Old fashioned candy with a hint of angsty teenager music.

I'm really cheap.
Really cheap.
I'm 20 and I coupon. I only shop clearance. I make most of my Christmas presents.
But I also like to have my Christmas presents be good quality.
If your present's gonna be food, I'm not baking you chocolate chip cookies. I'm gonna make you chocolate bark or in my father's, uncle's and grandfather's cases: cashew brittle and seafoam.

I'm starting with cashew brittle because it's easy. Recipe here.

Turn on some angry punk rock, like The Story So Far, New Found Glory or blink-182. It's the only way to bake.

Throw your sugar, corn syrup, and water into a pan. Stir it until it bubbles and then throw in two sticks of butter. Because if you know anything about my father, you know that he has an undying love for fattening foods.

It's gonna start to bubble pretty ferociously like this.

At this point I realized that my heat proof spatula is in fact not heat proof up until 250 degrees.

Notice the switch to the ever-reliable wooden spoon (so sorry I left you, I will never do it again). Mix in three cups of cashews. I actually hate cashews, but my family loves them. After the cashews, add baking soda and remove from heat.

Throw that shit onto a parchment paper lined tray (which rolls up on you so you stick it with brittle goo so it stays down) and stretch it out. And just let it sit for a couple minutes.

It doesn't take long to harden, which leads to the fun part: smashing that perfectly smooth circle to bits.

Done with the cashew brittle!

Seafoam isn't easy to make. You kind of have to guess when to throw in the baking soda and if you get it wrong it either won't set or it'll burn to a crisp. I've done both. And then, you've got about 30 seconds after it's perfect to take it off the heat, or else it's ruined because the bubbles are gone.

The recipe is basically the same as cashew brittle minus the cashews and butter, but baking powder and baking soda are both used. I looked up a video for help on this one and will link it at the bottom. Watch it, the lady has an accent and it's adorable.

Harmless sugar/water/syrup mixture is harmless.

Essentially finished seafoam. The baking soda/baking powder combination makes the mixture foamy, and after three whisk stirs, the mixture needs to be immediately dumped into a lined bowl, or else.

 And now we wait for about three hours for it to harden.

Meanwhile, I'm googling a saltwater taffy recipe to see if it's possible, which it is.

But that's gonna happen tomorrow because I have my mom's stuff to work on.

I'm actually really surprised it came out this well.

Finished seafoam!

Here's that video.