As a child I watched my mom make peanut brittle every year around Christmas time. She had made peanut brittle so many times that she didn’t even pull out the recipe. As an adult I asked for the recipe and it was pretty straight forward, but you had to figure out what she meant when she said use about a walnut size chunk of butter (2 Tbsp.). This has become a highly requested treat from my seven siblings, who also fondly remember this holiday treat.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup light Karo Syrup
- 1 ½ cups Spanish peanuts
- 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
- 2 Tbs. butter
Directions:
- Bring hot water, sugar and Karo Syrup to a boil.
- Heat to 300 degrees (hard crack) on candy thermometer or until stringy like hair.
Caution! Hot Sugar
- Add peanuts and cook for a minute for color. Do not overcook/burn.
- Remove from heat. Add baking soda and butter. Mixture will become foamy.
- Pour onto cookie sheet and spread it out by carefully tilting the pan so that it fills out the baking sheet. Don’t stir or spread with a spoon/spatula, it will release the air pockets inside which help to make the peanut brittle light and airy.
- Flash cool, if you can’t get it in your freezer/fridge, just let it cool to room temperature on the counter.
Break the peanut brittle into bite-sized pieces. Try not to eat too much during this process.
