Peanut Brittle Fun!

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is doing things with family. Unfortunately, my side of the family is spread out all over the country. The upside is that Adam's family is nice and close by! We're only about 10 minutes from his immediate family and dad's parents, so we go over pretty frequently to visit. This past Wednesday I went over to Grandma's for a timeless Ladrach tradition:

making peanut brittle. 

A lot of heat and a ton of stirring make for some really good peanut brittle!

Mary (Grandma) has been making this recipe for years and has totally perfected it. I'm not normally one for peanut brittle, as the thought of fighting my way through a solid brick of candy mess just to get the taste is normally unappealing to me. However, Mary's peanut brittle is über thin, and melt-in-your-mouth tasty.

You can see Mary carefully supervising in the background ;)

This brittle is so good that Mary used to sell it back in the day. However, it is definitely a labor of love. While the brittle is cooking, constant attention is required. Certain ingredients must be added at certain temperatures in order for the brittle to turn out right.

After the brittle is done cooking, it has to be poured onto a cookie sheet and promptly stretched before it hardens. This can be a painful process, as it's still very hot while it's being hand-stretched. The pain makes for good sister-in-law bonding, as Aimie and I were tasked with stretching the hot candy. Despite all the effort and pain, the final product is SO worth it. Observe the glory:

So thin you can see the light shining through it. So delicious I'm going to go downstairs and get some now...

What's your favorite Christmas tradition? Comment below!