Peanut Brittle (and variations)

Look at all those recipes! Where do I even begin?

[Go ahead and skip to the recipe at the end if you care more about the product than the process.]

I had never made peanut brittle before, probably because I've never been a huge fan. There's something about peanuts in candy that puts me off. I don't dislike them - I enjoy shelling and eating peanuts once in a while - but they generally don't appeal to me as an ingredient in other foods. As my dear friend Amanda put it, the peanuts are just the vehicle for the brittle, and she's right. I remember as a little kid trying to nibble the yummy candy around each peanut, then throwing away the nuts.

Early in the holiday season, Amanda acquired a package of a New York-made confection labeled "Bacon Brittles," which turned out to be simply a bag o' sweet and salty peanuts rather than what we consider brittle. Disappointed but intrigued, Amanda pondered how to improve on the concept, and came up with the idea of incorporating jalapeno smoked bacon into a traditional peanut brittle recipe. Since she's more of a cook and I'm more of a baker, she tossed her idea my way, and I immediately went to the Yellow Box.

I found eight recipes for peanut brittle, and was surprised that no two were identical. Since this would be my first attempt at making brittle candy, I also turned to The Joy of Cooking to learn the basics and to compare the recipe in the book to the ones from the Yellow Box.

Here's a good example of my.... well.... I don't know what to call it. I've never been diagnosed with OCD, but is this chart I made an indicator?

	Sidner	Newspaper	Tulsa Tribune	Hause	Allen	Harkleroad	Walker	Binding-Stevens	Joy of Cooking
sugar	2 cups	2 cups	2 cups	1 cup	2 cups	1 cup	2 cups	2 cups	2 cups
corn syrup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1/2 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup
water	1/2 cup	2/3 cup	1/2 cup	2 tsp	1/2 cup		1/2 cup	1/2 cup	1/2 cup
cream of tartar									1/4 tsp
salt		1/2 tsp	1/2 tsp
peanuts	2 cups	1 lb	1 lb	1 cup	2 cups	1 cup	2 cups	2 cups	2 cups
butter	1 tbsp	1 tbsp			2 tbsp		2 tbsp	1 heaping tbsp	3 tbsp
vanilla	1/2 tsp	1 tsp	1 tsp	2 tsp	1 tsp		1 tsp
soda	1 1/2 tsp	2 tsp	2 1/2 tsp	1 1/2 tsp	2 tsp	1 tsp	1 heaping tsp	1 tsp	1/4 tsp

I wasn't interested in preparing nine different recipes just to find the best one, so I kind of eyeballed them all and went with what seemed to be the most average - I believe it was Mrs. Allen's recipe.

To assist us in our first attempt at jalapeno bacon brittle, Amanda invited her awesome friend Kellie, who had ample experience and provided great coaching on brittle-making techniques. The most important part of the process is to work as quickly as possible at the end: rapidly stir in the final ingredients, immediately pour the candy into a greased baking pan, then vigorously shake the pan with jerking movements back and forth across the countertop to get the candy to spread out as much as possible before it sets. Do not tilt the pan or you'll end up with thick sections of candy. Trying to spread it out manually can work, but it's tricky.

With Kellie's help, I pretty much got the hang of brittle making after the first couple of batches. It really is simple, but requires having everything prepared beforehand and moving quickly in the final stages.

Since our peanuts were already roasted (in jalapeno bacon grease!) and the bacon was already cooked, we waited to add those at the very end. The Joy of Cooking also recommends this method using toasted rather than raw nuts.

Here's an artistic shot of our first batch of jalapeno bacon brittle:

Later, I tried making it with coarsely chopped peanuts, but it turned out looking a little too much like vomit:

Of course, the flavor is most important, and I wish I could say definitively one way or the other how I liked it. But truly, I couldn't make up my mind. Amanda liked it, and so did several other adventurous-palated friends. Sarah didn't care for it, though, and she wasn't alone. It was worth a try, in my opinion.

However, since I don't expect everyone to rush to the specialty gourmet stores to locate jalapeno bacon, I made traditional peanut brittle as well. I referred to both Mrs. Allen's recipe as well as the one Mrs. Hora cut from the Tulsa Tribune for guidance on thermometer readings. Since I don't yet have a feel for making candy according to visual cues, I relied on a candy thermometer for each batch. Out of curiosity, I poured it out onto foil instead of a baking sheet, and it came out fine, just a little thicker.

Here's the traditional batch:

Though I said I don't much care for peanuts in candy, I really liked this brittle. We included it in a goodie box we passed out to the neighbors, and the lady across the street flagged me down a few days later to tell me she and her husband loved it so much, their son didn't even get to try it because they ate it all before he got home from school!

The rich buttery vanilla flavor was evident in Mrs. Allen's recipe, and I wondered if that was the secret. A few days later, out of curiosity, I tried Mrs. Harkleroad's barebones recipe with only four ingredients. Blech. I mean, I guess it was edible, but it left no question that butter and vanilla make the best-tasting brittle.

Making brittle on my own, I learned that it takes a long time for the boiling syrup to heat up to the "hard crack" stage - and even longer when you put the raw peanuts in half-way through and it has to heat up all over again - but the temperature rises very quickly the last ten or twenty degrees. I looked away for a minute, then suddenly caught a whiff of burning peanuts and found the temp to be almost 310°. I rushed to finish the batch, and it fortunately turned out okay, but taught me to be more watchful in the future.

While I was attempting Mrs. Harkleroad's recipe, I decided to see if I could judge the doneness by its color instead of by the temperature. Mrs. Harkleroad said it would be dark around the edges, whereas Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Walker said it should be golden brown. I never noticed the edges of the syrup looking darker than the rest of it, so I watched and waited for the golden brown color to manifest.

Also, to entertain myself during the long boiling period, I took photos of the syrup as it cooked:

Somewhere around the fourth shot, though, I questioned my judgment and used the candy thermometer. The final photo was taken at just under 300°.

I am now satisfied that I can churn out a decent batch of peanut brittle on demand.

However, as the holiday season whirled on, a canister of cashews kept nagging at me every time I opened the pantry.... The peanut brittle I'd made was good, but wouldn't cashew brittle be so much better? A few days after Christmas, in the lull before New Year's festivities, I brought home a package of maple-flavored bacon and could no longer resist the temptation.

I made the brittle using Mrs. Allen's list of ingredients and the Tulsa Tribune's temperature guidelines. Also, since the cashew nuts were already roasted, I heeded The Joy of Cooking's instructions and waited until the very end before stirring in 2 cups of nuts and about a half-cup of cooked chopped bacon. And the result....

Maple bacon cashew brittle is officially my new favorite candy.

Really, it's fantastically delicious. Deliciously fantastic. Whatever. I strongly, strongly suggest giving it a try. It's so worth trying, in fact, I'll even make it for you and send you some if you don't want to make it yourself. Maybe. If you ask me nicely.

So, to sum up: there are a variety of successful ways to make brittle, whether with peanuts or the nut of your choice, but for the best-tasting results, use butter and vanilla.

Here are all eight recipes from the Yellow Box:

If you're in the mood to experiment with the different recipes, knock yourself out.

However, the recipe I'm providing below is actually a combination of the ingredients and methods from those above.
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Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
½ cup water
2 cups raw or roasted nuts
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda

Measure and have ready in advance butter, vanilla, and baking soda.
Grease or butter a rimmed baking sheet or large sheet of aluminum foil.
Use a pot that is at least twice the volume of the ingredients, to allow room for the candy to foam and expand at the end of the process.
Bring sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula.
Once boiling, stirring is not necessary except when adding ingredients.
Monitor the temperature of the syrup with a candy thermometer.
When the candy thermometer registers 240° (threading or soft ball stage), stir in raw nuts (do not add roasted nuts at this time) and continue to boil.
When the syrup reaches between 295-300° (hard crack stage and golden amber in color), remove from heat and quickly stir in butter, vanilla, and soda, about 10 seconds. Mixture will foam.
If using roasted nuts, add them at this point and stir quickly to coat.
Immediately pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and begin shaking vigorously to encourage candy to spread out. If using foil, it is possible to spread and pull the candy thin while wearing heat-proof (silicone) gloves.
Allow candy to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

For bacon brittle, cook and chop up about 1/2 cup (6-8 slices) of bacon (maple-flavored is especially good), and stir it into the syrup at the very end (simultaneously with roasted nuts, if using).
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