Peanut Brittle

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This is the first candy I have ever tried to make. With a candy thermometer ($5 at the local grocery, it turned out perfectly. Following other reviewer's recommendations, I heated the sugar to 340 degrees before adding the peanuts and spreading. It hardened exactly like it was supposed to. I doubled the cinnamon and halved the cayenne pepper when I made it, and my wife agrees, it's excellent. Thanks Alton, you rock!

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First of all. Simple as it gets...provided you use the thermometer as air temp, humidity, and altitude (among others can change how your batch comes out. Come on, if you want to make candy buy a candy thermometer...barring that, try the cold water test (drop a small bit of cooking syrup if it turns hard right away, it's done.
Also, if you have a problem with crystallization there are several things you can do. 1. use a tsp or so of corn syrup (it keeps sugar from recrystallizing 2. if you don't want to use corn syrup, use acid a pinch of cream of tartar or little squeeze of lemon works. You won't even taste it...I promise. Yes, there are more sophisticated recipes out there, but this is easy and most people have all of the ingredients already.

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So easy recipe. I never made peanut brittle in my life. I used roasted, salted pumpkin seeds in place of the peanuts. I processed the cooled brittle in the food processor to use as a garnish sprinkled on a pumpkin cheesecake, reserving a wedge of brittle as a stake in the center of the cake. Marvelous presentation and the spicy flavor was a wonderful contrast to the sweet cheesecake. Everyone loved it.

Alice
Tampa, Florida
11/22/08

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I love this recipe. I personally do not care for corn syrup and was happy to find one without it.

My first batch was awful. My idea of "light amber" doesn't quite match up with the right temperature. The 2nd time I bought a candy thermometer and sure enough my "Light amber" was about 60 degrees cooler from 350. I waited until 335 -340 and perfect!

Unfortunately, I've done two other batches that both crystallized. Before I got anywhere near 300-310 I started to get bubbles with crystals forming. No good. Not sure how to prevent this - other than corn syrup. But I got it to work once, so I know it's possible!

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i don't know why so many people said this is a hard recipe. i have never made candy before, but after watching this episode i saw how easy it could be and tried it. this was so simple. it took more than twenty minutes to turn the right color, so i just checked on it every few minutes, but other than that i followed the recipe exactly.

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Don't listen to the naysayers --- Easy & Delicious (if a little spicy. 320 degrees is what temperature you will reach when the sugar is light amber.

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So you think you can't taste the spice, but then it just warms the back of your throat. This stuff is addictive!!

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What is wrong with you people. I have made over 50 recipes from this web site and have never had a bad one. I have also made several candy recipies and they came out perfect. Just because you can cook food dosent mean you can make candy. Pastry, candy things of that nature are a completely different beast then food. Stop slamming Alton cause you cant make a brittle. Try again till you get it right, or better yet by a GOOD candy thermometer.

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I wish this recipe specified how long it takes for sugar to become light amber.
The flavor was good, though, a nice change from traditional peanut brittle. Also it would be nice if it said we could use other kinds of nuts, if we so desired.

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The cayenne pepper made the brittle inedible for the batch I tried. I'd also recomend that you avoid using water to cook the sugar. Make the Caramel from dry sugar, it's faster with less hassle.