Microwave Nut Brittle

[Darienne]

OK. Don't despise me for being lazy and taking the easy way out. I have agreed to make Christmas gifts for the local Humane Society staff to hand out to their volunteers. Thirty to be exact. Half-pound boxes of Nut Brittle. Fifteen pounds. By next Friday. Along with the rest of my chaotic life. Like teaching a professional fudge maker how to make Enstrom type toffee at 11 today. (Just finished making several dozen lollipops for their Dog Adoption Day today.)

I have a new recipe from a class I took last month: New Delhi Fragrant Indian Brittle which calls for honey and cardamom. And I have an old Microwave Peanut Brittle Recipe and a brand new 1000 watt microwave and some questions.

1. My microwave is BRAND NEW and 1000 watts. This is an old recipe. I

think I ought to use Power level 8. My first batch of lollipops I did at top power and they were slightly burned. The rest I did at 9. But I feel I could have gone to 8.

2. My 'fancy' recipe calls for cardamom. I am thinking about when to add it. With the nuts? That is still cooked in, but not risking burning?

53 The 'fancy' recipe calls for 1/4 cup corn syrup & 1/4 cup HONEY. The old recipe calls for 1/2 cup corn syrup only. What do you think? Well, I can try it with the honey

and see if it works. Seems like the probable answer.

Any advice is welcomed. Thanks.

[ScoopKW]

A pot. A stove. A candy thermometer.

Why mess with the tried and true?

I dislike Chef Mike for everything except reheating leftovers, and speeding along a baked potato.

[Lisa Shock]

I have to agree. You can have more control with a pot on the stovetop, and make larger batches.

I usually add raw nuts when the temp gets to about 140°F. I'd add the cardamom right before shocking the pan.

[LovesGenoise]

I made nougatine with honey once, and it was very, very sticky- not sure if your "fancy" recipe has other ingredients that might offset that tendency.

l also frequently choose to do caramel in the microwave. It seems to tempting and easy- and it is easy- but I'd say maybe one time in four I end up going darker with the caramel than I had intended- it happens in a flash.

Good luck with that large quantity of brittle! Sending efficient thoughts your way.

[Darienne]

I made nougatine with honey once, and it was very, very sticky- not sure if your "fancy" recipe has other ingredients that might offset that tendency.

l also frequently choose to do caramel in the microwave. It seems to tempting and easy- and it is easy- but I'd say maybe one time in four I end up going darker with the caramel than I had intended- it happens in a flash.

Good luck with that large quantity of brittle! Sending efficient thoughts your way.

Thanks for the info and the thoughts. Your one in four times might be because your microwave is too hot from the previous batches. This I learned from my confectionery partner back home. She make oodles of microwave peanut brittle every year and says it's two batches on and then wait till the microwave cools.

I think I'll just skip the honey. Not a time for experimentation right now. Thanks.

[Darienne]

Thinking it over from a quiet perspective, I realize that ScoopW and Lisa Shock were on the mark. It would have been less work simply to make larger batches on the stove than smaller in the microwave. However, that would have necessitated somewhere to spread the brittle out and this I do not have away from home.

I'm now making on the stove arger batches of Buttercrunch toffee...2.75 finished product per batch...and completed two batches lickety-split. Each batch spreads to only one half-sheet and this I can accommodate. Still next time, I'll bring a second sheet with me if I plan to make lots of brittle.

[Tri2Cook]

I've used a 1/2 maple syrup, 1/2 glucose mixture in a pecan brittle without problems. I've never tried honey in brittle but I subbed a honey/glucose mixture for the usual glucose/corn syrup in a marshmallow recipe. I was doing a honey lemon marshmallow and it worked perfectly. No difference between it and the others I made besides flavor.

[Darienne]

I've used a 1/2 maple syrup, 1/2 glucose mixture in a pecan brittle without problems. I've never tried honey in brittle but I subbed a honey/glucose mixture for the usual glucose/corn syrup in a marshmallow recipe. I was doing a honey lemon marshmallow and it worked perfectly. No difference between it and the others I made besides flavor.

Sounds like something to try soon. I get a bit unhinged by trying new things under deadlines.