PIGGY TOES

PIGGY TOES image

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...

Provided by Joanna Gotwald

Time 1h30m

Number Of Ingredients 6

Ingredients

2 c packed, light brown sugar
2 stick margarine (you must use margarine)
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 tsp 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.

Steps:

1. Preheat 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.
2. Cover 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.
3. In a heavy saucepan, mix sugar, margarine and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for five minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Remove pan from heat and mix in baking soda. Mixture will turn white and become slightly foamy and rapidly start rising as you stir.
5. Immediately pour syrup mixture over cheese puffs and toss VERY thoroughly to coat all the puffs evenly; BE VERY CAREFUL THE SYRUP IS VERY HOT!
6. Leave the coated puffs in the metal bowl and place the entire bowl in the oven.
7. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
8. Spread 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.
9. NOTE: 1. Always make one batch at a time. I attempted a double batch and it didn't go very well.
10. 2. 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.
11. If 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
12. YES! I make a double batch of the 18oz bags of cheese puffs and they still don't last!!