When I decided to do this holiday treat challenge, I asked my friends and co-workers what their favorite treats were and my dear friend Sara Klein said "peanut brittle". As soon as she said it, I groaned and I may have rolled my eyes if I can recall. You can ask her! I then told her the story about my past peanut brittle making experiences and said "there's no way I'm making it again!" Sara started telling me that she used to make peanut brittle years ago and she got her recipe from her mother in law, Connie Klein. Connie is a wonderful cook so if a recipe was going to work, I knew it would be hers. On a side note, I refer to Connie as Rosario because when she's dressed in her winter coat and tinted glasses she looks like Rosario from Will & Grace.
As the day went on, I started to think more and more about how good it would feel to finally conquer peanut brittle. So I turned to Sara and I said "I accept the challenge!" Sara was kind enough to get the recipe from Rosario, which I found out was actually Rosario's mother's recipe, and they both offered me pointers on how to make the best batch I could.
Rosario's Peanut Brittle
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of white corn syrup
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of raw peanuts
1 Tbsp of baking soda
Tip: Have things ready prior to cooking Place buttered tin foil on 2 cookie
sheets. Keep pot holders at your side. Have your peanuts and your baking soda measured so you can work quickly as time is of the essence in peanut brittle making!
Mix water, corn syrup and sugar in thick pot. Cast iron is best. Let it boil until you can spin a thread from your spoon with the thick mix. This can take awhile. Be patient, it will come. Don't let your mixture scorch so stir it frequently.
Once you've "spun a thread", stir in your peanuts and boil until the mixture is golden brown. FYI, the mixture will be hard when you first add the peanuts. Keep stirring and cooking and eventually the peanuts will loosen up a bit.
Once the mixture is golden brown, take the pot off the heat and stir in the baking soda. Everything will start expanding. You will want to stir, stir, stir quickly to keep the mixture from bubbling over. Once you're sure everything is evenly mixed, dump the mixture on the 2 cookie sheets and flatten with a spoon. Do this quickly as the mix will harden fast.
A tip from Rosario: Butter the back of your spoon when spreading out your brittle. It will help flatten it before it hardens.
The brittle will harden quickly. Once it has cooled, you can break it up in pieces.
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| Here it is! The brittle was a success! I do have to say that I overcooked it a little but it's still good and my next batch will be even better. This recipe does not make a lot of brittle. I do not advise you to double it because the peanuts will be really hard to stir. I am, however, going to attempt to half the recipe since I have 1 cup of raw peanuts left and I don't want to waste them. I want to give this to friends but I don't know if it's going to make it there. I might just eat it all in one sitting tomorrow. I would like to give a special shout out to Sara and Rosario. Thanks for the challenge and thanks for the recipe. And Sara, you won the "brittle off". Yours was perfect! Thanks, Jules |
Stay tuned for Pecan Toffee Fudge. FYI, a lot of the recipes I selected
have nuts in them. So the people with the nut allergies can suck it.
Seriously though, next week I'll have more recipes that are nut free, I promise.
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