Tasty Tuesday – Peanut Brittle

Tweet!

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday – today I am going to share with you
a peanut brittle recipe I tried last week – and it is so good!

I got the recipe from “Our Best Bites” – go check them out
on Facebook. They have great recipes and post them with
lots of “how – to” pics which I love!

This one looked so good I had to try it – especially
when I saw the magic word ‘Chocolate’ at the end!

The ingredients are fairly simple – although I did
have a hard time finding the raw Spanish peanuts.
I ended up getting them from the health food section
of our grocery store, and I had to get roasted and
salted ones, they had no raw. But take my word for
it – you will manage to choke this down with the
roasted and salted nuts! I thought they tasted great -

Combine 2 cups sugar,

1 cup light corn syrup,

and 3/4 cup water

in heavy saucepan over medium heat until mixture is clear and syrupy.

You definitely need a candy thermometer for this recipe

at this point you will attach the thermometer to the pan

in a spot where it can measure the temperature of the candy

without touching the bottom of the pan.

Add the peanuts to the syrup and allow it to come up to

a temperature of 300 degrees, stirring occasionally. This

will take a good 30 to 45 minutes

My candy thermometer is old and the mixture was ready before it hit 300 degrees

If you start to smell burning, take it off the heat.

Now you mix in 3 Tablespoons of butter – after that is incorporated

into the mixture, add 1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda – and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

The mixture will start to look foamy – that is what it is supposed to do!

When it is mixed – pour it into a baking/cookie sheet that has been

sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Don’t try to get it to spread to the edges,

it won’t – just be sure it is about 1/4 thick.

Now comes the fun part! While it is still warm – pour semi-sweet chocolate chips across the top

Use a rubber spatula to spread them as they start to soften -

Here is where it got interesting for me. I let it cool and then followed the

instructions to “break it into pieces with a butter knife”….

I finally found something that my pampered chef stoneware did not

work with. Even though I had put non-stick stuff on it – that pan did

not want to turn loose of that candy. But I was determined. I ended up

kneeling over it on the counter with a hammer and chisel to finally

get it to break up into pieces, but nobody needs to know that part. Right?

They taste wonderful!

Here is the complete recipe – enjoy!

Peanut Brittle (and Chocolate Peanut Brittle)
Recipe from Our Best Bites

2 c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
3/4 c. water
2 c. raw peanuts*
3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Chocolate chips (optional)

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan.

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until clear and syrupy.

Attach your candy thermometer to the pot in a place where it can measure the temperature of the candy

but isn’t touching the bottom of the pan. Add peanuts and cook over medium heat until the

candy reaches 300 degrees, stirring occasionally; this will probably take about 30-45 minutes.

When candy is done cooking, add butter and incorporate completely into the mixture and then stir in the

vanilla, salt, and baking soda, which will make it foamy

If you’re feeling the urge (and I really think you should), sprinkle some chocolate chips over the

hot peanut brittle and just spread it out with a silicone spatula.

Allow the peanut brittle to cool completely (and the chocolate to become completely solid, if you’re using chocolate)

and then take a butter knife and start breaking apart the peanut brittle.

You can serve it in a tin or on a cute holiday plate at a party or you could package it in

cellophane bags and tie them with ribbons or tuck the bags into some Christmas lanterns