Moving away from the traditional Peanut Brittle, this recipe adds a little spice where there wasn’t any before. This spiced Christmas peanut brittle is to die for, and don’t forget to change up the nuts and spices to create all kinds of flavors. Makes a great gift too!
It’s Monday, and it’s time for This Week’s Cravings again and what a fun week!
Our theme this week is Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas.
This week I brought Spiced Christmas Peanut Brittle to the table.
I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife & Kristi from Veggie Converter.
So have you made any delicious Christmas Baking recipes like Sweets, Treats, Candy or Gift Ideas?
Want to link up? Yes, you – if you have a recipe that follows that theme, go ahead and drop the link down in the comments!
It will be awesome. (make sure you read the simple rules first).
And make sure it’s for Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas.
I spend a great deal of time in the kitchen at Christmas.
Not only do I enjoy cooking more in the cold winter months, than the hot, sticky summer months, but baking is by far a favorite.
We make loads of cookies and brownies to give away at holiday time.
A couple of years ago, we had this delicious Spiced Christmas Peanut Brittle at a Christmas party, my daughter loved it and begged the hostess for the recipe.
We’ve been making it each year since.
It’s delicious and easy to make.
The thing is, it’s super easy t0o – pops right into the microwave – no baking or stovetop cooking necessary!
(P.S. I apologize now for the lack of photos.
My daughter thankfully took these last year, since we haven’t made this yet this year. Its still just a little early to prepare our peanut brittle.)
Spiced Peanut Brittle Ingredients
(printable recipe card below)
- light corn syrup
- sugar
- roasted peanuts or any other nut you might want
- 5 Spice (found in the spices aisle)
- butter
- baking soda
Tips for Making Spiced Peanut Brittle
- Trust me, we’ve had our good batches and our bad batches. Make sure you measure everything very carefully – you might not think it matters, but it does. I’m a little of this and a little of that baker and THIS is not one of those recipes. Follow the measurements.
- You may lightly spray your pan with cooking spray, in fact the original recipe calls for it – but I’m going to tell you that the only thing I have found that has actually worked and made it easier to remove the brittle is (and I don’t normally plug a product, but I guess I have to say I swear by it) Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Non-Stick (or parchment paper, that also seems to work well).
- No, generic brands won’t work and neither will any other Reynolds Wrap product. (Except they now have the Non-Stick Pan Lining Paper, and I have not tried it yet – but I will this year). This is not sponsored, I just really love it.
- – Refrain from using cooking spray if at all possible, it keeps your brittle from getting greasy.
- – Use cooking spray on your spatulas, measuring cups, etc. if you need to to avoid the sticky situation that results in using corn syrup.
- If you don’t use the cooking spray, just submerge them in a sink full of hot, soapy water and then clean them within a few minutes.
How To Make Spiced Peanut Brittle
You’re making this in the microwave.
Your bowl needs to be small enough to fit into the microwave, but large enough to allow the rising of the ingredients from bubbling over.
I use glass everything, one because it’s microwave safe and two because its easier to clean the sticky mess off of.
In your large glass bowl stir together light corn syrup, sugar, peanuts and 5 spice powder until mixed together.
Yes, it’s hard, keep going until its really well blended. Trust me on this.
By the way, the 5 spice smells heavenly – and even more heavenly when you pop it into the microwave.
Once you have it well blended, put the bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 6 minutes.
Remove from microwave – careful – it’s super hot and will burn you and it sticks to everything.
Stir in your butter and then pop back into the microwave 30 seconds more.
Carefully remove from microwave and place on sturdy surface.
Stir in baking soda until the mixture is light and foamy. Remember to stir carefully, and a little quickly.
As quickly as you can, using a spatula (that I strongly urge you to have sprayed with some cooking spray), scrape the mixture out of the bowl and onto your foil covered baking pan.
Using the spatula, smooth it out into a thin layer and allow it to cool for a couple of hours. The original recipe said 1 hour, but we’ve found the longer you allow it to sit, the easier it is to break into pieces.
Once it is completely cool, break the spiced peanut brittle into pieces and enjoy.
Store the spiced Christmas peanut brittle in a well-sealed container.
Notes: If you are wanting to make the spiced Christmas peanut brittle a little more festive, try different nuts, mix up different types and use different spices instead of the 5 spice.
We’ve done all of that, and have come up with some awesome peanut brittle. Enjoy!!
More Easy Candy Recipes?
- Halloween OREO Candy Corn Bark
- Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Macadamia Truffles
- Gingerbread Peanut Butter OREO Cookie Balls
- Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bites
- Honey Lemon Ginger Throat Drops
- Homemade Salted Caramels
Recipe for Spiced Peanut Brittle
Spiced Peanut Brittle Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup roasted peanuts or any other nut you might want
- ¾ teaspoons 5 Spice found in the spices aisle
- 1 teaspoons butter
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
Instructions
- In your large glass bowl stir together light corn syrup, sugar, peanuts and 5 spice powder until mixed together. Yes, it’s hard, keep going until its really well blended. Trust me on this. By the way, the 5 spice smells heavenly – and even more heavenly when you pop it into the microwave.
- Once you have it well blended, put the bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 6 minutes. Remove from microwave – careful – it’s super hot and will burn you and it sticks to everything.
- Stir in your butter and then pop back into the microwave 30 seconds more. Carefully remove from microwave and place on sturdy surface.
- Stir in baking soda until the mixture is light and foamy. Remember to stir carefully, and a little quickly.
- As quickly as you can, using a spatula, scrape the mixture out of the bowl and onto your foil covered baking pan. Please see tips before starting in the post before doing this.
- Using the spatula, smooth it out into a thin layer and allow it to cool for a couple of hours. Once it is completely cool, break the brittle into pieces and enjoy.
- Store the brittle in a well-sealed container.
This looks great and doesn’t look too complicated! Printed 🙂
Definitely wasn’t too complicated and the flavor was really good. Thanks!
This is actually a question.
Is it okay to substitute raw peanuts for roasted?
Yes, you can substitute raw peanuts for roasted. It only changes the flavor to a raw peanut flavor rather than a roasted flavor. You can also do this with other nuts as well. Enjoy!