Microwave Peanut Brittle

[Mike Nolan]

Microwave Peanut Brittle

Instructions

1 cup (5 1/2 ounces) raw Spanish peanuts
1 cup (7 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup (5 1/2 ounces) corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon baking soda

Put peanuts, salt, sugar and corn syrup in 8 quart glass measuring cup.

Microwave on high power for 2 minutes.

Stir, then microwave on high power for 2 minutes.

Stir, then microwave on high power for 1 minute to 1 minute and 15 seconds. Mixture should be starting to turn color.

Add butter, then microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes or until mixture starts to turn a light golden brown.

Add vanilla and baking soda, stir vigorously until it has foamed up fully, then pour onto a sheet of aluminum foil on a heatproof surface (we use a marble table.) Let cool for several minute then break into random sized pieces.

Note, the microwave cooking times may need to be adjusted to the power of your microwave. These are what work best for me, though I usually go by smell rather than by color.

For interesting variants, add 1/2 teaspoon of light molasses or 1 teaspoon of Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Also works well with almonds, pecans and cashews.

A self-proclaimed 'peanut brittle snob' we know thought this was some of the best peanut brittle he had ever tasted!

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[horses272]

Sounds great,

[Mike Nolan]

I used to have a microwave sponge candy recipe, too. (called seafoam at some candy stores) one that I had worked on the timings a lot, but the sheet of paper I had written it on was inside a cookbook that vanished several years ago, and I haven't been able to reproduce the recipe or get the timing down right, maybe both.

I've got several pages of alternate recipes to try (done on the range rather than in a microwave oven), but making sponge candy hasn't been high on my list of things to do the last few years.

I'm hoping to take a course on chocolate-making later this year, being better trained on how to temper chocolate and enrobe candies might revive this quest.

[Nina Beyt]

I had copied your Microwave Peanut Brittle ages ago but confess I haven't made it. Just in case, I checked to see if I had a microwave sponge candy in my files but of course not. If you like, I'll search my few books that may have such a thing. I'm assuming you copied it from a magazine or such? I've had a few cookbooks disappear also. One had a food processor pizza dough that I missed for years. I suppose if I had it today, I would no longer like it, having had far better bakers to advise.

[Mike Nolan]

I found the microwave sponge candy recipe online, but the site it was on vanished years ago.

[Nina Beyt]

I assume you've tried all that you could find online today?

[Mike Nolan]

I've searched many many times, as I do/did remember a few key words and phrases in the original document, but it's just gone. I even tried the wayback machine.

The on-the-stove recipe I found most recently looks like a good one, it comes from Buffalo, which is where the best sponge candy in the country is made (or so I'm told) and it has an ingredient in the recipe that I know professional confectioners use in sponge candy--gelatin. (The recipe I lost did not have gelatin in it.)

But sponge candy is not a 'summertime' item, so it'll probably have to wait until cooler weather to return. Maybe after my chocolate class?

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