A Small Batch Christmas — Peanut Brittle

I often tell people that cooking and baking aren’t  talents you are born with.  Cooking and baking are skills you learn through practice, error and more practice.  Just because a recipe didn’t turn out doesn’t mean you can’t cook or bake. There are a lot of crappy recipes out there, even when they were written by a famous “chef”.  Even when the  recipes are perfectly written, a person often needs to make it multiple times to learn and perfect the techniques given.  Don’t forget, that even the best cook or baker in the world can have an off day where nothing quite goes right.

I made this recipe for peanut brittle 4 times before I got it anywhere close to right.  The first time I tried I cooked the sugar in a pan that was too big and misread the recipe and added too much water so it never caramelized.  The second time I caught the water mistake but still cooked it in too big of a pan over what I discovered was way too low of heat.  The third time I used the right amount of water, the right sized pan, and turned up the heat.  The problem this time was I got distracted for just one second and the sugar went from caramelized to burned.  The fourth time I made it, I got it just about right, according to the picture it could have been a little more caramelized but it still tastes like good peanut brittle should.

A few points to remember about making peanut brittle

1.  Pay attention — the time between having perfect brittle and a brittle mess is very short.
2. This is very hot, melted sugar.  It can burn you and burn you badly so pay attention to what you are doing.

Peanut Brittle

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

softened butter for greasing the pan

2 cups white sugar

1 cup roasted peanuts

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp salt, if the peanuts are unsalted

Use the butter to grease a pan with a low rim.  Put the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small pan over low heat.  Cook until the sugar dissolves and becomes a light brown, caramel color. Watch the sugar mixture carefully.  It can go from caramel to burnt in a heart beat.  Don’t stir the sugar mixture.  Stirring the sugar causes it to crystallize, which isn’t good.  When the sugar mixture is ready, stir in the peanuts and immediately pour it into the prepared pan.  Let the brittle cool completely at room temperature, then break it into pieces. It will store indefinitely in at room temperature in a covered air tight container.