"What's brittle?"

Well, lots of things are brittle, including my heart.

 

Oh! 

You mean the candy...

Brittle is yet another variation on the theme of boiled sugar.  You need sugar, water, a syrup such as glucose, a little butter, and a bit of salt for the base.  Boil it like you would any other boiled sugar.  But once you get it to temperature, you add your nuts of choice.  What I think of as standard is a southern brittle with raw peanuts.  However, you can use whatever nuts you like - cashew, pistachio, walnut, pecan... You name it!  You can even use roasted peanuts, if you really wanted to.  Boil your sugar to a hard crack (at least 149C/300F). 

Then comes the crazy part!  You'll take it off the heat and add some baking soda.  I hope you have your mix in a tall pot because this baby's gonna foam!  It startled me the first time I made it myself. 

Pour it onto a flat surface and let it cool completely before breaking it into pieces with a hammer. 

Peanut brittle was always a staple for my Great Grandma at Christmas time.  It's kind of hard and crunchy, yet weirdly fluffy (because of the baking soda), so it is actually pretty easy to eat.

Perhaps even a little too easy...