Dixie Peanut Brittle

Matt's Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts event at Duke Homestead resulted in a lot of extra peanuts, and I wanted to use some of them up. Luckily, he also brought home a little pamphlet from Virginia-Carolina Peanut Promotions entitled "All About Cooking Peanuts."

My mom was in town, and together we roasted and shelled a ton of peanuts.

And then followed these directions:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups raw shelled peanuts, skins on
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

In a heavy saucepan heat sugar, syrup, water and salt to a rolling boil. Add peanuts. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly. Cook to hard crack stage (300 to 310 degrees Fahrenheit).*

Add butter, then baking soda. Beat rapidly and pour onto a buttered surface spreading to 1/4-inch thickness. When cool break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

*In the absence of a candy thermometer, test for hard crack stage by dropping a tiny bit of syrup into ice water (let it thread from a spoon into the water). When the threads are brittle (not pliable) it has reached the hard crack stage.

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I don't have a candy thermometer, so we had to follow the dropping the syrup into water way.

Unfortunately, we didn't quite reach the hard crack stage. 

The flavors are delicious, but it's more the consistency of a peanut taffy than a brittle. If you're looking for something delicious to get stuck in your teeth, this is the recipe for you.