Fresh | Find faith in the kitchen

There is no doubt that food and faith are deeply intertwined. When appealing to the gods, most religions don't leave piles of iPhones, they leave food. Jesus spent his last night with his disciples eating bread and wine, and -- all theological arguments aside -- communion remains an important Christian ritual.

In many religions, certain foods are eaten to mark different celebrations. The planting and harvesting of food has historically had some relationship to religion, whether it's asking the gods for a plentiful year, or thanking Him/Her/Them for a bountiful harvest.

I'm not a very religious person, but I recently found myself praying, and then I found myself making candy for the first time, and it turns out the two experiences have a lot in common.

First of all, the praying was not the "Please, God, let these jeans zip," kind of prayer. If that had been the prayer, making candy probably would not have been the answer. It was more of a "Please, universe/god/goddess/power-that-be, what am I supposed to be learning right now, because I'm not quite getting it." It was a prayer you make when jumping off into the great unknown. For me, making candy is part of the great unknown.

For this recipe, I bought a very cheap non-stick baking sheet. It is a sign of my lack of faith. Having never attempted brittle before, I didn't want to risk one of my two nice cookie sheets being permanently caked in hardened corn syrup and sugar, which I saw as a possible result of my candy making foray.

I found the candy recipes last year in an issue of Martha Stewart magazine, and bought half the ingredients before the holiday season descended and I ran out of time to actually cook. So this year, I was determined to try some of the varieties of brittle that caught my eye. The basic brittle recipe is: Start with 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cups light corn syrup. Put these in a medium saucepan and cook on medium heat, until they turn an amber color. Then, stir in interesting things, quickly spread onto a baking sheet and voila, candy.

Sounds easy. The challenging part is that you have to heat the corn syrup and sugar over medium heat and stand there, not stirring it too much, and wait for it to turn amber. This means, waiting, watching, having faith, letting things slowly change before you without too much interference and trusting that they will work out. It means not stepping away from the process to do something else (a tendency I have). No stepping away to clean up the dishes or send a text message or open mail. You have to stand there, simply be present, and wait.

When the moment comes, when everything suddenly transforms from clear bubbles to a deep gold, you've got to be ready to act. As soon as the color changes, you need to have your ingredients ready, throw them in, stir like crazy and then dump the whole mess -- which will already be starting to harden -- onto a non-stick pan, which has been sprayed with cooking spray, and try to flatten it out before it hardens too much.

The original recipe says that one recipe of brittle makes a 9x11 sheet of brittle. I found that mine made much less, maybe half that. I may need to do some troubleshooting. However, I ended up liking the texture of my varieties and the ratio of add-ins to clear candy, so the lesser volume of candy wasn't really a huge problem.

I made three varieties, all of which were quite tasty. My favorite, and the one that seemed to be the biggest hit in the office, used 2 cups cashews, which I toasted in a cast iron skillet, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper. I also made one with almonds and lemon zest, using approximately 1 1/2 cups chopped almonds and 1 tablespoon lemon zest. I think it could have used a tad more zest, but really, it's a matter of taste. The last version had 1/2 cup pine nuts and 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary.

All in all, making a single batch took about 20 minutes per recipe. Be sure to put the cooking pan immediately into water before the sugar/corn syrup hardens.

Once the brittle cools on the baking sheet, it should lift right off and be ready to break into pieces for eating. And as you share the bites with your family, your friends, or your hungry office-mates, remember that sharing food is just one of the many things that bind us all together.

And, regardless of your religious beliefs, if you are looking for answers, you might find one or two in your own kitchen.

* Fresh is a photo and food column by Yakima Herald-Republic photographer Sara Gettys. To see more, go to the photo blog at yakimaheraldphotos.com.