brittle

Honeycomb Sesame Seed Brittle

September 19, 2011 | 24 Comments

I really like board games. Does this make me a dork? I’m thinking yes.

The thing is, if loving board games is wrong, I’m not so sure I want to be right.

Bring me your Yahtzees, Parcheesis, Strategos and Battleships. Oh, sweet Battleship.

D2. D3. D4. D5.

I just sunk your battleship.

An important factor in successful board game play is the food that you choose to fuel your victory.

Candy is one of my favored options.

But I will admit that I don’t care for store-bought saccharined out candy.

No, after the Great Jolly Rancher Phase of 1992, my taste buds converted to rustic, homemade candies. They are so much more fresh and flavorful. Just like this brittle.

You may be asking yourself what sesame seeds have to do with southwestern cuisine – they’re actually often used as thickening agents in moles and other sauces.

I like the flavor of sesame because it’s subtle, and I like the crunch of the seeds.

What better way to punch up some brittle candy?

Filed Under: Candies Tagged With: agave nectar, baking soda, brittle, candy, corn syrup, ginger, honeycomb, recipe, sesame seed, sweet

Candied Peanut Brittle

July 5, 2011 | 28 Comments

Candy is a good thing to have hanging around. So are culinary heroes.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to convince my personal heroes to pitch a pup tent in my kitchen, so I make do by gluing their books to my countertop and referring to them early and often.

This is my copy of The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy.

A. bought me these special sticky placeholders because I kept tearing up magazines, mail and tissues to mark pages. There’s a lot of placeholding to be done when I read any of Diana Kennedy’s books and our floors were starting to look like the morning after a confetti-riddled New Year’s Eve party.

The thing is that I absolutely relate not only to Ms. Kennedy’s cooking, but also to her story of moving to Mexico to follow her husband and falling in love with the local cuisine.