Saturday, December 15, 2007

Peanut brittle and other homemade gifts

We received a Christmas package from Michael's parents yesterday, and when I opened it today to move the presents into our present storage place (aka my closet)*, I discovered a bag of homemade peanut brittle. Yum! I am trying really hard to not eat it all before Michael and the big kids get back from skiing.

Seeing the peanut brittle reminded me of the Christmas I decided I would make Dad some peanut brittle for Christmas. It would have that homemade touch and be a nice change from the usual coffee mug or pair of wool socks. I was in high school, or perhaps college, but I really didn't have much experience in the kitchen and had never made candy before. Mom offered to help. Alas, not even her skill could make up for my lack of it.

I'm still not sure exactly what went wrong, but when the dust had settled we ended up throwing out the pan and wooden spoon, after determining that no, we weren't ever going to be able to scrub the hardened candy mixture off them. I believe Dad got a box of store-bought peanut brittle that year.

Of course, at least he got something. I still owe Kristi a scarf from the year her present didn't quite get finished.

* We can't leave wrapped presents out in the open because LW will unwrap them for us.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

* We can't leave wrapped presents out in the open because LW will unwrap them for us.

That's almost exactly what I was thinking when I came home to discover a third of a bag of peanut brittle that my mom had sent. ;)

Michael

Anonymous said...

I hadn't thought about that candy making experience for a long time, but just this week I was relating it to a friend. I didn't relate as many of the details, because those escaped me. I just remembered that the peanut brittle turned out less than perfect. Your Dad recalled it as "being good!":)

Anonymous said...

Kids loved the peanut brittle, too. Had to hurry to get my share.

Snooze you lose around here. :)

M