Sunday, November 4, 2012

Almond Brittle

Well, I cannot believe it has been nearly 2 months since I have posted. What a slacker I am. With that said, let's move on to some delicious new dishes I have found, made and eaten. This next dish is most definitely not thee healthiest ones to eat, but we all have a little vice stashed away somewhere. And with the holidays right around the corner, I found this to be the perfect dish to be able to put in the food baskets I make for the adults in our families.

You see, I do not buy gifts for the adults any longer. And for many reasons. I do not know your color  style, size and many more things that go into choosing a gift for someone. If you get it wrong, then it is a gift that has been wasted. However, food is never wasted and moreso that has been made from scratch, which is exactly what my food is. No boxed crap here. (Because we all know that 99% of things in a box are highly processed)

I have found, quite by accident, this lovely little Indian woman who makes these cute and very understandable videos about her dishes.Her place is called, Manjula's Kitchen Now, some of them are not for me, but oh so many of them are. She makes it simple to follow and understand. there are no complicated recipes and thee only odd thing about them are the Indian spices that many of us may not have in our pantry. May I make a suggestion. GET THEM IN YOUR PANTRY.

When you begin cooking outside our familiar 'American' style dishes, and begin cooking with any ethnic dishes, your palette will thank for your decision making in exploring new dishes. Now, let's get on to this lovely little gem of a dessert that my son swears tastes just like Cracker Jack. And oddly enough...it does.

2 T vegan butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/8 t salt
1 T toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
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Grease an 8x10 cookie sheet, or any size you feel necessary. Remember, you will need room for this dish to spread out.

In a heavy bottom (this is important) sauce pan melt the butter along with the sugar and salt. now, here comes an extremely important part of the recipe.You need to stir this concoction all the time. This is definitely not something that you can walk away form, because in a matter of seconds, you can scorch the sugar and the dish will have been ruined.

As the sugar begins to melt, you will notice a color change in the sugar, it will eventually get to the point where it is a delightful golden brown. Now, not only does the color have to change, but the sugar needs to be in a liquefied state. The minute that happens, you need to add your sesame seeds and almonds.

Immediately take your saucepan and pour the mixture onto the cookie sheet. A small mistake I made was that I had over-greased my pan. It was not a bad thing, just that the brittle itself was a touch greasy when you picked it up.. so just remember to use a light touch when greasing your pan. And I used coconut oil for my grease.

Once you have poured your mixture, you will need to move rather quickly in spreading it out. Make it as thin as you want, but remember, the thinner you lay it the quicker it will dry. This dish only takes about 10-15 minutes to cool down enough to be able to break off into pieces. This amazed me. I thought Manjula was kidding...she was not.

This was a huge hit in my house. And it is something that will now be in my holiday goody bags for the holiday season. This will definitely bring back some memories. And as always, make...eat...enjoy!