peanut brittle should have peanut butter!!

why do so many peanut brittle recipes on the internet not have peanut butter? if you ask me, that’s a bit ridiculous.

my grandfather was craving peanut brittle one day in the middle of the summer. not a single peanut brittle was for sale, unsurprising, since we were so far from christmas season. google searches yielded peanut butterless brittles containing butter. so of course i had to test some recipes.

here’s my take on peanut brittle, a simple microwave recipe that is incidentally vegan.

last christmas, my coworker made us all a bunch of bags of peanut brittle. he told me that after all of the peanut brittle recipes he had tested, the microwave recipes were just as good as the stove top versions. thanks to kurt for saving me from messing around with boiling sugar and condy thermometers. 🙂

this microwave recipe is a two-microwave process.

first, grease a microwave-safe bowl and a spoon. like my nice glass flowery one here. please choose an extra large bowl, as the brittle shall grow a lot from the baking soda! 🙂 i don’t want you to get brittles batter on your microwave plate. i don’t want you to cry.

then melt the sugars together: corn syrup and white sugar. just add them both to the bowl and microwave for 2-4 minutes. then they are easy to combine after mixing for a while.

then you can stir in your peanut butter and chopped (or whole!) nuts.

keep in mind that different peanut butters will lead to different results! in this picture below i have used skippy peanut butter smooth edition (its gluten free!). teddy is also good! and chunky version is good too for greater ✨heterogeneity✨!

i prefer brands that don’t add too much oils, since the nuts themselves are already fatty and we don’t need to be paying for oils. i̶’̶m̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶.

now add baking soda and microwave again for 3-4 minutes. you might see it growing in the microwave!! it’s going to be very puffy while you are pouring it our on to you baking sheet. 🙂 please work quickly!

please remove as much brittle batter from the bowl as thoroughly and as quickly as possible. if the brittle is too thick for your liking, you can spread it out with the back of the greased spoon. you can choose your favorite brittle thickness. 🙂

then you just need to wait a little bit. you can tell the brittle is set when you knock on it with a spoon and it doesn’t stick or move; sounds solid. remember, if you made a thicker brittle, it will take longer to set. setting never takes too long though, so no worries about that.

now it’s time for the fun part! 🙂 once it is completely dried, you can begin breaking up using your method of choice.

i like using this thick pastry cutter, as i feel that very sharp tools are not necessarily helpful for this job.

you want to be doing more forceful crushing of the brittle, rather than attempting to cut through it. you will just end up dulling your knives.

cut whichever size pieces you like! i encourage you to make long sharp polygons! i feel they are prettiest that way.

i generally like to break them up into smaller pieces, as i prefer to take small bites. big pieces are prettier though; your friends will be excited to receive giant shards of irregularly shaped brittles! for me, i always end up breaking those giant pieces up anyways, so i prefer them to be small. it’s all up to you!

best nutty peanut brittle recipe:
vegan & easy microwave method

servings: 15 – 20 people

prep time: <15 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

total time: 20 – 25 minutes

ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

instructions

1. grease a large microwave-safe bowl and spoon. add parchment paper to a baking sheet
   
   
2. add sugar and light corn syrup to the greased bowl
   
   
3. microwave for 2-4 minutes
   
   
4. stir in peanut butter and chopped nuts (optional)  
   
   
5. Add baking soda and stir thoroughly
   
   
6. microwave for 3-4 minutes
   
   
7. immediately pour a layer of the mixture into the parchment-lined baking sheet the desired thickness of the brittle. spread out any thick clumps with greased spoon
   
   
8. allow brittle to cool completely on the baking pan. at room temperature, this should only take a few minutes. tap the surface of the brittle to check if it is set
   
   
9. use a knife or pastry butter to break the peanut brittle into pieces. store in plastic bags or air-tight container
   

some notes

use any nuts you like! go wild

break up the nuts into different sizes, even leave some whole for some delicious ✨✨heterogeneity✨✨

you can also spoon these into muffin tins if you want them to be cute little disks! just remember you need to work fast so they don’t solidify in the bowl before you’ve transferred the mixture.

if the mix solidifies before you have transferred it to your preferred cooling place, you can microwave it for longer to soften it up again. in general, you want to avoid this though, because the mix will be harder to work with.