Peanut Brittle

Yikes! Eleven days without a post This is like blog abandonment.

I'm pleading Christmas on this one. I get very distracted by the hap-hap-happiest time of the year thing -- visions of sugar plums crowd my thoughts,  I spend inordinate amounts of time on various Christmas projects or searching for recipes for various Christmas projects, my kitchen is in a constant state of chaos and I'm not really concentrating on meals, and what with one thing and another I just haven't managed to blog at all. The constant blogger? No, more like the ADD blogger.

OK. Moving on...

One of my Christmas projects was peanut brittle which only a few years ago I learned was a favorite of my non candy-liking mother's. I thought that this year instead of purchasing it, I would make peanut brittle. 

The recipe I used comes from Craftbar, a New York restaurant, and was originally printed in New York Magazine. I found it via .The Best American Recipes 2003-2004 a much used book at the moment. I have sung the praises of this series in the past and I find the books particularly useful at this time of the year because there is a focus on the sorts of recipes used for holiday meals and holiday baking.

I am not a peanut brittle fan because I don't particularly care for peanuts used in sweets, although I found that nonetheless I was eating this peanut brittle. In fact, I had to to pack it up and get it out of the house before I ate it all.

This recipe doesn't require a candy thermometer and you are instead gauging the readiness based on color. Mine never seemed golden -- more like a peanut butter color. When the color got deeper I took it off the heat. If you'd prefer to use a candy thermometer, heat the sugar mixture to 290 degrees.

My usual carmelized sugar warning: Be extra careful whenever you are working with carmelized sugar. It's super hot and if you spill it on yourself it will stick and give you a serious burn.

Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons water

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

12 ounces whole dry-roasted salted peanuts

1. Butter a sheet pan (or spray with that non-stick spray if you use it -- I don't) and set it aside.

2. Combine sugar, butter, water, and corn syrup in a large saucepan and stir until all the sugar is wet. Cook over high heat, stirring, until the mixture turns medium golden.

3. Immediately remove from the heat. Whisk in the baking soda followed by the salt. Be careful here -- the mixture will foam and bubble up. Then, using a spoon, fold in the peanuts and quickly before it has time to harden up pour the mixture onto the sheet pan spreading it with the spoon.

4. When the brittle is completely cool, break it into bite-sized pieces.

Note: Following the advice of the editors of The Best American Recipes rather than adding the salt I instead sprinkled the brittle with a little sea salt as it cooled.

Comments

[Nicola]

Welcome back! I love anything with nuts. So, I suppose I could try it with another kind of nut? Hazelnuts? I love hazelnuts...love them...

By the way, I'm off to the store for a couple of ingredients to make the dog biscuits (and I'll let you know if you can market them to the other side of the universe...the feline side)...Happy, happy Christmas to you and yours Julie!

[Luisa]

Mmmm, salt-sprinkled peanut brittle sounds so much better than regular old peanut brittle. Thanks for the recipe. Enjoy the holidays!

[janelle]

If it had sea salt I would've been licking it! Great tip on the book series, too---I haven't given them a try, yet.

Happy Holidays!

[Anita]

Yum! It's the best thing for cold winter days. You can find it all over Northern India at this time of the year made especially tasty by the use of jaggery (raw cane sugar). I have never tried making it at home, but I could try substituting the sugar with jaggery and see what happens.

Happy Holidays!

[Tanna]

Yeah, me too. Kitchen chaos. I don't plan meals but I'm always cooking and then suddenly I'm thinking Jason's coming in today and the bed's not made and what are we having for dinner.
The brittle looks brilliant.
Enjoy.

[sherry]

I wasn't worried. I figured you were watching a marathon viewing of The Wire!! :):) Well, it is good to have you back--and you came back with a vengeance. That peanut brittle looks perfect to me!!! Have a great holiday!!!!

[the bee]

This looks soooo yummy,please see my comments in your sisters post so you will know why I will be making and eating this by the pound.I have a stressful 45th b-day coming up in a few days.. the bee just wants to be alone with her peanut brittle.
Merry Christmas to you jujubee and the lawyerman and that wonderful son of yours. Oh, the dogs too if you insist . The bee

[FAIRFAX]

Oh. My. Gosh!!! I was looking for a recipe for cranberry upside down cake and found this site. I just moved back to Baltimore (it doesn't let you go!) and love your photos. They're so evocative of the city. I have bookmarked you!

[angela]

I am not crazy about peanut brittle either, but this looks really good.

[Rebecca]

I've never made my own peanut brittle but maybe I'll try it for gifts next year; this looks so good. I did make several batches of caramels this year and Leland suggested I sprinkle them with sea salt. I guess candy sprinkled with sea salt is the thing right now.

I know what you mean about trying to find time to blog in the week or so before Christmas; pretty well impossible!

[Becky Taylor]

May I use your picture of peanut brittle for educational purposes? I am comparing peanut brittle to a "cold collapse" in of lava tubes for teaching geology. spishus@hotmail.com