My Father in Law, better known as Grandpa Joe, loves peanut brittle. I make it for him every year on Father’s Day and it is always a sure fired hit. He is a single man about town so doesn’t do a lot as far as homemade food goes and really I have found both my Father in Law and my own Dad just don’t really want a lot of stuff. They tend to just buy anything they want and all the clothing, accessories and other items that people gift them tends to wind up in donation bins.
So I find the homemade stuff seems to work pretty well for both fellas in our life and I thought I’d share my favorite homemade peanut brittle recipe with you. This comes together in seriously about 15 minutes and you can make it right in the microwave!
I like to put it in a mason jar with parchment paper and add a simple little tag and boom! Father’s Day in a jar for very little money and something I know he will love. This is just a classic peanut brittle recipe but you can use any nuts you like (cashews, macademia etc..) and you can add other flavors like shredded coconut to customize your brittle.
I do want to tell you that the cooking time for this recipe will vary according to your microwave. Your brittle may not turn out perfectly the very first time you ever make it – it took me three tries actually to get mine down but now I can whip this up in just minutes and it is a fun homemade gift idea. Try topping vanilla ice cream with fresh peanut brittle in summer- so good!
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon butter- salted or unsalted
- 1 cup peanuts- salted or unsalted or nut of your choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- This recipe cooks up very fast and it is important to have all the ingredients measured out and ready to go before you get started. You want to move quickly because this can burn pretty easily.
- Start by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with butter. Set aside.
- Add 1 cup white sugar and ½ cup corn syrup to a microwave safe bowl and stir well.
- Pop into microwave for 3-4½ minutes.*
- Remove carefully as your bowl might be quite hot.
- Add 1 cup peanuts and stir quickly- return to microwave for 3 minutes.
- Remove again (carefully) from microwave and add 1 teaspoon butter and 1 tespoon vanilla. Stir quickly and put back in micro for 1 more minute.
- Remove and add baking soda and stir as quicklly as you can (don't be alarmed if it slightly froths up) and quickly, pour mixture onto your prepared baking sheet.
- Gently spread the mixture out with a spatula in an even layer to cool.
- Break apart brittle once it cools and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
*The big trick to this recipe is getting the exact cooking time for your microwave. I tried 4 1/2 minutes the first time I made this and my bowl was crazy hot and my brittle was slightly overcooked. The second time I tried 3 1/2 minutes and it was much better although the third time at 3 minutes seemed just perfect. I got a pretty light tan color and the brittle was flavorful. So your nose is really the secret weapon on this recipe- if you start to smell a roasting or burning smell from the micro- your brittle is probably getting overcooked.
I used a salted peanut from Trader Joe’s in this recipe and it was delicious. Just enough salt to compliment the sweetness. I have used other nuts in the past and found the flavor was a little bland so you might taste your brittle and you can always very, very lightly sprinkle with salt if needed.
Here is the brittle in a mason jar:
And here is how I jazzed it up for Grandpa for Father’s Day:
So simple and I will have the girl’s write their names on the bottom before I ship it off.
If you decide to try this recipe please come back and let me know what you think!
Here are a few other recipes you might also like:
Homemade Chocolate Magic Shell
Free Printable All About Dad (or Grandpa) printable
Wow !!! lovely idea and great looking brittles.We make peanut brittle a little different.only with jaggery and peanuts .
I made this today and it turned out great! Two tips…..use a big bowl. It will bubble over in the microwave. And this might be common sense, but I learned the hard way. Use a metal spoon to stir! I used a plastic spatula and it melted while I was stirring it! Thank goodness I was able to get the melted plastic out and save the batch. 🙂 I’m sendimg it to my dad for father’s day so I hope he likes it!
Ack! I didn’t think of that but I will make that note in the post Jessi 🙂 So glad it worked out! I was happy to send that package off or I might have eaten the entire batch 🙂
Hi, I live on the Isle of Man, a crown dependency of the UK. I spent 30 years in the Hospitality Management Industry and as a Lecturer in the same area, we make nut brittle slightly different:
200 g salted nuts (peanuts, cashews, pistachio, almonds, Brazil, macadamia any one or a mix)
400 g granulated sugar
Heat the sugar gently in a heavy bottomed pan, do not stir
When the molten sugar turns an amber colour, add the nuts, stir and pour into a stainless steel tin (do not grease or line the tin.
Allow to cool completely, turn the tin over and tap the bottom, the brittle should fall out. Use a toffee hammer to break into the desired size. Very small pieces are delicious used to top ice cream and other desserts.
Be very careful as molten sugar burns very quickly and very deep.
Thank you for your recipe Michelle!
Bon Appetit