Peanut Brittle

I figured I'd get a few New Things in over the holidays - and I've been very lucky. I was able to introduce Dasha to a couple of things over the last few weeks.

As I'm sure you all know, I have a sweet tooth.  So does Dasha.

And the holidays are all about snacking.

One of my particular Christmas-season favorites is Peanut Brittle. I know it's available year-round, but I just don't think of it when it's not December. I blame all those rural Montana Christmases I spent as a kid.

Peanut brittle, for those two of you who don't know, is basically a hardened caramel with peanuts worked into it. For all that I don't like caramel, I do loves me some brittle.

I was actually shocked when Dasha told me she's never had it before. I keep forgetting that Peanuts are a New World food that didn't exist in Europe prior to the 15th Century.  It's one reason Dasha had such a lukewarm reaction to the chocolate peanut-butter pretzel bites - peanut butter just wasn't a standard part of her diet when she was young, and it's still partly unfamiliar to her. In fact, it wasn't popular in the US until the late 1800's - but that's beside the point.

I snapped a piece of the brittle off and offered it to her.  The first thing she did was sniff at it.  "It smells like butter." Butter is a common ingredient in peanut brittle, so this scent was not surprising. She then looked at me, and asked, "Is it like caramel?"

As discussed above, it is very much like caramel (in theory). I don't like caramel, but I love Brittle - so it's not necessarily identical (or even particularly close).

J then asked her what she thought.  "It's kinda good, but I don't know about my teeth.  They may cry afterwards."

By the time I made it back into the office after lunch, the brittle was gone.

Verdict: Win.  It won't topple the DQ Blizzard in terms of Biggest Win, but this is still a significant win.