Fructose free peanut brittle recipe

This recipe is not for the faint of heart, the weak of teeth or the allergic of peanuts. It's also a bit of a marathon to make, which isn't to say it's not easy, it's just not quick. Mine took several hours (yep hours) to cook, and you need to stay by the stove pretty much the whole time (although you can do other things between stirring: fold washing, unstack dishwasher, make White Christmas slice, write blog, etc). But the results are well worth it if you are a peanut brittle fan like me.

You'll do best with a candy thermometer for this one. Believe me.


Ok, here we go. The original recipe is here (for those who stumbled onto this page looking for peanut brittle a la normale)

Fructose Free Peanut Brittle 
2 cups dextrose powder
1 cup glucose syrup
1/2 cup water
240g butter (yep, that's nearly a whole stick of butter)- cut into smaller pieces
2 cups peanuts- raw, roasted, salted, whatever you like. I used Nobbys salted peanuts chopped roughly
1 tsp. baking soda- if your baking soda is anything like mine it will be full of lumps, so I suggest you pre measure and press all the lumps out using a fork, as getting a lump of un-mixed soda in your peanut brittle is an unhappy surprise.

(Note: the above makes a LOT of peanut brittle. When I've made this recipe in the past I have halved the recipe and it works just fine- in fact, from memory, it took a lot less time to cook. Today I made the full recipe without thinking, so luckily mum and dad will be here for Christmas to help me eat it all up).



Method:

Combine dextrose, glucose syrup and water in a saucepan. Cook on a moderate heat (stirring) until the mixture goes from opaque white to almost clear, as pictured. 

Starts white...

Goes nearly clear- that's science for ya!

Let it come to a boil. When it boils, add the butter and keep stirring. It will look a bit funny- like the butter is not mixing in properly. Don't worry about this. Stir some more. This recipe is nearly all about stirring, sorry.

Buttery goodness

So, stir until the butter has melted in and then keep stirring until the mixture boils again. Keep it at a moderate boil. The mixture is now hitting what I call the toddler stage- you can leave it alone for about a minute or so, but don't think that it is independent. Oh no. It still needs lots of your attention. I would say stir fairly frequently at this stage. Use your candy thermometer to check it and once it reaches 230 degrees F (this will feel like forever), change from fairly frequently to frequently. So, not quite constantly. Between stirs you can go tend to that washing, or feed your real toddler, or send me a message below telling me how much you like this recipe (except of course you haven't finished it yet. So, save that for later)

The mixture will darken as it cooks- here are some pictures to entertain you while you stir (I'm presuming you have a laptop while you make this, you see).

Caramelly goodness

Slightly darker caramelly goodness (several hours later- felt like anyway)

Add peanuts when the temperature reaches soft crack stage (280 degrees F). Now you have to change from stirring frequently to- you guessed it- constantly. (To be honest, I just kept with frequently- I'm a rebel like that).

Nut much further to go! Get it?

Keep with your constant stirring until temperature reaches hard crack stage (305 degrees F). Take it off the heat immediately, and stir in your lump-free baking soda, mixing it thoroughly. Pour onto 2 cookie sheets or baking trays- greased or lined with baking paper. You can't spread it once you pour it, but if it's too thick, as the brittle cools, you can stretch it thinner by lifting and pulling from the edges. 

Once it cools you can break it into pieces. If you have such thing as a toffee hammer, then go ahead and use it now. Lord knows you are never going to use it otherwise.

The finished product- the full recipe makes twice this amount.
Yep, I have only photographed half of it for you. I'm lazy like that.

And that's it. If you have any questions, post them below.