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Help - cooking butter and sugar

post #1 of 5
11/8/06 at 9:07am
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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.
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post #2 of 5
11/8/06 at 9:46am
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.
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post #3 of 5
11/8/06 at 10:05am
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.
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post #4 of 5
11/8/06 at 1:08pm
By 5 minutes into the cooking process it must have started turning black. Did you continue anyway for 25-40 minutes?

doc
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post #5 of 5
11/9/06 at 6:42pm
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.
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