Peanut Brittle

One of the recipes my grandmother is especially known for is her peanut brittle. She gets rave reviews about it all the time. Well deserved rave reviews. It is so yummy. Her biggest secret is that she stretches it out so it is nice and thin and easier to eat.

I've taken lessons from her on a couple of occasions, and the other day I finally made some of my own.

I was a little scared at first, because her directions would include phrases like, "so you want to cook it just enough, but not too much, kind of an amber color, not too dark, but not too light either..." I don't do well with those kinds of directions. I try to avoid using them myself, but sometimes it's unavoidable, but I totally wince as I am typing them. Fortunately for me though, I use a candy thermometer (my grandmother goes by sight alone) and I did a silent cheer when her very old and tattered candy making book included the degrees at which to cook the candy in the recipe. I love this candy thermometer. It is the best. It is big, and has a nice handle, and a foot that can touch the bottom of the pan and you won't get false readings. It is awesome. I shall never go back to the standard tube style candy thermometers ever, ever again.

The actual candy making went fairly easy. There is a certain amount of prep work involved-

1. get all your ingredients measured out and ready to go before you start,

2. you need either a marble slab (best) or a cookie sheet to pour the candy on, a fairly large work space, and all that needs to be greased up really well with Crisco.

3. I mentioned before that my grandma likes to stretch out the candy so it is as thin as possible. To do this she wears two sets of gloves, one pair of cotton winter type gloves (insulation- the candy is hot!) inside a pair of rubber kitchen gloves (also greased up well.) The kitchen gloves should be new out of the package the first time you use them and then set aside for candy making only and NEVER used for cleaning. (ew, gross)

Oh, and when pouring out the boiling hot candy on to the marble slab/cookie sheet be careful to keep your hands and fingers out of the way. Just sayin'. If one were to pour candy on their finger, it would blister immediately and the hot candy will stick to you proving insanely difficult to get off, and then because time is of the essence you'd have to stick your blindingly painful blistered hand into the gloves and continue to work with the hot candy so that it doesn't harden into a large blob before treating your finger. And it would not be fun. Not that I know from experience or anything, because I am a seasoned candy maker and therefore am very careful to keep my appendages out of harm's way. So now you've been warned.

Peanut Brittle

2 c. sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

1/2 c. cold water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 level tsp. soda

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cube butter

2 1/2 cups raw Spanish peanuts

In a 4 qt. heavy duty aluminum pan, combine sugar, syrup, water & salt. Place on heat and boil 2 minutes without stirring. Add peanuts , stir constantly and cook to a good light brown or amber color or 290 degrees Fahrenheit. Add butter, stir until melted. Remove from heat, add vanilla and soda, stir quickly and pour on greased marble slab or cookie sheet, spread with spatula. Start releasing peanut brittle from slab as it hardens. (slide large pancake turner or metal spatula underneath it) Use greased rubber gloves to help stretch out the candy and make it as thin as possible.

Leave candy on counter until cool, then store in a metal tin lined with plastic wrap. Let age at least 24 hours in tight can.

Always store peaut brittle in cans with tight covers thus avoiding all possible chance of the brittle picking up any moisture in the room, and never, ever box it with fudges, fondants, or other candies.

Notes-

The temperature given in the book (290) is for high altitudes, and I haven't had the chance to experiment with it, but in lower altitudes, like here in Phoenix, the correct temperature is probably somewhere around 300.

Raw spanish peanuts taste a lot like raw peas. -fyi.