Eating the Calendar: June 29th is National Almond Butter Crunch Day! Microwave recipe and video

I had no idea what Almond Butter Crunch was until I Googled it and was thrilled to learn that one of my favorite candies, Heath Bar, is considered an almond butter crunch!  While not an entirely original recipe, mine was unique in that I was determined to make this as easily as possible. That meant utilizing the microwave for the cooking and skipping the traditional roasting of the almonds... sort of.

Ingredients:

1C (2 sticks) Unsalted butter. (Don't have unsalted? See note below) 

1 1/2C Sugar
1/4tsp Salt (Omit if using salted nuts and butter)
3Tbs Water
1Tbs Light corn syrup
1tsp Vanilla or artificial vanilla
1/3C Roasted, salted sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4C Roasted, salted almonds, finely-chopped (Reserved for toping)
1/2C Dark chocolate chips (Or semi-sweet, or milk chocolate)

NOTE: Because I was using  pre-roasted and salted almonds as well as salted butter I opted to omit the salt. 

On a microwave safe plate scatter the whole, pre-roasted almonds in a single layer and microwave on high for two-three minutes, stopping at two minutes to stir.  Set aside to cool and once cool enough to handle.

Remove 1/4C  of the almonds and finely chop with a knife or food processor and reserve.

Coarsely chop the balance of the almonds with a knife or food processor and reserve.

In a large microwave safe container melt the butter on high for a minute or two. We are looking to melt but not actually cook the butter at this stage.

Add the sugar, corn syrup and water and mix evenly with a spoon or silicone spatula.


Microwave on High for 6 minutes, keeping an eye on mixture to prevent overflowing.

Remove from microwave and stir quickly to prevent the mixture from cooling.

Continue cooking in one to two minute intervals until the mixture begins to develop a light brown color, or when the temperature reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the mixture from the microwave and quickly stir in the 1/3C of coarsely chopped almonds and the vanilla and pour out and pat to  a1/4" thick layer on a nonstick sheet pan.


Scatter the chocolate chips in a single layer across the mixture and cover for two minutes with a second sheet pan to retain heat.

Using a spatula spread the melted chocolate chips across the mixture and then scatter the reserved 1/4C of finely chopped almonds.

Allow to cool until firm. If you are impatient as I was place the sheet pan into the freezer for 30 minutes. 

When cool, give the pan a slight twit to break the candy free and break into cookie-sized pieces with your hands.  

Enjoy or store in an airtight container of zipper-top food storage bag.

The first "REAL" Aristogrub video has been added to the new Aristogrub Youtube Channel

The other day I dropped by our local Field & Stream store to see their selection of BBQing gear and while there I noticed that they had something I wanted to see: The Camp Chef "Turkey Cannon". They had two different packages of the product, with the new ones priced at $30 and what looked like older packaging sale priced at $14.97. For whatever reason I didn't purchase one on the spot.  Oh, that's not totally true. Even at only $15 I wasn't sure that I needed one!Later that night I searched Youtube to see if anyone had posted a video of it in use, and while I found a couple that seemed to be from Camp Chef, I didn't see many of them being used by a "civilian". The video below does a good job explaining why you might use one and the bottom video is my video discussing the deal that I found when I returned to Field & Stream.

It looks like Amazon has this one for a little more than $20 with Prime:http://amzn.to/29LeL6P

The Aristogrub Youtube Channel has just launched!

Just like someone who has lots of spare time and nothing to do I've created yet another Youtube channel!  What was I thinking?!?!

Honestly, what I was thinking was two-fold:

• On the one hand some of my loyal subscribers to my Aristocob Youtube channel have expressed frustration with non-pipe related content being added to a pipe-smoking centered channel. I get that.

• On the other hand, when I took a look at the analytics for my "pipe" channel I was surprised to learn that several of the most popular videos for the past two years were food related!

In my day job as a corporate trainer I get to travel to some wonderful places and get to enjoy some very interesting fare; and seeing that I've just purchased a new pellet smoker and that I plan to be posting more food-centered videos it just seemed like the time was right to launch a new channel.

So join me by subscribing to the blog while you are here and by subscribing to the new Aristogrub Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_F82zGyrsISMl4aES5526A