Pecan Brittle – Kellis Kitchen
It’s Blogger CLUE time again! This month I have been assigned to the Making Miracles blog whose owner, Rebekah, has led a most exciting life! Rebekah started her life as the middle child of a well-traveled family throughout the U.S. Eventually, in 1995, her family moved to Senegal so her parents could teach in an English speaking school on the coast. She spent 2 ½ years gaining outstanding cultural experiences while there. Like me, Rebekah had a child when she was a teenager – following her husband to Georgia where they have put down roots adding a daughter in 2013. During 2006 – 2012 Rebekah gave the gift of life to 3 families by acting as a surrogate, delivering four baby girls —-yep, one pregnancy was a set of twins! What a selfless act of kindness to those who desperately want children. I truly enjoyed getting to know her!
Our theme this morning is “Beat the Heat” so we were supposed to choose a recipe from our sister blog that was cold or did not use the stove. I found all the usual suspects and then looking WAY back to a December 2011 post, I found a recipe for Microwave Peanut Brittle. I have never really cooked with the microwave – mostly just heated up plates and made popcorn like most of us, but I was willing to try since I knew my mom LOVES brittle and if it worked, I could teach her to make it for her lady friends at Christmas. You should know that I had no faith that I could actually make this candy and was more than surprised when it came out perfectly and tasted incredibly good. It doesn’t take much in the way of ingredients and in less than an hour, 30 minutes of which is setting up time, you can have fresh tender peanut brittle!
Pecan Brittle – Kellis Kitchen
I used pecans because we have an abundance of them and the trees are very heavy with the nuts this year too and mom says they are easier on her teeth than peanuts. We took her the entire batch which she shared with her friends at game night and now they have put in orders for more – so I highly recommend you making some for you and yours.
Pecan Brittle
Ingredients:
1 ½ Cups Peanuts (or pecans toasted and roughly chopped)
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup clear Karo syrup
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
One 9×13 Pyrex dish
One glass microwave safe bowl
Non-stick spray
Directions:
Spray the 9×13 dish, bowl, half-cup measuring cup, and all utensils with non stick spray – this makes clean up easier.
Put the cup of sugar and Karo syrup into bowl, mix well then put into microwave on high for 4 minutes. If you don’t have a microwave at home yet, check out this TasteKitchenandtable Review For Microwaves In the Market.
Using hot pads take bowl out of microwave and stir in the peanuts or pecans well.
Put bowl back in microwave and cook on high for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes – don’t let it burn!
Stir in the butter and vanilla.
Cook on high for 1 more minute.
Take it out and stir in the baking soda – now seriously this is where I thought I had messed up because it looked like one of those science fair project volcanoes had taken on a life of its own!
Spread the candy as far into the 9×13 pan as it will go – I used an off-set spatula sprayed with non-stick spray and it worked wonderfully well.
Wait 30 minutes then dump it out onto parchment paper and break it up a bit……it is heavenly when so fresh like that and it makes the house smell good too!
Pecan Brittle – Kellis Kitchen
Please check out all the posts below because I know there will be some doozeys in there – I always enjoy it!
- Asian Watermelon Salad by Lora from Cake Duchess
- Beat the Heat Negronis by Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
- Blueberry Icebox Pie by Kate from Kate’s Kitchen
- Curried Chicken Salad with Cucumbers by Rebekah from Making Miracles
- Frozen Cherry Lemonade by Anna from annaDishes
- Homemade Gingerale by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook
- Icy Rum Punch from the Islands by Debra from Eliot’s Eats
- Mango Jicama Salsa by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
- No Bake Berry Cheesecake by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
- Oreo Cookies n Cream Ice Cream by Heather from girlichef
- Peach Ice Cream by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Pecan Brittle by Kelli from Kelli’s Kitchen
- Prosciutto Parmesan Arugula Sandwich by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
- Roasted Tomato Soup by Sue from A Palatable Pastime
- Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
- Summertime Fresh Corn Salad by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
- Tipsy Palmers by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Southwest Skillet Dip by Alice from A Mama, Baby and Shar-pei in the Kitchen
Find me at Weekend Potluck!
What a fun, easy recipe!!! SO much better than stirring hot sugar syrup over a stovetop! I’m sure you’ll be making many batches of this winner in the future 🙂
How sweet of you to think about your mom when you were looking for a recipe! And to swap out the peanuts for pecans because they are easier on her teeth was so considerate. That being said, that brittle does look perfect. I can’t believe it was made in the microwave! I think this year’s home made Christmas presents have just been found. 🙂
It will make a great present!
wow. this is going on my holiday to do list for sure! what a fantastic treat for summer though! 🙂 I enjoy peanut brittle very much!
It’s very easy and you will love it!
Love peanut brittle! Marking this for holiday gifts.
I love brittle – pecan would be perfect – but have never had a lot of luck making it. This might be something I can manage and I’ll be pinning it for the future.
Very interesting about the surrogate mother. I admire her so much because having someone else’s babies would be about the last thing I would want to do.
Thanks Lillian! I did not enjoy pregnancy at all – so after one I was done. The women in our family stay sick the entire time so 9 months of throwing up just doesn’t appeal to me.
I hope you will try this recipe once – you will like it!!
I made this and it is delicious, and easy. Thank you for sharing. I have one problem, mine was sticky when eating it. What did I do wrong or didn’t do?
Is it raining there or possibly humid? That’s the only time mine is sticky to the touch. I don’t think you did anything wrong though!
Using the microwave in the summer is a great way to beat the heat!
Making brittle has always frightened me for some reason, but I love this microwavable method!
Brittle in the MICROWAVE? Do forgive me for shouting but, seriously, this is fabulous! And dangerous. I love the substitution of peanuts for my most favorite nut, the pecan.
I know it sounds crazy but it works!
What a delightful treat! I would have a hard time eating just one. Delish!!!
Oh my gosh, you are so right about this being perfect for Christmas gifts. I love giving and receiving homemade gifts.
Way back in the day, my mom would teach microwave cooking classes. This was a recipe she taught. My sister and I loved it when we dumped in the baking soda and it foamed. Great recipe to choose.
Thanks Debra! I really didn’t have any faith it would work – but it sure did!
If you half this recipe, do you have to change the cooking time
Hi Jeanie — I would say you do but then, I’m not an expert on microwave cooking. I think you’ll just have to try it and see. Good luck!!
I found mine to be too think. Also I’m new to making candy so I used wax paper and didn’t spray it with nonstick spray, so the entire batch stuck to the paper and had to be thrown away. 😏😏. I’m going to retry in a few minutes but with a little more Karo syrup.
instead of using a 9×13 glass dish, i use cookie sheets i put into a 175 degree oven and then when pouring the hot brittle out of the bowl, it hits the warm pans and spreads out so easily! once the brittle is cool, pick up the cookie sheet and slightly bend it lengthwise and the brittle cracks into pieces. break up by hand any large pieces left.