Candied Peanuts
Candied peanuts like the ones sold at a funfair, with four ingredients: peanuts, sugar, water and vanilla. No thermometer, no trick — one pan and 25 minutes of stirring, and that is meant literally.
The important part first, so you do not give up too early: after ten minutes the syrup crystallises and the peanuts look as though they have drowned in white sand. That is not a mistake, it is the compulsory stage. Stop here and you throw away a batch that was working; keep stirring and you will see the sugar melt again and this time cling to the nuts as caramel.
Ingredients
- 250 g raw peanuts with their skins on (the pink ones)
- 250 g sugar
- 125 ml water (half the weight of the sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- 1
Put the peanuts, the sugar, the water and the vanilla together in a wide, heavy-based pan. Medium heat.
- 2
Stir with a wooden spoon from the first minute and do not stop: candied peanuts are 25 minutes of stirring, and that is the whole recipe.
- 3
After 10-12 minutes the syrup crystallises and the peanuts are coated in white sand. Not a mistake — this is the point where most people give up. Keep stirring.
- 4
Carry on stirring over medium-low heat: the sandy sugar melts again and this time caramelises onto the peanuts, which take on the copper colour of the funfair.
- 5
As soon as most of the peanuts are glossy and caramelised — do not wait until the base of the pan burns — tip them straight onto a tray lined with baking paper.
- 6
Separate them quickly with two forks before they set, and let them cool completely. In a closed jar they stay crisp for two weeks.