of us, it’s still too warm in our kitchens to turn on the stove and for others, the cooler weather of autumn is upon us and we need warming dishes. Slow cookers are great for both needs. Check out the links below.

• Beef Tips with Gravy in the Slow Cooker from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crockpot Mexican-Style Shredded Beef from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Jersey Slow Cooker Beans from Food Lust People Love
• Slow Cooker Beef and Potato Stew from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings from Our Good Life
• Slow Cooker Salted Caramel Apple Cider from Palatable Pastime

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw

A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

I am not a fan of gloopy mayo heavy coleslaw so I used to make one that was more like cabbage with vinaigrette dressing until it occurred to me that I could add some mayonnaise and have the best of both worlds.  

In my recipe files, I’ve been calling this New Year’s Day Coleslaw for years because it’s the one I always make when you gotta eat cabbage for money and black-eyed peas for luck. But a couple of years ago, when my younger daughter Cecilie asked me for it, I had to send her a Word file which made me I realized that I had never shared it here.

With this third installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024 being brought to you by the letter C, it seemed like the perfect time. And, in honor of her love of this salad, it seemed appropriate to rename it Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw. 

Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw

Don’t get too caught up on the size of your onion or cabbage. This is one of those salads, like most salads, where some more or a little less really doesn’t make a difference. 

Ingredients

1 small hot red chili pepper

1/2 small purple onion

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

1 small cabbage or half a larger one

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Freshly ground black pepper 

Method

Finely mince the chili pepper and slice the purple onion as thinly as you can. 

Put both in a large salad bowl with the vinegar. 

Stir well and leave to macerate for at least five minutes. This helps mellow the sharpness of the onion while also making sure that the chili pepper flavor and heat will be well distributed throughout the coleslaw. 

Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can, removing the hard stems and any tough ribs as you go.

Add the mayonnaise to the onion bowl and stir well. 

Now we are talking a nice, spicy not too mayo-heavy dressing! 

Add the sliced cabbage to the bowl and stir well/toss to coat it with the dressing. 

Add a few good grinds of black pepper and toss again. 

This coleslaw can be eaten immediately but it also keeps well and tastes even better if left for at least 30 minutes. If you are not eating it within 30 minutes, do cover the coleslaw and refrigerate it because of the mayonnaise. I actually like it better chilled but you do you.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s time for our Alphabet Challenge and today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter C. Many thanks to our organizer, my dear friend and fellow blogger, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the C recipes below: 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken Pastina Soup 
• Palatable Pastime: Caldo Gallego Cubano 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Carnivore Meatzza 
• Food Lust People Love: Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw 
• Culinary Cam: Crab-Stuffed Ravioli 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cheesy Burger Buns 
• Sizzling Tastebuds: Classic Chickpea Hummus 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Cherry Chocolate Chip Waffles with Cherry Syrup 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle 
• Blogghetti: Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Dove Dark Chocolate Chunk Cakey Muffins 
• Magical Ingredients: Chocolate Cashew Coconut Caramel Stuffed Paratha

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw - this post!

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Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce

Gooey, sweet and sticky, this banana pecan caramel sauce is perfection over ice cream, brownies or baked apples. Or you can just eat it with a spoon. You won’t get any judgment from me. Seriously, it’s that good. 

I am not a big sweet eater but I do have a fondness for caramel. The caramelization of sugar adds a welcome slight bitterness that I find very appealing and I know I’m not alone in that. Some of the most popular candies in the world have caramel as an element. Think Snickers, Milky Way and Twix to name just three.

As a kid, my movie candy of choice was always a big box of Milk Duds and I loved Sugar Daddys which were basically a solid rectangle of caramel on a stick. Those would pull your fillings out if you weren’t careful! Totally worth the risk. 

If you feel the same way as I do about caramel, you are going to love this sauce. 

Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce

This recipe makes a little more than two cups of sauce. Because of the bananas, I recommend you store any leftovers in a refrigerator, which means it will turn solid but spoon-able. Gently rewarm it back to sauce consistency before using. This recipe is adapted from one on Marsha’s Baking Addiction.

Ingredients

1 cup or 240ml water

2 cups or 400g sugar

1/2 cup or 57g chopped pecans

2 medium bananas (about 180g), pureed until smooth

1/2 cup or 120ml heavy cream, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the water and sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.

Turn the heat down to medium and allow the mixture to come to a light amber color without stirring. 

Instead, swirl the pan around occasionally to make sure the mixture caramelizes evenly. (This can take a while. Be patient, and don't be tempted to turn up the heat!)

Remove the pan from the heat, and add in the chopped pecans. Stir well.

 Add in the pureed banana. Stir constantly until combined and the bubbling has stopped.

Place back on the heat, and keep stirring until the mixture becomes a deep, rich amber color.

Remove from the heat and gradually pour in the heavy cream, stirring constantly until combined. The sauce might sugar up at this point if your cream isn't room temperature but just keep stirring and all will be well, as the sugar melts again and it turns back into a sauce. 

Take the pot off of the stove and stir in the vanilla.

Pour the caramel into a heat-proof jar and allow to cool completely before using. Serve over ice cream or even spread on toast or pancakes. 

Or eat it with a spoon. 

Again, no judgment from me.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and my blogger friends and I are celebrating National Banana Lover’s Day, which is today! How will you celebrate? We’ve got a list of great recipes you might like to try. Check them out below: 

• Banana Chip Cookies with Melted Caramel from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Banana Mousse from Culinary Cam
• Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce from Food Lust People Love
• Banana Zucchini Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Coated Banana from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread from Cook with Renu
• Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Pretzel Bites from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Sourdough Banana Appe from Sneha’s Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce!

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