Best Peanut Brittle

 

Before I share how I made this delicious peanut brittle, I have to share something wonderful that has recently happened in my life.  It's complicated, but the very short story is that 15 months ago I lost my full-time job at a high school.  Fortunately, my school district transferred me to a different school site, and I didn't suffer at all.  For one, I was still employed--though my hours got cut.  My new co-workers welcomed me, with warm and loving arms, and I have made new lifetime friends.  The one drawback was (besides my hours being reduced), that I had to work a split shift.  That meant that I'd work four hours in the morning, then I had three hours to kill (25 miles away from my home), and then I worked till 8pm.  Essentially, I was gone from 7am until 9pm.   I made it work, but-- as of last week, I am back at the high school, because someone retired. I'm back in my same position, working a day shift, full-time and I am still grinning.  Call me crazy, but I love the energy of working with high school kids. It's a crazy busy job, and yet it's so rewarding!  Hopefully, I can find more time to blog more often, because I have a backlog of recipes to share with you!

PS: To my dear friend, Rhonda (who is also retiring from my school site)--this recipe is in honor of you. Muwahhh!  Thank you for reading my blog, so faithfully.

My husband loves peanuts. Seriously. He buys them in the shell, and cracks them several times a week sometimes while I'm trying to read and I have to try and tune it out.  The funny thing is that I'm not particularly wild about peanut butter.  Whole peanuts, however, are another story. When Craig and I were visiting Murphy's (California), last May, I decided to visit a candy store that I heard was not to be missed.   I decided to try their peanut brittle that people raved was "the best".  I paid close to $10.00 for a tiny bag-- a bit pricey, I thought. It was good, I'll admit.  Craig and I demolished the bag in no time.

When we returned home, I decided to do a little research on how to make my own peanut brittle.  I found a few online recipes,  including a microwave version.  I decided to forgo "nuking" my brittle, and I settled for a stove top version.  I used salted, canned peanuts, because we happened to have them in our pantry.  The ingredients consisted of peanuts, water, light corn syrup, baking soda, pure vanilla and salt, and butter (not pictured, because I forgot).

In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. NOTE: Using a candy thermometer, I waited until the hot liquid reached 250F, before adding the peanuts.  Reviews suggested this, so that I didn't risk burning the peanuts.   Stir in peanuts.

 Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. 

 ...we're going for a final temperature of 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads.

Once the candy reaches that hard ball stage, remove from heat; immediately stir in butter, vanilla and baking soda; pour at once onto  a very heavily greased sheet (covered with foil) or on a Silpat mat.

You really have to move fast, so be sure you have your sheet ready to go.  I simply tilted my baking sheet, with the silicone mat, to evenly spread the peanut brittle.

This is really hot, so be very careful!

See? Spreading with a spatula isn't the greatest idea.  I'm glad that I used a silicone spatula, for easier clean up.

 

 Once the brittle is cooled (and that happens pretty fast), break the candy into pieces.

VERDICT:  If you look closely, you can see how airy these brittle turned out.  I tweaked a couple of things from the original recipe that I adapted from here. The original recipes called for one cup of peanuts, but  I used two cups--and I'm glad that I did! I also added vanilla, and that was perfect, too.  Honestly, this brittle was as good (if not better) than the one I bought at that candy store.  I was surprised at how easy it is to make, and I can see making these as Christmas gifts.  CLEANUP: I found that, once my pot had cooled, that simply soaking it with water dissolved the leftover candy and the pot was as good as new.  The silpat mat also made cleanup a breeze. If you don't have one, I definitely suggest foil wrapping a baking sheet, and grease it very well!

I can see macadamia nuts as a great variation. I've seen pine nut brittle, too.  I'd better double the recipe, though.  This brittle didn't make it past one day, with the three of us.

A printable recipe card is at the end of this post.


Oh, tomorrow morning we're off on a road trip, for a few days,  to our timeshare in the Napa-Sonoma area for Fall Break. See what I mean? Working for a school district has it's perks-- and trust me, I'm very thankful.