[Recipe] Peanut Brittle
It took a little doing, and some advice from online friends (thanks sumobabe!), but I finally managed to make a reasonable (and quite tasty!) batch of peanut brittle. Third time's a charm, right? Peanut brittle is challenging to make if you don't know just what signs to watch for when preparing the ingredients, as evidenced by my two failed attempts, but once you know the trick it's pretty straightforward.
Peanut Brittle
Ingredients
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 cup water
* 1 cup light corn syrup
* 2 cups peanuts (unsalted or salted)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (very optional)
Method
1. Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan (I used a 12" x 18" baking pan that I normally bake cookies on). In a heavy saucepan which will produce relatively even heating, mix and heat sugar, water, and corn syrup until sugar dissolves.
2. Add salt. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until liquid turns a light amber color and is quite viscous. If you have a candy thermometer, cook the liquid to hard crack temperature (~290 degrees F). (This will take quite a while at a boil -- for me, it took around 11 - 14 minutes. The color is one clue, but another visual clue is when the liquid begins to look kind of like small-bubble bubble wrap. Honest! I'll post pictures later. Basically, what you're doing is boiling away the water that was added and liquefying the sugar, so that when mixed with other ingredients the result cools to become a brittle solid rather than remaining a semi-liquid blob.)
3. While sugar mixture is reducing, cut butter into small pieces and place aside in a bowl with baking soda and cinnamon, vanilla, and/or cayenne (if using).
4. Remove from heat. Quickly pour in butter-baking soda mixture and add peanuts, stirring vigorously to thoroughly mix ingredients. The baking soda will cause the liquid to foam substantially. Pour at once into greased cookie sheet/baking pan, spreading and flattening concentrations of nuts with spatula or wooden spoon. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before breaking up.
Makes about 1.5 lbs. of peanut brittle.
I chose to add cinnamon to my attempt, being a huge fan of cinnamon, but you can experiment with other spices as well. Additionally, though peanuts are traditional, many types of nuts will work well in a brittle.
Pictures to come soon -- my camera's battery ran out of juice and is recharging.
Originally crossposted from http://kitchenklutz.dreamwidth.org/7945.html. Please comment here if you first read the post here.
Peanut Brittle
Ingredients
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 cup water
* 1 cup light corn syrup
* 2 cups peanuts (unsalted or salted)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (very optional)
Method
1. Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan (I used a 12" x 18" baking pan that I normally bake cookies on). In a heavy saucepan which will produce relatively even heating, mix and heat sugar, water, and corn syrup until sugar dissolves.
2. Add salt. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until liquid turns a light amber color and is quite viscous. If you have a candy thermometer, cook the liquid to hard crack temperature (~290 degrees F). (This will take quite a while at a boil -- for me, it took around 11 - 14 minutes. The color is one clue, but another visual clue is when the liquid begins to look kind of like small-bubble bubble wrap. Honest! I'll post pictures later. Basically, what you're doing is boiling away the water that was added and liquefying the sugar, so that when mixed with other ingredients the result cools to become a brittle solid rather than remaining a semi-liquid blob.)
3. While sugar mixture is reducing, cut butter into small pieces and place aside in a bowl with baking soda and cinnamon, vanilla, and/or cayenne (if using).
4. Remove from heat. Quickly pour in butter-baking soda mixture and add peanuts, stirring vigorously to thoroughly mix ingredients. The baking soda will cause the liquid to foam substantially. Pour at once into greased cookie sheet/baking pan, spreading and flattening concentrations of nuts with spatula or wooden spoon. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before breaking up.
Makes about 1.5 lbs. of peanut brittle.
I chose to add cinnamon to my attempt, being a huge fan of cinnamon, but you can experiment with other spices as well. Additionally, though peanuts are traditional, many types of nuts will work well in a brittle.
Pictures to come soon -- my camera's battery ran out of juice and is recharging.
Originally crossposted from http://kitchenklutz.dreamwidth.org/7945.html. Please comment here if you first read the post here.