Peanut Brittle

I love peanut brittle, as a person who hates sweets, peanut brittle is my kryptonite. I can't pinpoint what I love most about it. It lasts forever when you're eating it, it has a lovely golden colour, there's a great snap when you shatter it into smaller chunks, a beautiful glossy toffee which is buttery and sweet and then again you get these salty chunks of peanut that you can crunch down on.

Oh peanut brittle <3

Oh peanut brittle, the first one I ever had was from the now, mostly defunct Darrell Lea company. You could get a huge bag of them for like $3, it was beautiful stuff, exactly like I described the reasons I loved peanut brittle. That was the only thing I missed when they ran out of business. The peanut brittle I've brought from other places like the Nut Shack's, dark golden, bitter with undercooked nuts and the very expensive Brittle Co's which has tiny shattered peanuts but has a great toffee.

Darrell Lea of course

The Brittle Co's

I have not had any since Darrell Lea ran out of business. I keep reading on blogs that peanut brittle is easy to make but I'm pretty dodgy at caramels, half the time when I make caramel sauces or kettle corn I manage to burn the pan. After that I spend about half an hour scrubbing pans to get rid of the scorch marks. What happens if I manage to ruin my one true love in sweets by my terrible cooking?

So one day, I decided to bite the bullet. VGirl and JGirl were coming over for my Korean feast of vegetarian japchae and bibimbap, recipes to come later, and I thought I'd just go ahead and make this peanut brittle. I'm really glad I did.

There were a few hairy moments when cooking this but problem solving is a strong suit of mine. I didn't realise I didn't have a pastry brush any more. My gas burner ran out of gas so I had to move to the stove top inside, probably a good idea since it was easier to control the heat indoors. I was so busy snapping photos of the butter addition that I managed to slightly burn the caramel as I was pouring it out of the pan. As well as that I didn't realise the toffee was such a small amount too, so I had way too many peanuts there, with the original recipe calling for 1:1:1/2, peanuts, sugar, water.

I was so relieved to see the colour turned out fine regardless and I immediately soaked the pan in hot water so the burnt bits came right off. When my mum came home I showed her the peanut brittle and she ate a third of the smaller pan, saying it was better than the shops and demanding to tell her how I made it. High praise, coming from my notoriously picky mum. Then my sister came over later for my Korean feast and she said it was very good and asked if she could take the remainder of the peanut brittle left behind in the cake tin!

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of unsalted cooked peanuts
1 1/2 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of cold water
50g of cubed butter
1 tbsp of salt

Uses:
Bribing your mum and sister

Warning:
Sugar clings and burns when heated, always keep a bowl of cool/cold water handy in case you get some on you. If this happens, douse the sugar in water as soon as possible, this will cause it to harden and in most cases snap off. Don't try and smear it off, as it'll just spread it further.

Instructions:
1. Line your baking tray of choice with enough baking paper so that there is at least a 2cm overhang on all sides. You don't want there to be empty spots on your tray where the brittle can flow, hardened toffee is a pain to clean up.
2. Scatter your peanuts at the bottom and try and maintain good spacing between them. You can't really move the peanuts once the brittle is poured over, so make it pretty now! The pictures I've taken have way too much peanuts, but you can learn from my mistake!

Too many peanuts!

3. Combine the sugar and water in a heavy based saucepan, heat on a medium-low heat that isn't a boil. Keep doing this until the toffee is super saturated with sugar and the sugar has all dissolved. Expect this to take 5+ minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon so that the bottom doesn't stick and its easier to clean off a wooden spoon, metal spoons get hot too quickly.

This

To this!

4. Brush down the edges of the toffee with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystal formation, it bakes on hard.
5. Once the sugar has all dissolved, pump up the heat to a steady medium-hot. Allow to boil fiercely for a good 10+ minutes. Continue stirring with your spoon.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!

6. You are waiting for a light golden brown colour, the shade of good honey in sunlight! When this happens, quickly throw in your butter and it will foam up everywhere. Continue stirring vigorously until the butter fully incorporates with the caramelised sugar.

At least this shade, or a bit lighter even. Depends on how fast you work

GOD DON'T TAKE A PHOTO MID MAKING CARAMEL

7. Quickly take it off the heat and pour over the peanuts. If possible, scrap over as much excess toffee as you can, it spreads slowly and cools very quickly, do this as quickly as possible! Or you won't get the chance to redo this, fully expect some peanuts not to be covered with the wave of molten toffee.
8. Allow to cool somewhere for at least 2+ hours before breaking it however you want, I recommend tapping strategically with a spoon!

I left mine in a huge chunk so you can break off tiny pieces and nibble at it.

This marks the return of my solid computer! My Boyfriend kindly loaned me his old laptop, which is still significantly newer than any piece of technology I own barring USBs. I still went out a lot during my hiatus so expect a lot of posts in the near future!