Glass-Thin Salted Peanut Brittle

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

An old-fashioned candy-counter brittle made properly: the peanuts toast right in the caramel, a hit of baking soda aerates the syrup so it shatters instead of sticking to your teeth, and the sheet gets stretched paper-thin while it's still hot. Flaky salt on top keeps it from tasting one-note sweet. One pan, one thermometer, about 25 minutes of actual cooking.

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup (160 g)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 cups raw peanuts, skins on or off (280 g; Spanish peanuts are ideal)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• neutral oil or softened butter, for the pan and spatula

Instructions

1. Set up before you cook — brittle moves fast at the end. Line a rimmed half sheet pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment and rub it lightly with oil. Slide it into a 200°F oven to warm (a warm pan buys you 30 extra seconds of spreading time). Measure the butter, vanilla, and baking soda into three separate small dishes and set them right next to the stove. Lightly oil a heatproof silicone spatula.
2. In a heavy-bottomed 3- to 4-quart saucepan, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and fine sea salt until the sugar looks like wet sand. Clip on a candy or instant-read thermometer so the tip sits in the syrup without touching the bottom of the pan.
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat without stirring, about 4 to 5 minutes. Once it boils, brush down any sugar crystals on the pan walls with a wet pastry brush, then let it bubble undisturbed until the thermometer reads 240°F, roughly 5 minutes more.
4. Add the peanuts and stir constantly with the oiled spatula, scraping the bottom of the pan so nothing scorches. The syrup will thicken, turn cloudy, then gradually darken. Keep stirring for 8 to 12 minutes, until the thermometer reads 300°F to 305°F and the caramel is the color of iced tea and smells nutty and toasted. Do not walk away past 290°F — it colors quickly at the end.
5. Pull the pan off the heat. Immediately add the butter and vanilla and stir until the butter melts, about 10 seconds. Add the baking soda and stir hard for another 10 seconds — the mixture will foam up pale and puffy. Stop stirring the instant it's uniform; over-mixing knocks out the air that makes it crisp.
6. Take the warm sheet pan from the oven and scrape the foaming brittle onto it in one motion. Spread it with the oiled spatula into a rough 1/4-inch-thick slab, working from the center outward. Work fast; you have about 45 seconds of real spreading time.
7. After 1 minute, when the surface has set enough to touch with utensils but the slab is still pliable, use two forks to lift and pull the edges outward, stretching the brittle until it's thin enough to see the peanuts standing alone in places. Sprinkle evenly with the flaky sea salt.
8. Let the brittle cool completely at room temperature, 45 to 60 minutes, until it's hard and no longer warm anywhere. Don't refrigerate it — condensation will make it tacky.
9. Lift the slab off the mat and snap it into irregular shards with your hands, or rap it once in the center with the handle of a heavy knife. Store in an airtight container with parchment between the layers for up to 2 weeks.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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