Homemade for Christmas

Homemade peanut brittle in a cheery cellophane bag.

What tastes better than homemade peanut brittle? This recipe, made in a microwave, takes all of 15 minutes, plus cooling time. This is a great treat to put together while you are cleaning up after dinner. You need to be there, but you don’t need to stir it a lot or watch it. It’s easy and always comes out right.

What you need

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2  cup white Karo syrup
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 cup raw Spanish peanuts
• 1 tbl. butter
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:

Set the oven to 200 and place a cookie sheet or pizza pan sprayed with pam or rubbed with butter in the oven. Mix sugar, karo, and salt, and peanuts in a large, microwave-proof glass bowl. Cook in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes dpending on the wattage of your oven. Less expensive models have lower wattage and need to cook longer. The mixture should be a soft golden color. Remove from oven (it’s very hot, be very careful) add the butter, mixing it in. Then cook for 4-5 more minutes. Take a spoonful and test with a glass of water, you want a hard crack stage, where the mixture forms brittle strings that easily break. The color should be a medium amber and smell wonderfully.  Carefully remove from the microwave and add  soda and vanilla all at once, mixing thoroughly. Spread on the warm pan from the oven. Work fast as this sets up quickly. Cool, then break into pieces and store in a jar, with tight fitting lid. If the brittle seems sticky and chewy, or won’t break apart easily, put it in the oven at 350 until it starts to bubble. Then let it re-cool and crack.

PRESENTATION

I like to put peanut brittle in the cellophane bags you can get at the Dollar store. Or you can give away a whole pint canning jar and decorate the top with a cloth wrap. It costs about $2.00 to make a batch of peanut brittle. Do not double the recipe as the amounts listed seem to cook best with any microwave. Larger amounts take longer to cook and make break the glass bowl you are using to cook with.