Sunday, October 24, 2010

Peanut Brittle - SMS

Knowing we were going to be out of town this weekend, I made this recipe in advance. I always feel good when I have a SMS post ready to go before Sunday. Am I glad I made this in advance? Absolutely, this was one of those problem recipes.

I gathered all of the ingredients in advance, read the recipe a couple of times and began cooking the caramel. I've read about how challenging caramel can be. I was a little nevous about this recipe. I think that was my problem! The recipe is like an animal, it smells my fear. I've made caramel before without any problems. Not so lucky this time. This recipe calls for cooking the sugar and corn syrup on medium high. I wondered if that was too hot but did it anyway. The caramel mixture hadn't been on the stove very long and I noticed it was starting to smoke. Panic! Our smoke detector is wired into our alarm and I didn't want it to go off. I opened the kitchen windows and the backdoor. It started smoking even more. I grabbed the pan and wanted to run to take it outside to the deck. Knowing how my luck was going that particular day, I decided running wasn't a good plan. I walked as quickly as I could and let it smoke away outside. Time to start over but I used all of the corn syrup, so I will be starting over another night.

Never having made peanut brittle before, I didn't really know what to expect. I went to the internet and began reading recipes for peanut brittle. After reading a number of recipes, I decided two things. One, this recipe uses way too high of a temperature to cook the caramel. Second, most of the other recipes used a little water along with the sugar and corn syrup. When I made the second batch, I followed Melissa's recipe except I added 1/4 cup of water and cooked the caramel on medium. This time went much more smoothly, until the final step. One stick of butter is way too much butter. I couldn't get it to incorporate smoothly. As a result, my peanut brittle is a big greasy.

I've never been a big peanut brittle fan. Give me chocolate anything instead. :) I thought this tasted just okay. Tim said it was pretty good. I am anxious to read what the other SMS bakers thought of this recipe.


This week's recipe was chosen by JoVonn of the Givens Chronicles, you can find the recipe on her blog. If you'd like to check out the other SMS baker's peanut brittle, you can find them here.

18 comments:

  1. I make a really easy microwave version and I'm so sorry this recipe was a challenge. I'll try to get mine up soon. It turns out perfect every time. Hope you've had a great weekend away.

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  2. Looks good! Same as you, rather have a piece of chocolate, but my husband would love a piece of the brittle!

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  3. ciao Julie I've never had peanut brittle !

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  4. I made peanut brittle for the first time a couple years ago. It was for my mom, since that's her all-time favorite candy. Thanks for the inspiration, I think I'll make it again soon!

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  5. I too had issues with this recipe... upon reading it!! haha. So right away I started making adjustments to it and found that I'm basically making my standby brittle recipe and so I followed that. I'm your husband liked it.

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  6. Sorry you had issues with this recipe, it's one of the reasons I opted not to make it this week and did a rewind instead. Your brittle looks yummy!

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  7. Have not made peanut brittle in years. I used to make it when my boys were growing up. I made it in the microwave; it was a fun recipe to make with them and fullproof.

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  8. It looks delicious. We have new braces in the house, though, so I won't be making this any time soon!

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  9. We're not fans of brittle here either, so I sat out this week, but fun seeing how it turned out for everyone else. I'm glad you had better luck the second time around and that your husband enjoyed it. It is a nice feeling to have things done ahead of time - though it's not often for me that it actually happens :)

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  10. Your experience sounds like mine: had to do it twice. I agree that there was too much butter too. Thanks for making candy with me!

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  11. I just hate do-overs so I feel for you. I'm not much of a peanut brittle fan, but do enjoy a piece or two at Christmas time. I'd never be brave enough to try making it myself though!

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  12. Yes, I love being able to plan ahead and get it done ahead... that said, I'm making this recipe on Sunday afternoon and taking pictures at night...

    I'm glad you tried it out- I suppose you could melt some chocolate on top of it? ;)

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  13. Oh, that must have been so frustrating! Mine ended up quite greasy too, and it never set up properly. But I give you big props for trying it again! I tend to admit defeat when I'm in the same situation.

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  14. I think caramel is one of the scariest things to make but I'm super proud of you for attempting it! I love peanut brittle so much that I could never have it around the house. I'll just stop by yours for a bite :P

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  15. It looks great! Imagine what it would be like dipped in chocolate...

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  16. I'm glad you didn't burn yourself while dashing out the door with your hot caramel! I've burned myself making caramel and it hurts like you-know-what. Thanks for the honest review!

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  17. Great job on the brittle and congrats for making it ahead of time. I actually used a different recipe, since the temperature and the amount of butter in Melissa's recipe both seemed a bit high.

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  18. Your brittle looks great...a nice light color. :) I applaud you for making it ahead and having time to make it over! I just didn't have steam to do mine again.

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