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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Salted Peanut Brittle Cookies

Salted Peanut Cookie Brittle

Adapted from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen pieces

You can either cut the cookies neatly into bars while they are still warm, or if you're feeling rebellious, you can just wait for the cookie slab to cool completely and then just break it into charmingly irregular pieces. If you don't have a smaller rimmed sheet pan exactly the size of the 15 1/2 by 10 1/2-inch one called for here (I don't), then fold aluminum foil into wide, sturdy strips and use them as a damn of sorts to approximate an area of that size on the sheet, give or take a couple inches. Don't worry about perfection here with smoothing and spreading the dough just so--the more sort of rustic the brittle looks, the better.

1/ 2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into the cup and leveled
4 ounces (1 cup) roasted, salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat in the salt and vanilla, about 30 seconds more. Reduce the speed to low and gradually stir in the flour, stopping to scrape the bowl as necessary. Stir in half the peanuts.

Turn the dough out onto a rimmed sheet pan, about 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches. Lightly flour your hands and pat the dough in a thin layer (don't worry about making it perfectly even). Sprinkle the rest of the peanuts evenly over the dough. Cover the dough with a sheet of waxed or parchment paper and using a rolling pin or a tall, smooth glass, roll over the paper to smooth the dough and press the peanuts firmly into the dough.

Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until golden brown, rotating the sheet halfway through baking time. Cool in the pan for five minutes before cutting the warm slab into bars, or wait for it too cool completely and break into pieces like brittle candy. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Found this here: Piece of Cake

The author equates these cookies to crack...and while I think they are decent...they are definitely not "crack" worthy...I think I'll stick to original peanut brittle...my mother-in-law's, actually...that truly is CRACK!!! Yum!

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