My Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe is my dad’s favorite Christmas Candy. My mom made it every year growing up, and even though I wasn’t a huge fan back then, I can sure appreciate it as an adult. Speaking of appreciation and favorite candy, Old Fashioned Cherry Mash Chocolates is my recipe for my mom’s favorite candy, a Cherry Mash.
I like the crisp crunch and the peanut flavor throughout my Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe. It’s tasty! After trying a few different recipes, I’ve come to the conclusion that my mom’s recipe really is THE BEST!
step-by-step video for perfect peanut brittle
HOW TO MAKE MOM’S BEST PEANUT BRITTLE
Grease a cookie sheet with butter. Set aside.
Combine butter, baking soda, and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine sugar, Karo Syrup, and water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly and bring to a boil until mixture spins a thread when drizzled from your spoon. See the step-by-step video for an example.
Add peanuts and continue stirring the boiling mixture until it turns light brown (approx. same color as a paper bag).
Add the bowl of butter, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix until butter is melted and mixture is foamy from the baking soda.
Pour out onto prepared cookie sheet and spread mixture out with two forks as thinly as you can (approx. 1/4″).
Cool completely.
Use a butter knife to break it into pieces. (See picture at bottom of post.)
MORE CHRISTMAS RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
Crazy Good Mint Fudge
White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel Crisps
Golden Oreo Peanut Butter Truffles
Holiday Snowball Cookies
Old Fashioned Cherry Mash Chocolates
Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe is made from very basic ingredients, and you don’t have to have a candy thermometer to make it. Sure, you can use a thermometer. If you don’t have one, you don’t need to feel stressed about messing this up. Just follow the instructions and watch the step-by-step video, and it will turn out great.
Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe is relatively inexpensive to make and is a great gift for teachers or neighbors. Package it up in a cute bag with a ribbon or add a few pieces to a treat plate.
Frequently Asked Questions about making Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle
where can i buy raw peanuts?
At the local grocery store and online. I have found them in the baking section at my grocery store. Others have bought them from Trader Joe’s, from the produce department of their grocery store, a farmer’s market, and even from a peanut farm.
when using a candy thermometer, what temperature do you bring the boiling mixture to?
Hard crack stage, which is between 300-310 degrees. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, stir the boiling mixture until it spins a thread when drizzled from the spoon. It sounds crazy, but you’ll know what I’m talking about when it happens. See the step-by-step video towards the beginning of the post for an example of what it looks like.
I have only used raw peanuts, but I don’t know of any reason why other nuts would not work. A couple of readers used almonds, and it turned out good for them.
Combine butter, baking soda, and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine sugar, Karo Syrup, and water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly and bring to a boil until mixture spins a thread when drizzled from your spoon. Sounds crazy, but you'll know what I am talking about when it happens. See the step-by-step video for an example.
Add peanuts and continue stirring the boiling mixture until it turns brown, like in the pictures, (approx. same color as a paper bag).
Add the bowl of butter, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix until butter is melted and mixture is foamy from the baking soda.
Pour out onto prepared cookie sheet and spread mixture out with two forks as thinly as you can (approx. ¼").
Cool completely.
Use a butter knife to break it into pieces. (See picture below.)
Don’t Forget to pin this amazing recipe to your favorite pinterest board!
More tried and true candy recipes
Merry Widow CaramelsHomemade Toffee with Chocolate and AlmondsPeanut Butter Cup Bars {No Bake}
The candy will attract moisture from the air, making it unpleasantly sticky instead of shatteringly crisp. Once it's completely cool, transfer it to an airtight container.
If you overcook the brittle, it could be bitter or burnt. If you undercook it, the brittle won't properly set and the end result will be sticky. A thermometer is an accessible and inexpensive way to monitor temperature and ensure properly cooked brittle. Make sure your baking soda is fresh and active.
Baking soda is a key ingredient in peanut brittle. It's what aerates the candy, giving it a nice light crunch. Why didn't my homemade peanut brittle get hard? The main reason why peanut brittle doesn't get hard and have the crunch we expect is because the sugar was not cooked long enough.
Why did my peanut brittle turn out chewy? The likely cause is that the sugar mixture didn't reach the proper hard crack stage temperature. Ensuring it reaches 300˚F is key to getting that classic brittle texture.
Didn't get it hot enough. You have to hit hard crack stage heat or it's not going to harden. From internet: Hard-Crack Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 – 154 C (300 – 310 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it.
- Preheat your oven to a low temperature, around 250°F (120°C). - Break the stale peanut brittle into smaller pieces. - Place the brittle pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer. - Heat the brittle in the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes, checking frequently to avoid overcooking.
Peanut brittle has one redeeming quality: peanuts. Outside of that single ingredient, peanut brittle is painfully unhealthy. It contains: sugar, corn syrup, and butter, all of which are unhealthy for your body in different ways.
I don't recommend substituting honey, molasses, or agave for the corn syrup. Those other liquid sugars have impurities that will burn at the higher temperature of making caramel, leading to a bitter-tasting brittle.
To store: Once it's completely cooled, store peanut brittle in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not refrigerate as the moisture from the fridge will cause the brittle to soften. Store for 6-8 weeks. To Freeze: Peanut brittle can be frozen and stored up to 3 months.
As mentioned in “how to make peanut brittle”, it's very important to move fast after the peanuts and baking soda are mixed in. If not, the peanut brittle will turn out too thick and clumpy. Don't play the guessing game and use a candy thermometer instead. This will ensure your peanut brittle turns out perfectly golden.
You will want the cookie sheet to be non-stick. Use parchment paper, a silicone baking sheet or a greased cookie sheet. Spread the peanut brittle as thin as you can. Immediately add your sea salt.
As the sugar is cooking and begins turning amber in color it accumulates small amounts of acid, and that acid reacts chemically with the alkaline baking soda releasing about a zillion minuscule bubbles of CO2 that get trapped, making the sugar porous and, well… brittle.
It's what's missing — corn syrup. A common brittle ingredient, Asare said, corn syrup causes brittle to go all gooey, gummy and tooth-clingy as it melts in your mouth, whereas sugar crunches, crumbles and dissolves.
I've learned that brittle is better when made on a cool, dry day. When I've made the candy on a warmer, humid day, it tends to be a stickier brittle. This is because the brittle takes longer to cool, and it reaches a point where it is no longer evaporating moisture into the air.
Brittles are typically composed mostly of sugar, while toffees contain a fair amount of butter and in some cases milk. This makes toffees fuller and richer in taste, while brittles are more purely sweet and sugary. Brittles are also much thinner than most toffees.
It should come as no surprise that storing your peanut brittle in airtight containers is one of the best ways to store peanut brittle. Keeping air out helps maintain your brittle's freshness by minimizing the amount of moisture that might come into contact with your sweet treat.
To store: Once it's completely cooled, store peanut brittle in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not refrigerate as the moisture from the fridge will cause the brittle to soften. Store for 6-8 weeks. To Freeze: Peanut brittle can be frozen and stored up to 3 months.
She found that by boiling the peanuts before roasting them, that the peanuts acquired a firmer and crunchier texture that my Dad prefers. The peanuts are then slow roasted in the oven for a couple of hours, before letting them sit in the oven overnight with the heat turned off.
I've learned that brittle is better when made on a cool, dry day. When I've made the candy on a warmer, humid day, it tends to be a stickier brittle. This is because the brittle takes longer to cool, and it reaches a point where it is no longer evaporating moisture into the air.
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
My Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe is my dad’s favorite Christmas Candy. My mom made it every year growing up, and even though I wasn’t a huge fan back then, I can sure appreciate it as an adult. Speaking of appreciation and favorite candy, Old Fashioned Cherry Mash Chocolates is my recipe for my mom’s favorite candy, a Cherry Mash.
