MICROWAVE PEANUT BRITTLE

See UPDATE below!

I don't remember where I found this recipe, but it was quite awhile ago....easily 20 years ago. Microwave is what caught my attention in the title. Probably at the time, I used my microwave a lot because of time restraints.

Well, anyway, I tried it. I loved how easy it was. I gave the recipe to my mother and even contributed it to a cookbook the women in the church were compiling.  

I hate to admit that it has been years since I made it. I have thought about making it, especially around Christmas, but just never got around to it. Janice's husband loves peanut brittle. Every time Janice and I go to Jamesport, the Amish community in northcentral MO, we have to buy several packages of it for him.  I recently ran across the recipe and thought I would surprise Leon with some for Christmas.

MICROWAVE PEANUT BRITTLE

1      cup sugar
1/2  cup white karo (corn syrup)
1/8  teaspoon salt
1      cup raw peanuts
1      teaspoon vanilla
1      teaspoon butter/margarine
1      teaspoon baking soda

Using a 4 - cup glass measuring cup, combine the peanuts, sugar, karo, and salt.

Cook in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Stir.

Cook 6 more minutes on High.

Add the butter and vanilla.  Stir

Cook 1 to 2 minutes longer on High. (I cooked it only 1 minute as my microwave is 1000 watts.)

Stir in baking soda.

Immediately pour onto cookie sheet (I buttered the cookie sheet.)

Cool. 

Break into pieces. (I used a metal spatula to lift it from the cookie sheet

and then broke it into pieces.)

Want some?









UPDATE!!!!

Tonight we are going to an Open House that our friends Patricia and Gary are having. I thought I would make this peanut brittle to take to share with the other guests. 

I recently got new stainless steel appliances for my kitchen. I have found that my gas stove cooks slower than my electric one and most recipes I need to use the maximum baking time. 

I have made this microwave peanut brittle on two different microwaves. I don't know the wattage of the one I had in CA, but in my recipe above, I mention that the microwave in this house in MO was 1000 watts.

Well, I made the recipe this morning and it burned. When I looked at my new microwave I saw that it is 1500 watts.

When I made the second batch, I reduce the first cooking time to 1:45 minutes, the second cooking time to 4:30 minutes, and kept the third cooking time at 1 minutes. That worked perfectly, it just wasn't quite as dark as my usual.

I just made a third batch. I cooked the mixture for 1:45 minutes, then 5 minutes, and then 1 minute. It was a little darker. 

Both of the last two batches tasted great and I am sure it will be a success. 

I recommend that you adjust the recipe also if your microwave is more than 1000 watts.