Peanut Brittle Favors.                                                 

It's always nice to give your dinner guests a little gift to take home with them.  This year instead of the traditional cookies I'm preparing  small tins of homemade Peanut Brittle.  It is so easy to make.

My gift idea took me to antique stores in the Fort Lauderdale area which turned out to be too costly for my pocketbook.  I remembered seeing some unusual tins in Homestead however, that could be purchased at a fraction of the cost. 

If you don't have the time to buy some unique tins you can visit your local Dollar Store where I am told the selection is enormous.  

At deliciouscookies.com we make the brittle and crack it into bite size pieces so that they will fit into the tins.  Then we wrap the tins with some pretty red ribbon.  I usually hand the gifts out towards the end of the evening.  Wait and see how excited and pleased your guests will be.                           

Ingredients:   
Sugar-2 cups. 
Water-1 cup. 
Light Karo Corn Syrup-1 cup. 
Roasted and Lightly Salted Peanuts-2 cups. 
Baking Soda- 1/4 teaspoon. 
Sweet Butter-3 tablespoons. 
Pure Vanilla Extract-1 teaspoon. 
Salt-1/2 teaspoon.                     

Instructions:  Lightly spray a  cookie sheet.  Set aside.  Add the sugar and water into a large pan.  Over a medium high flame dissolve the sugar into the water.  Add the corn syrup.  Mix often.  Bring to a boil. Continue mixing the mixture until it becomes thickened.  This should take about 10 minutes.  You will start to feel the syrup  stick to the bottom of the pan. A candy thermometer should read about 250F degrees.  Make sure that you feel the thickening process occur or the candy will not harden properly.  When you have reached this light caramel phase, add in the peanuts and coat all the nuts.  Add the salt and soda.  The mixture will become white and start to foam because of the soda.  Continue mixing for a few more minutes.  Remove from the flame and stir in the Vanilla extract.  Pour the hot mixture on to the greased cookie sheet and spread it evenly with a large metal spoon.  Allow to cool for 2 hours.  Using a spatula lift the Peanut Brittle from the cookie sheet and break it into pieces