Peanut brittle is a holiday favorite. We have an uncle who always made tons of peanut brittle, often with his own maple syrup, and every year we all hoped we would be lucky enough to get a sample. Traditional brittle is made with peanuts, or cashews and is delicious! I have a young friend with a peanut allergy and I thought there must be a brittle for him too, and then thought how some folks don’t want all the calories from a sugar-filled brittle brimming with nuts. So with a bag of fat-free pretzels staring at me on my island I came up with this recipe. I must admit my sister just shared her cashew brittle recipe with me and that got me thinking about brittle in the first place. This is a bit similar, but different, but just as good.
Fat-free pretzel sticks broken into half-inch pieces to measure 1 cup
½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup white sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
1-tablespoon butter
1-teaspoon vanilla extract
1-teaspoon baking soda
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large glass bowl place corn syrup, sugar, salt, cranberries, and one half of the pretzels. Cook on high in microwave 5 minutes. Mixture should be bubbly. Stir in butter, vanilla, and remaining pretzels. Cook on high an additional 2 minutes. Quickly stir in baking soda and blend just until mixture is foamy. Pour onto parchment paper. Allow to cool and set. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.
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