CrockPot Peanut (Not Brittle) Candy

Day 237.

I made some really good candy the other day, with all of the ingredients you would use to make peanut brittle. But the crockpot doesn't really get hot enough to make peanut brittle, so you get this awesome chewy fudgey peanut wonderfulness which is an awful lot like a Payday candy bar.

The Ingredients.

There's a lot of sugar here. Because it's CANDY.

--3 cups of sugar (Baker's sugar has finer granules and will dissolve well)
--1 cup light corn syrup
--4 cups of your favorite nuts (I used 3 cups dry roasted lightly salted peanuts and 1 cup raw almonds. because I care about health.)
--4 Tbl butter
--2 tsp vanilla extract
--2 tsp baking soda

--parchment paper or Release foil

The Directions.

I used my 6 quart Smart Set crockpot for this. I like the Smart Set because I can set it for 30 minute intervals and it will beep for me when the 30 minutes is done. And I seem to need the beeps, because I tend to wander off if I find something shiny.

Drop the 4 tablespoons of butter into your crockpot. Add the sugar and the corn syrup on top of the butter. Pour in the vanilla.

Cover your crockpot and turn to high for one hour.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or release foil.

After an hour, stir well to mix everything around. Add the baking soda. It will sizzle and make fun noises.
Your sugar mixture will be kind of milky-yellow and the sugar might still look granulated.

Cover again and cook on high for another 30 minutes. Check and stir in nuts.
Cover and cook again for another 15-30 minutes, or until the sugar mixture is brown and looks the color of peanut brittle. Or a payday candy bar.

Stir in your nuts.

Then, USING OVEN MITTS, carefully (CAREFULLY! seriously---use the oven mitts) pour half of the pot onto each cookie sheet and spread out with a spatula.
It will be lumpy.
that's because there are nuts.

Let cool at room temperature for about an hour, then tear into pieces.

Prepare to be amazed.

The Verdict.

This makes about 3 pounds of candy. Everyone who tried it (10 of us, minus my cousin who for some reason doesn't care for nuts) couldn't get enough. It's quite tasty.

I'd like to make it again, but melt semi-sweet or dark chocolate in the mini 1.5 quart crock to pour out and then layer the candied nuts on top. mmm.