I absolutely love peanut brittle. Just love it! Easter is coming up soon and I’m trying to come up with gifts for our family that won’t break the bank. I was in CVS and picked up a bag of chocolate eggs (because who doesn’t like chocolate!?). On the way home I thought about Easter recipes I could make with Hannah that could be gifted and this idea popped into my head: Easter Egg Brittle. I wasn’t sure if it would work at first because the brittle is HOT and the chocolate would probably melt, but it surprisingly turned out pretty well!!
The brittle recipe is nothing fancy, just sugar, corn syrup, water, butter, baking soda and of course peanuts!. CVS was kind enough to send some of there Gold Emblem Party Peanuts. These are absolutely delicious, nicely salted with sea salt they worked PERFECTLY in the brittle. You don’t need to add any additional salt to the brittle and the salted peanuts really play nicely if you love the sweet/salty combination.
The recipe was lots of fun to do with Hannah. I made the mistake of constantly stirring the brittle as it was heating. It took a little while to heat the mixture to 300F, but once there, I called Hannah over to man the battle stations! I already had a pan greased and sprayed with non-stick spray. I added the butter & baking soda quickly, (the baking soda makes the brittle easier to bite, so I’d recommend adding it) and then immediately added the brittle to the cake pan. I prefer thicker brittle, some people like thinner, if you prefer thinner brittle use a cookie sheet, instead of a cake pan. Once I transferred the mixture to the pan, it immediately begins to cool. DO NOT TOUCH IT, it could burn you because it is hot. We had crushed pretzels to make ‘nest’ and we also had lots and lots of Hershey’s eggs. It was super easy to push the eggs into the brittle. The chocolate eggs cracked a little, I might pre-freeze the eggs next time. Once everything is added immediately add the brittle to the freezer. This will help the eggs stay together and will chill the brittle quickly.
This is an easy brittle recipe, it’s delicious every time. We were experimenting with adding in the butter at the end instead of cooking it with the corn syrup. If you want the traditional brittle color, add the butter in with the corn syrup and let it brown and caramelize along with the sugar when the mixture reaches 240 degrees. But this is how ours turned out adding the butter in at the end. Still a delicious product! We have mason jars, and placed pieces of easter egg brittle inside them. All that’s left is to decorate it!! Hope this inspires you! Let me know how you like the recipe!
- 2 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of light corn syrup
- ½ cup of water
- 4 tbsp of room temperature butter
- 2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 cup of chopped salted peanuts (I used Gold Emblem Party Peanuts from CVS)
- Get either a cookie sheet (thinner brittle) or a cake pan (thicker brittle) and either grease it liberally OR place parchment paper, (spray with cooking spray) on the cookie sheet or cake pan for easy removal.
- Over medium heat add corn syrup, water and sugar and slowly bring to a boil. This will take 15-20 minutes. Stir Continuously
- Incrementally turn up the heat when needed until reaching 300F (use a candy thermometer).
- Once it hits 300F, quickly remove from heat. Once removed, the cooling process begins, so you must work quickly.
- Stir in butter and baking soda until completely dissolved.
- Empty your pan onto the sheet or pan.
- If your mixture has cooled, use a fork to even it out.
- Have your chocolate eggs (and crushed pretzels) ready! As soon as the mixture is evened out, add your chocolate eggs and pretzels, pushing them into the brittle.
- If space allows, place in freezer for one hour.
- Break brittle into pieces and serve
This post was unwritten by Gold Emblem by CVS. CVS was kind enough to send the delicious Gold Emblem Party Peanuts. Gold Emblem is a brand unique to CVS. Affordable. quality products that will compete with any national brand. Stop in to CVS and try out a Gold Emblem brand product!
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