piggy toes
I originally found this recipe on newsnet5.com back in January of 2007 in an article by J. Scott Wilson. When I first read the article I was hesitant to try it; the main ingredient is not a snack you normally think would be in a recipe like this; but I threw caution to the wind and went for it; and I was truly surprised at the response I was given for these totally addicting treats. At first your friends may turn their noses up at the idea of this "candy like" snack however one taste will have them hooked and you will be hard pressed to tear them away from the bowl. It is particularly popular with the guys making it the perfect nibble for your Super Bowl party. It was highly recommended in the article that you should... "Make two batches or be banished to the kitchen before the end of the first quarter with orders to make more or suffer severe beatings." Luckily I heeded the warning and made a double batch but even a double batch only made it to half-time.
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed, light brown sugar
- 2 sticks margarine (you must use margarine)
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 - 14oz bag baked cheese puffs (cheetos® or snyder®)
- - do not use the crunchy fried cheetos® they will get too hard after baking.
How To Make piggy toes
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Step 1Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Arrange rack so that the metal bowl will be centered in the oven and not too close to the bottom or the top of the oven. Spray the large oven-safe metal bowl with nonstick cooking spray and empty the cheese puffs into it.
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Step 2Cover a very large work surface with waxed paper (like the kitchen table) and make sure the seams are taped down. You will spread the cheese puffs on this waxed paper to let them cool.
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Step 3In a heavy saucepan, mix sugar, margarine and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for five minutes, stirring constantly.
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Step 4Remove pan from heat and mix in baking soda. Mixture will turn white and become slightly foamy and rapidly start rising as you stir.
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Step 5Immediately pour syrup mixture over cheese puffs and toss VERY thoroughly to coat all the puffs evenly; BE VERY CAREFUL THE SYRUP IS VERY HOT!
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Step 6Leave the coated puffs in the metal bowl and place the entire bowl in the oven.
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Step 7Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
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Step 8Spread baked puffs onto waxed paper, separating as much as possible with a spatula or spoon (BE VERY CAREFUL THE SYRUP MIXTURE IS VERY HOT). Allow them to cool completely on the waxed paper before storing in Ziploc® or other covered containers.
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Step 9NOTE: 1. Always make one batch at a time. I attempted a double batch and it didn’t go very well.
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Step 102. I use Snyder® brand cheese puffs from BJ’s® or Sam's club® which are bigger bags than the grocery store bags (the bigger bags weigh in at 18 oz.) so I had to make more syrup than a single recipe calls for.
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Step 11If you use the bigger bag (18 to 19 oz.) from the “club” stores; increase the syrup for one big bag of puffs as follows. 2 ½ cups light brown sugar 2 ½ sticks MARGARINE ¾ cups light corn syrup ¾ tsp. baking soda Follow the directions as above except increase the baking time to 1hr and 15 minutes stirring every 15 minutes. Follow the directions as above for cooling
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Step 12YES! I make a double batch of the 18oz bags of cheese puffs and they still don’t last!!
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