What I did right:
GayleMO gets the big star because I adapted her recipe.
Based on the comments from the folks above, I used
*distilled water
*increased the recipe to 1.5 batches
*added cayenne
*added more butter
*warmed the pans first and spread it thin.
What I did wrong:
*Used my 12-quart Calphalon stock pot. It was so deep and wide that my Taylor candy thermometer barely hit the bubbling flesh-removing sugar bath.
*Started watching movie trailers while waiting for the temperature to reach "peanut adding time." When I looked up after crying over "Winter Tales" the temperature had suddenly gone from 245 to 290 and I could barely get the peanuts added before the sugar went to hard crack. I desperately added more distilled water and was able to thin and smooth it out, which let the pale and anemic raw peanuts cook a bit.
I followed my Mom's proven original brittle recipe which doesn't add the nuts until 280 and then adds the baking soda at 300. This may have caused my final problem which was spreading out the brittle. Again--the pot was so big and heavy and now REALLY HOT with searing bubbling sugar that I was able to only pour one perfect pan (the brittle looks like a bunch of over-tanned, anorexic movie stars with implants laying out on the beach.) The second pan...ehh, not so much as I wanted to keep the flesh on my arms and had to be really careful dipping deep in that stock pot.
I added a scootch more butter than cheezz added (GayleMO = 1 TBL, cheezz = 3 TBL, Marilyn = 4 TBL) because my original recipe used 1 cup.
But, oh the cayenne...what a brilliant addition. I poured in a blob of vanilla paste, then some Kosher salt (since I'd used unsalted raw peanut and unsalted butter) and the cayenne at the very end.
I can't stop eating this stuff. And I'm not even that crazy about brittle.
Here's what I ended up using:
3 Cups (600 grams) pure cane sugar
1.5 Cups (12 oz) Karo light syrup
1.5 Cups distilled water
3 Cups raw peanuts (from Nuts.com)
4 TBL unsalted butter
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (less than cheezz)
1.5 tsp vanilla paste
1 TBL baking soda
Cook until 280.
Add peanuts and butter
Cook until 290-300, add baking soda, cayenne, salt, vanilla. Beat the bejeesus out of it and carefully pour onto two jelly roll pans covered in a Silpat and then buttered (to help with the spreading)
http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=35164
GayleMO gets the big star because I adapted her recipe.
Based on the comments from the folks above, I used
*distilled water
*increased the recipe to 1.5 batches
*added cayenne
*added more butter
*warmed the pans first and spread it thin.
What I did wrong:
*Used my 12-quart Calphalon stock pot. It was so deep and wide that my Taylor candy thermometer barely hit the bubbling flesh-removing sugar bath.
*Started watching movie trailers while waiting for the temperature to reach "peanut adding time." When I looked up after crying over "Winter Tales" the temperature had suddenly gone from 245 to 290 and I could barely get the peanuts added before the sugar went to hard crack. I desperately added more distilled water and was able to thin and smooth it out, which let the pale and anemic raw peanuts cook a bit.
I followed my Mom's proven original brittle recipe which doesn't add the nuts until 280 and then adds the baking soda at 300. This may have caused my final problem which was spreading out the brittle. Again--the pot was so big and heavy and now REALLY HOT with searing bubbling sugar that I was able to only pour one perfect pan (the brittle looks like a bunch of over-tanned, anorexic movie stars with implants laying out on the beach.) The second pan...ehh, not so much as I wanted to keep the flesh on my arms and had to be really careful dipping deep in that stock pot.
I added a scootch more butter than cheezz added (GayleMO = 1 TBL, cheezz = 3 TBL, Marilyn = 4 TBL) because my original recipe used 1 cup.
But, oh the cayenne...what a brilliant addition. I poured in a blob of vanilla paste, then some Kosher salt (since I'd used unsalted raw peanut and unsalted butter) and the cayenne at the very end.
I can't stop eating this stuff. And I'm not even that crazy about brittle.
Here's what I ended up using:
3 Cups (600 grams) pure cane sugar
1.5 Cups (12 oz) Karo light syrup
1.5 Cups distilled water
3 Cups raw peanuts (from Nuts.com)
4 TBL unsalted butter
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (less than cheezz)
1.5 tsp vanilla paste
1 TBL baking soda
Cook until 280.
Add peanuts and butter
Cook until 290-300, add baking soda, cayenne, salt, vanilla. Beat the bejeesus out of it and carefully pour onto two jelly roll pans covered in a Silpat and then buttered (to help with the spreading)
http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=35164
