a tale of two Butterfingers

(Stick with me to the end of this one, it's worth it)

About 2-3 weeks ago, everyone was posting a recipe for Butterfingers. You know that crisp peanut butter center, covered in chocolate.

One of hubby's all time favorites!

I saw it first at Brady's blog Gluesticks, she's a crafty kind of gal.

The very next day I saw it at In Katrina's Kitchen.

I'm loving this idea.

And it's not a new one, Plain Chicken posted this a year ago.

So it must be good, I have to try this.

And the recipe is just too simple: candy corns, peanut butter and chocolate.

I ended up using Katrina's recipe, for the measurements.
Easy Butterfingers

3 cups candy corn
1 cup peanut butter
chocolate for dipping

Melt candy corns in the microwave, sorry, I'm a double boiler kind of gal, never figured out the right way to melt things in the microwave without scorching or splattering everywhere. So melt your candy corns, then add peanut butter and blend till everything is creamy. You may need to heat it a bit more to get the nice creamy stage.

Pour into a buttered 8 x 8 pan and let cool about an hour. Cut candy into desired shapes and dip in chocolate. Place on wax paper until chocolate is set.

So easy.
Here's how it went:

candy corns

melting

we had fun playing

add peanut butter

stir

stir some more

almost done

good

spread in pan

time to cut

Chocolate (my favorite part)

melt it

now dip

and dip

I did a few bars

now to let them set

Look ma, I made a butterfinger!

Now if you want to impress your friends and not spend all day in the kitchen, this is it. Tastes just like a butterfinger. And you made it!

But it is lacking the texture of a butter finger. That crisp, breakaway, fall apart, center that is a butterfinger.

I wanted more.

So I searched.

and I searched some more.

And I found Vicki at Wilde in the Kitchen had a scratch version.

With the flaky layers.

That's what I want.

Now I won't go into all the details on this one because I completely screwed up her recipe, but I will give you a few highlights.

melt peanut butter

add to sugar, corn syrup mixture

blend

fast

pour into pan

cut

I had to stop here. 

I screwed up somewhere.

I didn't get one decent shaped piece.

They all broke up.

It didn't stop me from dipping a few in chocolate anyway.

This recipe did have the flaky inside but I knew I did something wrong. 

It was dry,

and crumbly.

Where did I go wrong?

So back to the computer

                Search,

                             search,

                                        search.

and I stumble upon About.com

lots of talk about the temperature being 300 degrees. 

the Wilde in the Kitchen only had the temperature up to 290 degrees.

Maybe that's it.

But I'm still searching, I want to get this right. I get that way. And the family doesn't mind eating the mistakes.

And then I find Lisa.

At Chocolate And

This is a lady after my own heart.

and she has this great post about how she tried to make butter fingers, over and over. And some of her pictures even look like mine! She must have it right!

And she took her temperature all the way to 375 degrees on one batch.

So I'm ready to go back in the kitchen.

I'm prepared to have a few mistake batches.

I even buy some generic peanut butter for this.

(If you check the labels, they are almost identical to name brand)

Here's the recipe, the one I used ALL DAY!

Butterfingers from Scratch

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup peanut butter

Vegetable oil for pan and knife

Chocolate for dipping

I even went up to the The Kitchen Collection and bought a new candy thermometer, just in case mine was off.

OK, batch number one:

corn syrup, water and sugar

in a 2 quart heavy sauce pan

medium-low heat, stir

starting to boil, stir

full boil, time to stop stirring

and insert the candy thermometer

now were on medium high heat

and I have to get somewhere between 325-375 degrees

I've got a long way to go

and no stirring

and then....

it rapidly changes color

and starts to smell

burnt

and I didn't even get to 300 degrees?

Dump out, start over

Batch number two

same start

once at full boil

I put both thermometers in

both are reading the same

and crap!

lightning fast

the color goes from a beautiful caramel color to brown

but it doesn't smell burnt so I add my peanut butter

pour onto the greased pan and start to score with my greased knife

I let it cool, enough so I can take a taste

ugh, burnt again

but

it does have the flaky, crispy texture

this is the recipe

I just have to get it right

And luckily I have more than one 2 quart sauce pan because this one had to soak for about 8 hours to finally get the burnt, hardened candy out of it

Here's a tip- if your sugar is burnt-stop right there!

OK, take a pause. I've been in the kitchen for 2 hours

and while stirring and watching the temperature

I've been reading my cookbooks

and in the very first cookbook I was ever given

The Joy of Cooking

is a section on candy making

blah, blah, blah

there's something to that beautiful caramel color

oh and this tip about your thermometer not touching the bottom of the pan 

but being far enough in to get a reading

Well guess what I figured out?

There is not enough liquid in a 2 quart sauce pan to get a good reading

So....

Batch number three

in a 1 quart sauce pan

bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup and water

stirring constantly

now stop stirring

medium-high heat

use the thermometer but don't let it rest on the bottom

bring it up to about 290 degrees

watch your color, you want a beautiful golden color

this is the best picture I can give you for that

the drips from my counter

on the left-burnt

on the right-perfect

I warmed my peanut butter in the 2 quart sauce pan

till it was all warm and gooey

ok, time to move fast (sorry, no pictures here)

you're at 290 degrees on the sugar mixture

add sugar mixture to the peanut butter, 

quickly stir together

(do not scrap down the sides of the sugar mixture pan, 

just leave what doesn't pour out)

pour onto your greased jelly roll pan

count to about 20

just enough for it to start to set

 and start to score your candy

look at it

perfect!!!!

Allow to cool at room temperature then break into pieces.

Time to dip in chocolate!

I lightly coat the bottoms

then drizzle

pour over the tops

and tap the excess off

set on parchment or wax paper

to set

That old saying, It's what's on the inside that counts?

This was worth all the failed batches!

And now that I know what I did wrong,

it was easy,

and I'll make these again!