[SWSDUBLIN]

Please help - I tried to make a cranberry, nut crunch (from latest Woman's Day Best Christmas Ideas). Supposed to cook the butter and sugar for 25 - 40 mins at med-high heat. Well, it burnt within 10 mins and what a time I had getting the pan clean! My question is - can I do this in the microwave? I have a brittle recipe where I cook the sugar and corn syrup in the microwave and thinking this might work for this also.

[nowIamone]

It looks like the magazine made a typo. Can you email them for a clarification?

I haven't seen the recipe, but if you look at similair recipes you can probably alter it without any problem.

[Free Rider]

I bet they mean 2.5 to 4.0 minutes. To melt butter in more than that, you'd have to have a barrel-full.

[deltadoc]

By 5 minutes into the cooking process it must have started turning black. Did you continue anyway for 25-40 minutes?

doc

[Culprit]

I would not use a microwave to prepare the butter caramel sauce you describe. Food temperatures are difficult to control inside a microwave and it's difficult to monitor the cooking process with any degree of accuracy looking through a glass covered shield with hundreds of little holes punched in it.
I suspect the recipe you describe contains error(s). My own experience involves meltin the butter into a saucepan over medium heat then adding the sugar and stirring until the sugar melts and begins to turn a soft brown color with an inviting aroma - before it is burnt. The amount of time I continue to cook it depends on whether I want a smooth sauce, soft ball or hard ball consistency. I usually get it off the heat sooner, rather than later, if I intend to use it as a sauce on cakes, cookies, etc. This sauce can turn from soft ball to hard ball stage in the blink of an eye and the only method I know of to maintain control is a candy thermometer or experience.