Dry hard cider, maple syrup and bacon perfectly complement each other in this smoky and ridiculously More-ish peanut brittle. This is the Bacon way to celebrate National Peanut Day!
What You Need
1 pound granulated sugar (about 2½ cups)
4 oz corn syrup
4 oz pure maple syrup–grade B, if you can find it
½ teaspoon salt (more or less, to taste)
4 oz hard cider (or go with straight-up apple juice if you prefer)
9 oz lovely roasted (not dry roasted) salted peanuts
½ oz butter (1 Tablespoon)
3.5 oz bacon (weighed before cooking), cooked to Crispy and well drained, coarsely crumbled
½ teaspoon baking lumpless baking soda (sift if necessary)
What To Do
Line a half-sheet pan with Silpat or spray it well with pan spray. Set aside on a heat-proof surface.
In a 3 quart, heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat up the sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, salt and hard cider. Before it gets too hot, taste for salt and add a bit more if necessary.
When the mixture comes to a boil, put the lid on and let it boil for 2 minutes or so to wash any errant sugar crystals off the sides of the pan.
Remove the lid and continue to cook until the candy reaches 265F.
Stir in the nuts and butter and keep cooking, stirring frequently but gently, until the candy reaches 315F.
Immediately remove from the heat and thoroughly stir in the crumbled bacon and the baking soda. The candy will foam up and look like peanut shaving cream. That’s just fine.
Pour/scrape out onto your prepared pan and smooth out the top with a heat-proof spatula.
Cool completely and then break into Reasonable Pieces. You decide what that means.
Enjoy
Other Stuff to Know
Next time I make this, I will probably increase the maple syrup to 8 oz and leave out the corn syrup altogether.
If it’s very humid or for storage of more than a day or two, keep in a tightly-sealed ziptop bag or container and add a couple of desiccant packs from your vitamin bottles. If you’re going to be making a lot of candy, or making it frequently, buy some online by searching for “food-safe desiccant packs.”
source: http://pastrychefonline.com/2013/01/17/hard-cider-peanut-brittle-with-maple-and-bacon/
