Tag Archives: peanuts

The Best Peanut Brittle

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This is seriously easy .. and so good. The hardest part about it is having the patience to do it correctly. My last batch took a half hour of stirring over a hot stove, which gets annoying. Tip #1 have help standing by, you’ll only need them for 2 minutes tops, but when it comes to pouring and spreading the brittle the more help the better. Tip #2, measure out all your ingredients before you start. Once things get going you wont have enough time to measure out your baking soda or peanuts. Tip #3, use a candy thermometer, dont even attempt this without one unless you’re a pro candy maker. It’ll make this so much easier! Oh! and don’t be afraid to try this .. its really easy if you’re prepared, and its sooo cool to see all the different stages of boiling the sugar!

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup peanuts (I use spanish peanuts and omit the salt. If you use salty or roasted nuts, forget the salt)
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  1. Place a large cookie sheet into your oven and preheat to 200 degrees.
  2. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan over medium heat bring sugars, corn syrup, salt and water to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set candy thermometer in place and continue cooking, stirring frequently. Use a wooden spoon, don’t even try to use plastic, and if you use silicon (which I use) be careful that the end doesn’t get loose and come off in your brittle (happened to my first batch last year)
  3. Once temperature reaches 250 degrees add peanuts.
  4. Once temperature reaches 300 degrees remove from heat and add in the butter, vanilla and baking soda. Combine well, but dont over mix.
  5. Here’s where an extra person comes in handy. Take out the cookie sheet from the oven, spray with Pam and pour candy all over the pan (one person pours the very hot candy, the other handles the cookie sheet). Then shake the pan to spread the brittle out evenly.
  6. For cleanup, place all utensils and pots in hot soapy water and let them sit for a little while. Eventually the sugar will break down and cleanup will be much easier.
  7. Once the brittle has cooled feel free to crack it anyway you like!

I’ve doubled the recipe before, it filled my cookie sheet and made much thicker brittle, I prefer it thinner, so I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.

Slow Cookin’ Thursday

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A slow cooker book just happened to catch my eye yesterday at BJs, and when I opened it up, it ended up on the page with this Thai Chicken recipe .. which I’m a big fan of Pad Thai chicken at the moment .. so today I’m going to give it a shot ..

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Here’s the original recipe from Fix-It and Forget-It: 5 Ingredient Favorites.

  • 6 skinless chicken thighs
  • 3/4 cup salsa (your choice of mild, medium or hot)
  • 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp lime juice

Optional:

  • 1 tsp ginger, grated
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
  1. Put chicken in slow cooker
  2. In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients together, except cilantro and peanuts.
  3. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours until chicken is cooked but not dry.
  4. Skim off any fat. remove chicken to a platter and serve topped with sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro if you wish.
  5. Serve over cooked rice.

Now … I actually used 4 skinless chicken breasts, that are frozen .. because that’s what I had in the freezer. I also used just under a half of a cup of peanut butter .. because I thought 1/4 cup wasn’t enough, and 2 Tbsp of soy sauce for the same reason. I added the ginger, and used medium salsa. I put everything in at 11am this morning on high, and I’m planning to switch to low in an hour or 3 .. just going to do a little bit of research first. Hopefully tonight I’ll have pictures and a review for you guys!

For more Slow Cooker Recipes visit:

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UPDATE: Okay … the chicken cooked almost perfectly, just fell apart. But the flavor of everything.. well .. it kinda tasted like Mexican food, like refried beans. I blame the salsa. Maybe I cooked it too long, but I didn’t taste the soy, ginger, or lime at all .. and very little peanut butter, even though it sure looked like it was all peanut butter. I’d like to find out what the real thai ingredient is that the salsa is supposed to replace .. I’m sure that would make a big difference. Everything smelled great when it started cooking .. just think it might’ve cooked too long.

UPDATE #2: Sean loved it.