In spite of what you might see on television or read in cooking magazines, restaurant cooking is demanding, hectic work. Luckily, I baked professionally with Mary Jo Thoresen for many years, and although we worked really hard, we survived by finding humor in the craziest things, which would make no sense to anyone but us. We did everything from making up movie titles by substituting with the word “quince” in them (A Room with a Quince, Quince on a Hot Tin Roof, etc.) to writing a rap song about baking. At perhaps the depths of our silliness, we became obsessed with all things Scoopy, the clown on the box of ice cream cones you buy from the supermarket. Soon I started finding little pictures of him stuck in the oddest places in the pastry area where we worked. (I even discovered one on the windshield of my car one night after work.) Naturally, my nickname became Scoopy. Now that we’ve both become grown-ups, Mary Jo (aka Scary Jo) is the pastry chef at Jojo restaurant, which she co-owns, in Piedmont, California. Here’s her recipe for Peanut Brittle, which she crushes into brickly bits and adds to Vanilla Ice Cream (pages 24 and 25), dousing it with warm chocolate sauce for a wonderfully over-the-top peanut brittle sundae that should make sense to anyone. If you want to get creative, try mixing Peanut Brittle bits into Fresh Ginger Ice Cream (page 43) or Peanut Butter Ice Cream (page 50), and top it off with chocolate sauce as well. Whatever you mix it into, I’m sure you’ll find the result absolutely scoop-endous.

　　

Ingredients

makes 2 cups (500 g) crushed brittle

　　1/2 cup (125 ml) light corn syrup

　　1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

　　2 tablespoons water

　　1 1/2 cups (225 g) salted cocktail peanuts or Salt-Roasted Peanuts (page 188)

　　1/2 teaspoon baking soda

　　

Step 1

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, or grease it lightly with peanut or vegetable oil.

　　

Step 2

In a medium, heavy-duty saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, mix together the corn syrup, sugar, and water. Bring the syrup to a full boil, then add the peanuts. Cook, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula, making sure the peanuts aren’t burning as the syrup cooks (some like to hide behind the thermometer, so keep an eye out for that). Have the baking soda measured and ready.

　　

Step 3

Cook until the temperature reaches between 300° and 305°F (149° and 151°C). Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the baking soda. Working quickly, pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it as thinly as possible with the spatula. Let cool completely. Once cool, break the brittle into bite-sized pieces.

　　

Mixing It In

Step 4

Fold the crumbled peanut brittle into 1 quart (1 liter) of ice cream as you remove it from the machine; Mary Jo likes to reserve a few extra pieces for scattering over the top.

　　

Storage

Step 5

Peanut Brittle can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

　　The Perfect Scoop