Peanut Brittle
While growing up, it never was officially Christmas until I went over to grandma and grandpa’s and found peanut brittle in grandma’s crystal trifle dish, which everyone in the family called the “Peanut Brittle Dish”. When the peanut brittle appeared in the dish and grandma hung her little decoupaged sand dollars on the china cabinets’ handles, we knew that Christmas had arrived!
Grandma wasn’t a big decorator for Christmas, but she’s always been a big baker of Christmas candy. One year she sent some peanut brittle with grandpa to his office when he was working. People loved her peanut brittle and he came home with orders. She ended up making 100 pounds of peanut brittle that year.
I learned how to make peanut brittle from her, or from the best as I like to say, and below I’m sharing our recipe. Be sure to the read the notes following the recipe instructions because the details are what make for a successful peanut-brittle making experience.
Peanut Brittle
2 cups white sugar
1 cup water
1 cup Karo
1 lb. raw peanuts (these can be the Spanish or Virginia peanut but smaller peanuts are better and they must be raw—not already roasted)
1-¼ tsp. of fresh baking soda
1 Tbsp. butter
Extra butter
A candy thermometer
Get Started
Prepare a large baking sheet by spreading it well with butter. You want the sheet to be pretty large so the peanut brittle can really spread out when you pour it and not have it get too thick. Pick a cool dry spot where you can set your peanut brittle to cool. Place a trivet there because you will be setting a very hot cookie sheet on it to cool.
In a medium or large sauce pan, bring the water, Karo, and sugar to a boil. Boil on medium high heat until the candy thermometer reached 275°*. Stir occasionally. Once it reaches 275°, add the butter and peanuts and start stirring constantly. The mixture will get very thick and hard to stir, but as it cooks it will thin out again. You really need to stir constantly and make sure that you are scraping all areas of the pan so that nothing burns.
Next comes the tricky part: as the thermometer start to reach 290°-295° quickly pull out the thermometer, remove the pan from the heat, pour in the baking soda, and quickly stir the peanut brittle—it will start to foam. As soon as it is foaming evenly throughout, pour onto the cookie sheet. You can gently push it out to the edges of the pan but you don’t want to crush too much of the foam—the foam is what makes it nice and crunchy!
Carefully pick up the cookie sheet and take to the spot you prepared to allow it to cool. It will need to cool for about 30-40 minutes depending on how cool and dry your spot is. Once it has cooled, gently twist the pan so the peanut brittle pops off in one large piece. Flip it over and, using a paper towel, wipe the butter from the back of the peanut brittle; then, with a metal spoon, whack the back of the peanut brittle and watch it crack into pieces. Continue doing this until you have gotten the pieces the size you want. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!
*This will take a while. I don’t recommend turning the heat up the whole way because you can burn the mixture. Allow it to take its time so it can thicken. This will take around 30-40 minutes depending on your stove.
When it comes to adding the baking soda, you want this to be a very quick process—as in seconds. As quickly as you can, remove the thermometer, remove the pan from the heat, add and stir the baking soda, taking no more than 30 seconds.
It is very important that you have a cool dry place to allow the peanut brittle to cool. If you don’t, it will get sticky and good luck trying to eat sticky peanut brittle! Also, once it has cooled, break into pieces and store immediately, again to avoid it from getting sticky.
Oreo Truffles
1 package of Oreo cookies
1 package of cream cheese (make sure you get the original kind)
1 bag of melting chocolate
Get Started
Crush Oreos in a food processor or put the Oreos in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. You want the Oreos to be crushed into a medium/fine consistency.
Heat the cream cheese till dry soft.
Combine Oreos and cream cheese together. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, form into to small balls—about an inch in diameter, and place on a cookie sheet.
Chill the formed balls in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes or about 20 minutes in the freezer. You want the balls to be hard to the touch but you don’t want them to actually freeze.
While the balls are setting up, start to melt the chocolate in a melting pot or double boiler. You will want to stir constantly while the chocolate is melting. If you are using a fondue pot or melting pot, I recommend not keeping the heat on high after the point when the chocolate has just melted. If you keep it on high the entire time, your chocolate will most likely burn. What does burn chocolate look like? If the chocolate is melted but you are seeing clumps form that you cannot blend out, then your chocolate has burnt. It will still taste more or less ok if this is just beginning to happen, but not if it continues.
After the balls have set and the chocolate is melted, dip the balls into the chocolate and allow to cool on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. If you want to add sprinkles or decorations to your truffles, do this right after placing them on the wax paper, before the chocolate has time to cool.
Allow the chocolate to set and cool entirely and once it has—enjoy!