When I was growing up I could always count on my grandparents making two treats on Christmas Day. My grandfather would make what was in my humble opinion the most delicious homemade treat ever, peppermint ice cream, while my grandmother would make what was in my father’s humble opinion the most delicious homemade treat ever, peanut brittle. Over the years both grandparents made an effort to teach all of us how to create these delights but, in all honesty, I was always terrified to attempt either of them both because they are ridiculously labor intensive and because it would make me really sad to create an end product that didn’t properly do justice to their originals.
Despite my trepidation I decided that I wanted to give peanut brittle a go last Christmas. After discussing my grandmother’s recipe with my mother and being reminded of how absurdly challenging it was to get the peanut brittle to turn out well, I took to the internet. I came across several similar microwave recipes, melded them all together and gave it my best shot, all the while assuming it would be an absolute disaster. But wait…it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. Somehow my crazy microwave witchery produced peanut brittle of the exact same taste, texture and consistency as my grandmother’s!

Easy peanut brittle in Grandma’s tin, every bit as good as her original recipe.