Homemade Peanut Brittle
on Nov 07, 2016, Updated Oct 21, 2020
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If you are a fan of Old Fashioned candies, you will want to make this Homemade Peanut Brittle. Perfect traditional recipe that is great for Christmas gifts, holiday candy trays, or all year long sweet.
Homemade Peanut Brittle
It’s that time of year again… Christmas candy and baking will be on most everyones lists for the holidays. I have shared quite a few of my favorite traditional Christmas candies and cookies with you here on my blog. Have you made our Homemade Chocolate Covered Cherries yet? If not, you will want to add those to your candy lists. They are always a family favorite.
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This week while hunting around my blog, I realized I had never shared our Homemade Peanut Brittle. So, I had the hubby make a batch to share with all of you. Peanut Brittle is one of those very traditional candies. It’s great all year long but we always seem to make it during the holiday season. It is great for gifting or for your holiday candy trays.
Making homemade candy can be tricky sometimes. If you do not get everything just about perfect, you can have a mess on your hands. My hubby is always our candy and fudge guy. He always makes his batches perfect. His Peanut Butter Fudge is a family and friend favorite. So… I leave all the candy and fudge recipes for him to tackle.
To make your own Homemade Peanut Brittle, you will need corn syrup, sugar, butter, vanilla, baking soda, and, of course, peanuts. With this recipe, you will want to make sure that you move quickly once you have added the peanuts. The mixture will set quickly. I store mine in an airtight container. One batch never seems to last too long around our home, they eat all of it quite quickly.
INGREDIENTS
2 cup Sugar
1 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 cup Water
1 cup Butter
16 oz Roasted Peanuts
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
DIRECTIONS
Line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper and set aside.
In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, corn syrup and water.
Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (about 10-12 minutes).
Add butter and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches soft crack stage (mixture forms strands that hold shape but are pliable). This takes about 15-25 minutes.
Add peanuts and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until candy reaches hard crack stage (mixture forms strands that hold shape and break when flexed). This takes about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla and baking soda.
Pour mixture immediately onto prepared sheets and spread to 1/4″ thick.
Allow to cool completely.
Break into pieces.
Homemade Peanut Brittle
Ingredients
- 2 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Corn Syrup
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 cup Butter
- 16 oz Roasted Peanuts
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, corn syrup and water.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (about 10-12 minutes).
- Add butter and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches soft crack stage (mixture forms strands that hold shape but are pliable). This takes about 15-25 minutes.
- Add peanuts and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until candy reaches hard crack stage (mixture forms strands that hold shape and break when flexed). This takes about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in vanilla and baking soda.
- Pour mixture immediately onto prepared sheets and spread to 1/4" thick.
- Allow to cool completely.
- Break into pieces.
Nutrition
Looking for other holiday candy ideas? Be sure to see these other recipes that I have shared…
What size pan are you using? 1/2 or 1/4 size baking sheet?
First time I made this recipe it was fantastic! I was so proud of myself, couldn’t stop talking about it and couldn’t wait to make it again! Made it yesterday and it never hardened! What went wrong ????? Was so disappointed ☹️! Going to try making it again and pray for the best!
Oh goodness, Carolyn! I am sorry you had issues when you made it a second time. Candy making can be finicky at times. I am sure it was disappointing. I hope it works out better for you the next time you make it. One thing to check is the freshness of the baking soda. It can go bad quite quickly. So maybe try a fresh box with your next batch. Hope that helps.
I just realized I bought honey roasted peanuts hopefully that’s close enough! Have you ever used them??
HI Kassidy! I have never used honey roasted but, I bet the peanut brittle will be delish! Be sure to let us know how the flavor profile turns out. Merry Christmas!
Looking forward to tryingsome of these exiting recipes
First time making peanut brittle and it was easy.. Thanks for the best directions
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
I used salted but, unsalted should work just as well Lisa. I hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas to you!
Can you substitute cashews for the peanuts?
I just wanted to let you know, I’m 64 years old and have ate a lot and made a lot of peanut brittle. But this is by far the best I have ever ate. My sister and I had a hard time not eating it all ourselves. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS DELICIOUS RECIPE.
Can you use spanish peanuts instead of roasted reg peanuts?
That’s what I use. Tastes great .
Pinned
the first batch i made my peanuts burnt. so the second time im boiled it for longer until almost ready then only kept my peanuts in for 3 minutes before removing from heat. then it turned out PERFECT! thanks for the recipe:)