Spicy Peanut Brittle Recipe
Are you a fan of spicy flavor? Then you’re going to LOVE this recipe!
In order to make this recipe, you will need leftover Cowboy Candy (Candied Jalapenos) syrup. While we often use the leftover syrup as a meat marinade or as a spicy salad dressing, we also love to make this treat.
It is important that you have a candy thermometer to make sure you hit the right temp for the hard crack stage. If you don’t have one, you are likely to over-cook (burn it) or under-cook (brittle will be sticky). Candy thermometers are affordable and a great investment.
Hard crack stage is reached at 295 to 309 °F. You can test the syrup by dropping into ice water. If it has reached the hard crack stage, it will not be sticky, soft or pliable, instead it will be hard and brittle.
Also make sure you use a good quality pot. I used one of our less-than-good-quality pots once and the way it heated messed up an entire batch of brittle. Lesson learned. You want a pot that can handle the heat.
You will have to work quick once the syrup hits hard crack stage. Quickly add nuts, pour onto baking sheet, and spread out using 2 forks. It can be a little tricky, but that just means you hit the right temperature.
My favorite part of making this is breaking the brittle into pieces after it cools. It’s quite therapeutic. If you did it right, it shouldn’t take any effort and should not give any bend AT ALL. They should snap into pieces easily.
If you don’t like peanuts, you can use any nut you’d like. Mix ‘n match and experiment with different nuts! Or, if you’re allergic, don’t use nuts at all and just have some good ol’ spicy brittle.
