Christmas Craft #2

I’ve always shied away from candy-making. It seems to require special equipment and the instructions always warn you about how hot the stuff gets that it seemed borderline-scary to me. HOWEVER, my grandma told me how to make caramel corn in the microwave and I also recently acquired one of my husband’s family’s recipes for microwave peanut brittle…so I decided to give both a try this year. They turned out great! And it was so easy to do! Here are the recipes and instructions for packaging so you can give them to all your neighbors, the mail carrier, your dog’s groomer, your hairstylist, and whoever else you feel you should “tip” during the holidays.

Homemade Caramel Corn and Peanut Brittle Gift Boxes
Nap Rating = 1 nap (for each recipe)

Tools and Materials

• baking sheets
• 1 qt. glass measuring cup
• microwave
• brown paper bag (for caramel corn only)
• takeout containers
• white, full-sheet labels (I used Avery #8165 for ink jet printers)

Ingredients for Caramel Corn

• 1 c. unpopped corn
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/4 c. light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Steps

1. Place about 1 T. shortening (e.g. Crisco) in a pan on the stove and turn on medium-high heat. Pour unpopped corn into pan and put lid on. Shake around a little. When corn starts to pop, shimmy pan around quite a bit to prevent burning.
2. Pour popped corn into a brown paper bag.
3. Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in glass measuring cup and bring to a boil in the microwave (about 2 minutes).
4. Add baking soda and stir until foamy.
5. Pour contents onto corn, roll up bag and shake.
6. Microwave for 1 minute; shake.
7. Microwave for 30 seconds; shake.
8. Microwave for another 30 seconds; shake.
9. Spread on cookie sheet to cool.

This recipe freezes well if you choose to make it ahead of time and package it closer to the holidays.

Ingredients for Peanut Brittle

• 1 c. unsalted peanuts
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. light corn syrup
• 1 T. butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• pinch salt

Steps

1. Mix sugar, corn syrup and salt in glass measuring cup; microwave for 4 minutes.
2. Add peanuts and microwave for about 3 minutes more. Mixture should be bubbly and a light caramel color.
3. Quickly stir in butter and vanilla; microwave 2 minutes more.
4. Add baking soda and stir until foamy.
5. Pour onto GREASED cookie sheet and let cool.
6. When the candy has hardened, wrap a kitchen towel around a hammer and firmly crack candy with it. (You don’t have to go nuts here; it will break fairly easily, but if you hit it too hard it will splinter into pieces too little to enjoy.)

(Clean-up for both recipes looks impossible when the candy starts to harden, but never fear…hot, soapy water will dissolve the mess like magic. It’s just sugar after all!)

For containers, I just put some waxed paper into takeout containers and filled them up. I happened to find these Christmas-y containers in the dollar bins at Target, but you can find the plain white ones at any craft store. Those are classic, and look simple and festive with a label and some baker’s twine. You could even tie a candy cane on each one.