Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle

Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts (or, try cashews for a unique flavor!)
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy 3−quart saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is
dissolved. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the mixture
reaches the soft crack stage (285 degrees F.) on the candy thermometer.
Add the peanuts and butter. Cook, stirring constantly, to the hard
crack stage (300 degrees F.) on the candy thermometer. Remove from the
heat. Rapidly stir in the baking soda and vanilla. (Mixture will foam
up.) Turn the mixture onto 2 greased baking sheets. Spread out with a
metal spatula as thin as possible. When the candy begins to set, loosen
from the baking sheets. Turn the brittle over, then stretch and pull
brittle as thin as possible using two forks. When completely cooled,
break into pieces.