Peanut Brittle

Upon receiving a piece of brittle with my truffles at Holder, conversation ensued about brittles in general. Why is brittle so hard to find? I’m really not sure. Considering how economic it is to make brittle in your own home, it is surprising that only artisan shops are taking advantage of it commercially. Thinking about it now, I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen even basic peanut brittle for sale in Quebec. A piece of brittle can cost you almost a buck an ounce at a place like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which was our standard treat shop when we were living in Alberta.

Alright, so most homes don’t have copper kettles and marble slabs and aren’t going to yield quite the results of a confectioner, but they’ll do. The great thing about making brittle in your own home is the options that it affords you. Finding peanut brittle, it would seem, can be a chore. Finding cashew and macadamia brittle would be all but impossible. The recipe is extremely versatile, and you can substitute any of your favorite nuts, or even nut-like things, in place of peanuts. If you’re looking to get adventurous, try wasabi peas, chocolate covered espresso beans, or bacon!

There are scores of recipes for brittle available with tiny variations. To me, a recipe is only as good as my understanding of why the ingredients are there and how they react with one another. The recipe that I’ve now adopted for peanut brittle is a variation I’ve made on one I found from Anna Olson.

Peanut Brittle

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup golden corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups peanuts
• (optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with Pam or grease with vegetable oil.
2. Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a large pot, stirring with a wooden spoon, and then bring slowly to a boil over high heat.
3. Now, do not stir the solution until the end of the procedure or you may cause it to crystallize. Occasionally brush down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water if it looks as though sugar has touched the sides. This may not be necessary.
4. Continue cooking the sugar solution until the temperature reaches 300°F. 300°F is the hard crack stage, which will set your brittle. Be careful not to exceed 308°F, which is when sugar begins to burn.
5. Since you have a small window of time, this is when you have to act quickly. Stir in the baking soda with your wooden spoon. Be careful as this will cause a chemical reaction, causing the mixture to foam. Adding the baking soda will make the brittle easier to eat, as opposed to gnawing on a large caramel lollipop.
6. Remove the mixture from the heat and quickly stir in the peanuts and butter. If you are using unsalted peanuts, you may want to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
7. Spread this mixture as quickly as possible over your greased baking sheet.
8. Allow the brittle to cool completely and then break into manageable pieces.

The amount of water that you use in this recipe depends on the size of your pot and how much water it will take to dissolve the sugar. The more water you add, the longer you have to wait for it to evaporate before the sugar will begin to caramelize.

In all of the recipes I’ve read, they called for the baking soda to be added after you’ve removed the pot from the heat. This didn’t seem to have the reaction I anticipated, and in one instance actually caused the mixture to turn significantly less brittle and almost like fudge. This was hardly a failure, as the resulting almond bark was actually quite edible, but definitely not the desired outcome.

Clean up looks as though it will be frustrating, but it is actually very simple. Just refill your pot with water and bring it to a boil, and use your candied wooden spoon to scrape away at the softened sugar until it is all dissolved. Do the same for your thermometer. Although a candy thermometer would seem appropriate, I actually prefer to use my instant read thermometer. You could also use the kind with an alert when it reaches a certain temperature, if you could set it to sound the alarms at 275, you’d save yourself a lot of pot watching.

If you desired, you could omit the corn syrup and simply use sugar for a more authentic caramel flavor. I tried substituting the corn syrup for honey, but this did not yield the same results at all. Instead of brittle, I ended up with something like taffy, which was mailable even when cool and could be stretched thin enough to see through.

Thanks to Julie at One Wall Kitchen for her tips when my original batches were not turning out as desired!