Bombe

Many people by now would be sick of Plumas winter weather- snow, followed by rain, followed by blizzard- but I'm one of those weirdos who loves the cold.  Little is more exhilarating to me than hiking through crunching snow, surrounded by tall pines and waterfalls, and spotting the occasional bear track along way (yikes!).

So yesterday I had a hike planned, but by the time we reached Round Valley Reservoir (an alpine lake reached only by an unplowed, twisting mountain road) the wind had picked up and rain was mixing with snow, so we decided to go home and watch the Law & Order marathon and the Academy Awards ... and because the whole day was stretched ahead of me, I made an ice cream bombe.

I didn't set out to make anything so elaborate. The plan started as salted peanut ice cream, but because I had so many peanuts left over I made some brittle. Too many peanuts+no chocolate=not good, so I threw together my favorite chocolate cake- recipe halved- and some chocolate glaze and slowly built the bombe (okay, not technically a bombe since I formed it in a loaf pan, as opposed to in a dome-shape, but let's not dither) during commercial breaks.

Bombe, from the bottom up: layer of chocolate cake, layer of salted peanut ice cream, layer of crushed peanut brittle, another layer of salted peanut ice cream (wouldn't milk chocolate ice cream be divine?), another layer of chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate glaze, and topped with more crushed peanut brittle.  Then it had to freeze for many hours until it was solid enough to handle, so I didn't get to try it until this morning (for breakfast, okay?). 

Got a sweet tooth? Then this is for you- much like a frozen Snickers bar. It's pretty great, very American and fun, but I snacked on so much peanut brittle yesterday that I'm kind of sick of its flavor- for now. I need is another weekend snow day so I can mess around with some more combinations!

Peanut Brittle 

1 cup salted roast peanuts

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1 tbl butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

Set aside a large, foil-lined baking sheet.

In a large pan, mix together the sugar, syrup and water.  Wet your hand, then wipe off any syrup that clings to the side of the pan, using as much water as necessary. Heat over medium high heat until mixture reaches 280 degrees.  Add butter and nuts and return to heat, stirring,  until the mixture is liquid and amber colored. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda (careful-it will foam up). Immediately pour onto a foil-lined pan, and spread to desired thickness. Let cool, then break into smaller pieces.

Comments

[Mitzy]

the hike sounds like so much fun but I would be so scared of the wild animals.

the bombe sounds great too!

[Madeleine]

Sounds like a hike was in order after all the goodies. Being chased by a bear would really burn up those calories!

Like your new format.

[Patty]

Yet another delicious sounding entry.

[Anne]

That hike sounds like fun and a good way to burn off all those calories! I want to try your Peanut Brittle recipe but why do you have to wipe off the syrup with your hand? at first I thought you had to do it while cooking which seemed a bit dangerous but when I reread it I realized that you do it before you turn on the heat! Boy am I silly!

[Patty]

I viewed it again and I became more impressed with her work.

Did you see top chef?

[Regina]

The bombe really does sound like "da bomb". One time I had a snickers bar deep fried at a fair. Now that was amazing. Your peanut brittle sounds easy to make and quite tasty. Before I forget, your March calendar is wrong.

Goodbye!

[Skipper]

Let' have a little fun !

[Sean Butcher]

Peanut brittle! Yay! Who doesn't like the sweet and crunchy taste of genuine, home-made peanut brittle. But remember, too much of it can be harmful to the teeth. Eating in moderation is okay, though.