Very Off-Topic.....Cracker Jacks Anyone?
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:39 pm
Debated with myself long and hard about posting this, because it's really off-topic, but i figured....what the heck....Baseball season is just around the corner, and you need something to stave off starvation while waiting on those prints to finish up, and it would be the epitome of sexist for me to assume that you fellas don't cook unless it's over a campfire or grill. 
Besides, I like to share good finds with my friends...not fair to deny you something spectacular simply because you're mostly guys here. And every guy who's ever tried this stuff literally begs for it every year. (I have to make half a dozen huge batches every Christmas....I think the only way I could get away with not handing it out was if I was hospitalized, and then I'd worry they'd start showing up at New Year's with sad puppy-dog faces!)
The quality of the commercial stuff has degraded so much over the last decade. (Two peanuts? Really? For 2 bucks a box?) Grrrrrr.
And this stuff......heaven in your mouth. (Not an exaggeration.) Buttery instead of tasting slightly burnt (like the commercial stuff). Not too sweet. Boatloads of peanuts.
Anyway, you'll either thank me or curse me if you try it out, because you'll never go back to that boxed crap. It's easy, easy, easy to make, you can pump out a couple of gallons in only about an hour (and for most of that it's in the oven, so you don't even have to watch it constantly.) You can make a gallon of it for the cost of one measly box of the commercial stuff.
Just a couple of notes of warning:
1. Don't use a wet spoon to stir it - the sugar will crystalize if it hits water.
2. Use a tall-sided-pot if you've never cooked sugar before....it will climb up the sides as it boils. Stir once in a while to knock it back down. (It only cooks for 5 minutes on the stove.) Don't cook it in a skillet like the gal does at the blog site, she's flirting with real disaster.
3. Do NOT under any circumstance touch the boiling sugar or splash it on yourself. It will remove flesh and muscle to the bone, because it will stick and not let go. (This is not something young kids can help you with, and no doggies or kitties in the kitchen underfoot.) I'd rather clutch a nozzle at Polycarb temps than hit myself (again) with boiled sugar. It would heal faster.
Posting this now, cause I just knocked out a batch (yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!) and thought you (or your gal pals) might want to make some this weekend, if you got nothing else going on.
Happy President's Day!
http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/09/oh-c ... l-popcorn/
Not trying to turn this forum into a coffee-klatsch either, so fret not. This one is good enough to bend the rules for, just a little.
(Don't fuss at me until you try it, insta! Remember, I'm incorrigible
, and man does not live by PLA alone.)
Besides, I like to share good finds with my friends...not fair to deny you something spectacular simply because you're mostly guys here. And every guy who's ever tried this stuff literally begs for it every year. (I have to make half a dozen huge batches every Christmas....I think the only way I could get away with not handing it out was if I was hospitalized, and then I'd worry they'd start showing up at New Year's with sad puppy-dog faces!)
The quality of the commercial stuff has degraded so much over the last decade. (Two peanuts? Really? For 2 bucks a box?) Grrrrrr.
And this stuff......heaven in your mouth. (Not an exaggeration.) Buttery instead of tasting slightly burnt (like the commercial stuff). Not too sweet. Boatloads of peanuts.
Anyway, you'll either thank me or curse me if you try it out, because you'll never go back to that boxed crap. It's easy, easy, easy to make, you can pump out a couple of gallons in only about an hour (and for most of that it's in the oven, so you don't even have to watch it constantly.) You can make a gallon of it for the cost of one measly box of the commercial stuff.
Just a couple of notes of warning:
1. Don't use a wet spoon to stir it - the sugar will crystalize if it hits water.
2. Use a tall-sided-pot if you've never cooked sugar before....it will climb up the sides as it boils. Stir once in a while to knock it back down. (It only cooks for 5 minutes on the stove.) Don't cook it in a skillet like the gal does at the blog site, she's flirting with real disaster.
3. Do NOT under any circumstance touch the boiling sugar or splash it on yourself. It will remove flesh and muscle to the bone, because it will stick and not let go. (This is not something young kids can help you with, and no doggies or kitties in the kitchen underfoot.) I'd rather clutch a nozzle at Polycarb temps than hit myself (again) with boiled sugar. It would heal faster.
Posting this now, cause I just knocked out a batch (yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!) and thought you (or your gal pals) might want to make some this weekend, if you got nothing else going on.
Happy President's Day!Not trying to turn this forum into a coffee-klatsch either, so fret not. This one is good enough to bend the rules for, just a little.
(Don't fuss at me until you try it, insta! Remember, I'm incorrigible
, and man does not live by PLA alone.) 
)