Peanut brittle

Do you want to know what will keep the men in your life happy?

Nope, it’s not as Jerry Hall says. It’s all about peanuts and sugar. And it’s easy peasy.

Both my thirty something year old man and my two year old man go crazy for salty, sweet, crunchy peanut brittle. Maybe it’s because it’s shiny, maybe it’s the satisfying crack as it’s broken. Who knows. I’m pleased anyway as it’s a storecupboard make.

The only bad thing about this recipe is that it all needs gobbling up in about 2 days. It starts to ooze sugar and stickiness if you leave it any longer. It won’t last that long though. So nothing to lose sleep over. Dentists may disagree that this is the only bad thing.

Take your nerves of steel and pour the sugar into a saucepan and pop onto a low heat. Shake the pan a little as it starts to melt. You need to be brave and wait until the sugar starts to clump together, then goes a slightly silvery/greyish see through colour, then it’ll start to turn caramel in colour… stay with it. You want a deep dark mahogany colour. Once it’s dark and caramelly and shimmery add the peanuts. Then pour the lot onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Leave alone and out of reach of small or large fingers. Molten sugar is lethal. (I was once told that boiling hot sugary tea is the number one weapon of choice in prisons… who knows if this is true but it certainly make me respect the sugar.) Once cold it will have set as hard as rock. Break into shards with your hands and enjoy with ice-cream, on top of a chocolate tart, or just plain and simple by itself.

Get the monthly newsletter...

and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!