#53 Peanut Brittle

When I was six or seven years old my grandma (on my dad's side) came all the way from Utah to visit and she brought a friend. The friend she brought with her ( a woman whose proper name is completely botched in my 7 year old memories) was completely obsessed with making peanut brittle. They stayed with us an entire week and I don't remember a single time out of those seven nights where she wasn't either standing over a stove stirring, or sitting cross legged in the floor eating, peanut brittle and I loved it. It was a complete novelty to me, I'd never even heard of peanut brittle, and I certainly had no idea you could make candy at home! Who knew?! The only thing I was sure of what that it was sinfully delicious. All that lovely golden corn syrup, and a salty crunch! Mmm mmm!



Some years later on, I became desperate for that taste again and made the rookie mistake of wasting money on a boxed version which I'd say was better suited  as; 1)a fine pavement for your driveway,2) ammunition, and 3)  (after being cut by industrial lasers) a fine centerpiece to an engagement ring. There's just something about that personal touch that makes the difference between delicious and disaster (and probably the most important, freshness!).

So when I found that Ben and Jerry's had released a peanut brittle ice cream, I was pretty hesitant to try it. Despite their wonderful track record for ice cream flavors it seemed to me that the ick risk was exceptionally high with this one. From the description I imagined candy pieces frozen into teeth cracking flotsam, hard enough to bend your spoon. And the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that it could be no other way.

I was I'm happy to say, magnificently wrong.

Somehow those tricky boys kept those tasty candy pieces as crispy and fresh (not a hockey puck in the bunch) as if they were just made this morning, and just enough peanuts to keep my spoon fishing for more. The homey sweetness is perfectly paired with lightly flavored ice cream (it says it's "peanut brittle flavored" but it tasted like vanilla to me), expertly keeping a potentially wonka level of sugar in check so you won't fall into a diabetic coma with the first bite. I'm not going to lie, I ate it all. When my boyfriend asked for a bite,  told him we'd have to break up. Okay so I didn't really say that. But I sure as hell didn't share. And once you've tasted it, I'm betting you won't share either.