Almond brittle

*  2 Tablespoons unsalted butter and

*  1 Cup cane sugar

*  1 Cup whole almonds 

Ingredients ↑ are combined and heated stovetop to 300℉ / 150℃

Sugar hardball stage is listed variously as 250-300℉ / 120-150℃ .  This batch was taken to 350℉ / 175℃ whereupon the sugar turned excessively dark. Most people will not like this slightly burned taste, but I do. I recommend including at least 1/4 Cup up to 1/2 cup corn sugar to help the sugar caramelize evenly without seizing, going all grainy and difficult. I'm living dangerously over here and carelessly by cooking the butter and almonds together instead of melting the sugar first, then adding all other ingredients.  When the sugar caramelizes to your satisfaction then add:

* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Stir. I use a dinner knife to stir. The mixture foams dramatically and violently, and satisfyingly. Pour out the mixture onto a greased tray, kitchen parchment paper, or Silpat. Spread the mixture evenly as possible. As the mixture cools it will reach a stage were the edges can be pulled and the entire mass stretched. This stretching assists in developing the texture you are familiar with. Skipping this stretching results in an excessively dense product similar to glass. 

The mixture cools fairly quickly, you'll find it breaks into pieces within a few minutes. 

WARNING: Do not let any hot mixture touch your skin. It is much hotter than boiling water. It will stick on your skin and burn, much like napalm 877 'cept dif'ernt. 

Almond brittle

The only reason this is brittle is because it's frozen. Used too much honey. Well, I guess that taught me a lesson, eh?

I didn't want to use corn syrup so I used honey instead. The honey wouldn't come out of the little plastic bear fast enough so I heated it in the microwave, then it all poured out at once. I dumped the whole bear's worth, about one cup. That was too much. Half the bear would have done.

When I added the vanilla at the very end, POW! It nearly boiled right out of the pot. It was spattering like lava alarmingly. Quite dramatic.

But before all of that I roughly chopped the almonds and heated them in a separate pan. They were reserved in a bowl for the very end.

* 1 and 1/2 cups sugar

* 1/4 cup water

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 cup honey (I used 1 cup and that was too much)

Boil. Do not stir. Swirl if you must, but do not stir. If you over stir, everybody dies. No really, the sugar re-crystalizes and you end up with a mess and must start over.

* heat to 300℉ / 150℃ Here's where a thermometer is handy. Otherwise, candy makers use the soft-ball water test. They stick their finger a knife in the mixture then into a glass of water and test to see if the ball of sugar stays soft or turns hard. The color of the sugar is also a clue to doneness. Brown is nutty flavor, and very dark brown is a horrible disgusting burnt flavor. Plus, burning sugar makes the kitchen stink. So you have those clues working for you.

* 2 tablespoons butter

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

It foams when you add the baking powder. If you add a liquid, like I did with the vanilla, then it boils violently and immediately and threatens to overtake even a four quart or four liter pot.

Turned out onto a buttered pan or one covered with buttered aluminum foil. I used a Silpat. The foamy mixture is stretched using two forks as it cools. This gives a last chance to arrange the nuts on the tray as the mixture hardens.