Peanut Brittle Recipe | Made in the Microwave! (2024)

FAQs

Why is my microwave peanut brittle chewy? ›

Adding baking soda when making peanut brittle makes the hot sugar syrup foam, creating lots of tiny air bubbles that give the candy the porous, crispy honeycomb texture it's known for. Why didn't my peanut brittle turn out? If your peanut brittle is light in color and chewy, it was not cooked long enough.

The main reason why peanut brittle doesn't get hard and have the crunch we expect is because the sugar was not cooked long enough. The sugar needs to be cooked to what is called the hard crack stage, 300ºF.

For a light roast, microwave on HIGH for 2-1/2 minutes; stir, microwave 2-1/2 minutes longer. For a darker roast, stir and microwave 1 minute longer, in 30 second increments. Season to taste. Peanuts will be crisp when cool.

Baking soda is also very important at this stage since it reacts to the heat, creating carbon dioxide that aerates the caramel, enabling it to snap when someone bites into it rather than requiring them to gnaw at it until it breaks or pulls apart.

Why is it too hard? Using baking soda usually prevents peanut brittle from being too, well, brittle. However, if you cook the candy past the set temperature or overwork the candy once you spread it out onto the cookie sheet, that can cause it to become very hard and difficult to bite through.

The candy will attract moisture from the air, making it unpleasantly sticky instead of shatteringly crisp. Once it's completely cool, transfer it to an airtight container.

It is important to coat cookie sheets with butter and put in the freezer to get them really cold before you need to pour the brittle. After you pour the candy you should put the pans in the fridge or outside if it is cold, so the brittle will set up quickly and stay fluffy.

You will want the cookie sheet to be non-stick. Use parchment paper, a silicone baking sheet or a greased cookie sheet. Spread the peanut brittle as thin as you can. Immediately add your sea salt.

I started on medium heat, but turned it down to a bit below medium. KEEP STIRRING. While it's still semi solid you MUST keep stirring or it WILL burn. I thought it was never going to turn into a liquid, but of course it did.

From the results obtained in Table 5, it can be concluded that microwave heating of peanuts is not recommended, even for short periods. This is due to the formation of oxygenated compounds (epoxy and hydroperoxides), as well as conjugated fatty acids.

Can I dry peanuts in microwave? ›

For a 1200W microwave: microwave the peanuts for the following times, mixing after each time: 2:30 minutes, 2 minutes, 1:30 minutes, 30 seconds. At the end, the peanuts should be toasted and fragrant.

There are two easy ways to reheat your boiled peanuts: Microwave – place the bag in the microwave for approximately 1 minute until they are hot. You can also heat them in the microwave in a covered container. Stovetop – Bring a saucepan of water to a boil.

How Long Does Peanut Brittle Last? Properly stored (in an airtight container at room temperature), peanut brittle will last one to two months.

When candy cools slowly on a stone slab, more crystals have a chance to form. With a higher number of micro-crystals, the sugar has more sites on which to crystallize, and so crystallization ultimately happens faster.

When one of those sugar molecules reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it melts, which softens it. This is why bread can actually feel soft and fluffy when it first comes out of the microwave. But then when it cools, that molecule recrystallizes and hardens, causing the bread to become chewy and hard.

Low and slow. Simmering the syrup for English toffee to the requisite 300°F temperature can (and should) be a slow process — up to 20 minutes or so. Don't hurry this gradual transformation; syrup that doesn't reach 300°F, or close to it, will make candy with timid flavor and chewy (not crunchy) texture.

The peanuts will be slightly underdone (a little chewy) when you remove them from the oven, but they will continue to cook once you remove them. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.