PEANUT BRITTLE RECIPE

I got this peanut brittle recipe off Martha Stewart show many years ago. I made some for my mom, who loves peanut brittle, and gave some to friends. Everyone loved this recipe!

Ingredients:
large stock pot with heavy/tight lid
candy thermometer
large mixing spoon with long, metal handle and bowl
2 large cookie sheets already sprayed with a cooking spray like PAM
3 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
4.5 cups roasted, salted peanuts (or any other nut)
4 TBSP unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda

Let's cook!

1. Into pot, place sugar, corn syrup and water. Stir until well mixed.
2. Put lid onto pot, keeping in the condensation, and put on high heat
3. Occasionally swirl the pot to mix the contents, not taking off the lid
4. Heat for about 5 minutes - until it comes to a boil
5. Place candy thermometer on side of pot, with bottom of sensor at bottom of pot.
6. When it comes up to 230F (about 2 minutes), add in the peanuts. Stir them in using metal spoon.
7. Keep stirring until mixture reaches 300F (about 20 minutes). Yes, your arm will get tired!
8. Once mixture reaches 300F, remove from heat
9. Stir in butter, vanilla and baking soda. Mixture will then foam up
10. Pour onto pans and spread as thin as possible. The thinner, the better.
11. Wait about 1 hour before cracking brittle into pieces

Advice - fill your cooking pot with water and let it sit overnight to dissolve the mixture off the sides of the pot.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS~

• 16 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

DIRECTIONS~

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease 9x13" pan with butter or cooking spray.
3. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
4. Using a rolling pin to shape the crescent roll pieces into two 9x13 inch rectangles.
5. Press one rectangle into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
6. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.
7. Stir together sugar, cinnamon, and butter.
8. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake
9. Evenly cover with almonds.
10. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey.
12. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.