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PROBUS Club of Durham West- HOME
- Recipe December/January 2026
Sharing Our Recipes |
Pretzels | Peanut Brittle |
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Recipes, Courtesy of Patricia Bolger |
“The Big Guy” and “The Recipe Lady” are sending Seasons Greetings along with a message for a Joyous and Prosperous New Year 2026 to all the Probus Members who have enjoyed reading my quirky recipes and those who have followed the riotous antics in our household. Every Christmas we make mountains of snacks for Christmas visitors and sometimes package some as small edible gifts. Here are two recipes that I have made in my own kitchen and “The Big Guy” thoroughly enjoys. I have to be very good to “The Big Guy” in this particular post because it is the gifting season and I need to be just a tiny bit naughty and syrupy nice this month. Orville Redenbacher Regular Popcorn Oil (16 oz) has a flavour and a small bit of heat. It is available for about $5-$6 at the large Walmart, Safeway, Valumart or Amazon. There are other brands of popcorn oil to use or you could make your own chili oil with 1 cup of ultra-light oil, heated with some chili flakes. The ranch dressing powder is sold in 4x4 packets most often where you find the gravy packets. Enjoy! |
Pretzels Ingredients: 3 bags of mini pretzels 400g Method: 1. Empty one bag of mini pretzels into a big turkey roaster or a very large bowl. 2. Lightly pour the about ¼ of the Orville Redenbacher popcorn oil over the pretzels. Mix by turning the pretzels gently with a flexible pancake flipper. Try not to break up the pretzels! 3. Sprinkle about 2/3 of the first package of ranch dressing powder and some good shakes of garlic powder over the pretzels and lightly mix. 4. Repeat steps 1-3 adding each bag of mini pretzels on top of previous bag. Note 1: Save the remaining Orville Redenbacher popcorn oil for your next batch of Pretzels. You will use all of the ranch dressing powder by the time you have all the pretzels in the mix. Note 2: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE garlic salt for the garlic powder. It is awful and wrecked a whole batch of pretzels in our house. | Peanut Brittle Ingredients: 1 cup white sugar WORK CAREFULLY DO NOT ALLOW THE BOILING SUGAR TO SPLATTER ON YOU OR FALL ON YOUR SKIN. DO NOT LICK THE SPOON OR PICK ANY SPLATTER UP WITH YOUR FINGER. IT WILL BURN YOU!!! 1. The pot you choose for this recipe is important because the hot boiling sugar will foam up at the end when you add the baking soda and vanilla. Choose a pot that will give you lots of head room to stir the foaming sugar mixture and not let it boil over the top. 2. Get all your ingredients together and grease the cookie sheet. 3. Measure the white sugar, corn syrup and salt into a good-sized pot and start with medium high heat to get the mixture liquid. When it starts to boil you need to stir continuously for about 4 minutes to get a yellowish colour then at a low bubble for 3 more minutes. Seven minutes total. 4. Add the roasted peanuts and boil 2 minutes more. 5. Add vanilla, butter and baking soda while you are stirring constantly. 6. On a candy thermometer, it should measure 300°F or the Hard Crack stage. 7. Remove from heat and pour immediately onto the greased cookie sheet. Work quickly as it can cool and harden in the pot. Tilt the cookie sheet so it flows to all the edges. 8. Cool completely so it hardens and then break it into chunks and pieces. |