Nut Brittle (again!)

I've been posting a lot of recipes that I've already posted previously, but this time, with photos. Hey, I'm on vacation! I have a lot o time on my hands and this new beta blogger format seems to be going quite smoothly. I can uploads photos easily and quickly unlike the old version where I would be stuck with blanks with "x's" on them where the photo should have been. Anyhoo, Here is an easy MICROWAVEABLE Nut Brittle recipe which I got from a math teacher at my site. Thanks Bob! By the way, you can use any kind of nuts in this recipe. I didn't use peanuts at all! And also, this Christmas, I didn't want to do a lot of baking (oven), so this brittle recipe along with the pepermint fudge were my "no bake" easy food gifts this year.

NUT BRITTLE

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of nuts (any kind)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light Karo corn syrup
1 tbsp water
1 pat of butter (1 tbsp - most stick butters have it premeasured on the wrapper)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Place the nuts, sugar, corn syrup and water in a large 1 qt. Pyrex with handle & spout.
Microwave 3 minutes
Remove with oven mitt and stir.
Microwave 3 more minutes

Another nut shot...ha ha

Remove with oven mitt and pour vanilla extract and...

put in the pat of butter

Stir the butter and vanilla extract into the nuts. Work fast!

Microwave 2 more minutes.

Remove with oven mitt . You will see that everything is all nice and bubbly and capable of burning you badly.

Dump in the baking soda.

Stir the baking soda into the mixture which will then become lighter colored and foamy.

Note the foaminess...

Pour mixture onto a baking sheet which should be pre-sprayed with Pam. Depending on how thin or thick you want your brittle, spread it with a spoon.

I couldn't take a photo of myself doing this since I was utilizing both arms/hands. So here are my two batches cooling on my dining table.

Let cool for 30 minutes.

This is the fun part...breaking it apart.

The brittle should slide right off, but I break it apart over the baking sheet. I used a butter knife to shatter it into chunks.

Closeup of the brittle. I used walnuts, pecans, almonds and macadamia nuts.

Broken pieces of brittle in a ziploc container...

This brittle is as sharp as glass. I have cut myself (without knowing it) with the shards. It happens when the pieces shatter and fly about. Don't worry, there won't be blood dripping on your brittle.

The teacher from which I "borrowed" the recipe pours his mixture onto a heavy dinner plate sprayed with Pam. His brittle is mega thick and will break your teeth. I like mine to be a little thinner.

This is what you get to look forward to when you're done. Cleaning up the dried caramel on the Pyrex. Actually, if you let it soak in really hot water, the sugar will disintegrate easily. To be more expedient, I bought 2 of these Pyrex containers so I could do one batch immediately after the first one. However, I usually do 2 batches, then relax, then do 2 more.

This mini baking sheet is so cute! But my brittle from this batch was quite thick.

Anyways, enjoy making this brittle. It takes 8 minutes of microwave time and it's quite easy especially if you have all the ingredients already lined up and ready to go. I put my butter and baking soda on tiny little saucers while the vanilla extract is kept in a shot glass. Experiment with the types of nuts. You could use one kind if you wish, but I wanted a variety (D'oh! I should have bought cashews!). It's up to you!