It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! - Caramels & Peanut Brittle

House decorated - check. Shopping done - almost. Wrapping - I've started. But I've got lots of recipes to try before I run out of the best excuse ever to make yummy treats. I started with the caramels this week. I've made caramels before, but it was a very long time ago. The instructions for this recipe were very precise, and I followed them to the letter. My main dilemma is knowing how many degrees to subtract from my candy thermometer reading. I read on a website today that you subtract 2 degrees (F) for every 1000 feet above sea level. I think I'm about 4500 feet so that would be about 9 degrees. But I wasn't that careful. And I have a very cheap candy thermometer. If I were to be a serious candy maker, I'd invest in a decent thermometer. However, these caramels are perfect, if I do say so myself. And I didn't subtract any degrees from my thermometer reading because I was worried about under-cooking it. Warning - it takes a very long time to make caramels - maybe an hour of stirring, but they're worth it.

CARAMELS
2 cups sugar
1 cup white Karo syrup
1 pint whipping cream
Shake salt
Mix sugar & syrup together. Add 1/3 of cream & boil to 230°F. Add 1/3 more cream and bring to 230°F then add 1 inch square of butter and 1/2 tsp. vanilla and bring to 234°F. Break 1 cup nuts on bottom of 9 inch buttered square pan. Pour mixture on top. Cool in refrigerator.

Today I made Peanut Brittle. This recipe was attributed to Lucile F. Can't for the life of me remember who that might be. The instructions say to cook it till it spins a two-inch thread. I had to look that one up! I got the answer from the same website that told me about subtracting 2 degrees. You get some of the syrup and hold the spoon over the boiling candy, and then let the syrup drip off the edge of the spoon. It will start to spin a thread - a little stream of syrup that kind of stays on the end of the spoon. Also the temperature reading according to this chart said 215 to 235 degrees. For what it's worth! Then after I added the peanuts, I stirred for about a half hour - really. Seemed like forever, and then suddenly it was done. So have everything ready that needs to be added at the end and have your tray buttered and ready to pour. I took Mom's advice and didn't add 2 teaspoons of soda - only 1, but I did add 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Why not? And notice Mom's note about the recipe - it must be good if she says so.

PEANUT BRITTLE (GOOD)
2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup (white)
1/2 cup water
2 cups raw Spanish peanuts
1 tsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla (?)
2 tsp. soda (?) (I didn't use 2)
Cook syrup, water & sugar until it spins 2" thread. Add peanuts to cooking mixture & continue cooking stirring constantly until syrup turns light golden brown. Take off stove & add soda. Add vanilla & butter. Pour on buttered plate or trays & break when cold.