Peanut Brittle

Did you survive the Christmas/Holiday season? Did you make a resolution to try and be more organised for next time? Well why not start planning early for Christmas 2007? Here's the perfect recipe for you to add to your Christmas candy collection ....

I like to give homemade goodies to friends and colleagues at Christmas time and thought I would treat them to some US peanut brittle. Unfortunately we don't get Karo syrup in New Zealand and our equivalent, liquid glucose, is not that easy to find. Mind you that's probably a good thing or else I'd make peanut brittle more often. You can buy liquid glucose at Zarbo who sell online but I managed to find some at a local bulk bin store in a 400 gram jar. They told me that it's used as an ingredient in liqueur making.

Here's the recipe I used which came from a friend in Ohio who got it from a friend who probably also got it from a friend. Anyway, it's delicious!

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup light Karo syrup
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter (250g in NZ speak)
3 cups RAW spanish peanuts (little red skin ones) - I used a packet of blanched ones
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Note: Use wooden spoon for stirring!

Method
In a 5 quart (large!!) sauce pan (heavy duty), heat together over medium heat the sugar, Karo and water
When boiling, blend in butter
Stir frequently after reaching 230º
Add nuts and salt when it reaches 270º
Stir constantly until 305º is reached
Remove from heat quickly and stir in soda and pour onto 2 buttered baking trays
Spread with the back of your wooden spoon
Cool and then break into pieces
Makes aproximately 2 and 1/2 cups
Store in an airtight container (like it's gonna last that long!)

As you can see from the photo I used one of those silicon baking sheets on my cookie tray. It worked a treat.


In case you are wondering, the addition of baking soda to the mixture serves two purposes. 1: it lightens the colour of the finished product by aerating it and 2: it's what makes peanut brittle "brittle". Without the soda it would probably be rock hard and break your teeth.