Intro

One of my dads favourites when he was a kid, peanut brittle is a fantastic treat and easy to make.

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup grated butter (plus extra for tin greasing)
• 2 1/4 cups peanuts (salted or dry roasted to taste)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Utensils

• A shallow tin, 35cm by 20cm, or a deeper tin, 25cm by 25cm
• Cooking thermometer, preferably glass that clips to your cooking pan
• Deep non-stick cooking pan
• Wooden spoon
• Toffee hammer

Method

• Grease a baking tray with butter.
• Throw the sugar, salt, water and corn syrup into the pan
• Over a medium heat gradually bring up to the boil. You want to avoid burning the sugar so stir constantly. The main goal here is to dissolve all the sugar. Should take around 5 minutes – timing is not exact.
• Add the butter and continue cooking at the same heat. Stir occasionally. Don’t be afraid of the boiling causing the mixture to expand significantly. This is normal.
• Stir occasionally until the temperature on the thermometer reads 138 degrees C. This should roughly take 15 minutes
• Add the peanuts and cook until the temperature reads 152 degrees C. Roughly another 10 minutes. It will be wearing on your arm as the mixture has seriously thickened, but stir constantly to avoid the mixture burning.
• Move your pot to a wooden board and add the baking soda. Stir the mixture vigorously to ensure even distribution. Your mixture will swell significantly. Don’t worry, this is what we want as it adds air pockets to ensure the “brittle” part occurs.
• Pour into your tin, place out of the way and allow to cool.
• Once cooled and solid, up end your tin and give it a tap if the brittle doesn’t fall out. Then use your toffee hammer to smash it to smithereens.
• Finally consume and enjoy!