Homemade Big Hunks

So I remember most of my youth, and one of the memories that sticks out best is my many (MANY) trips to the neighborhood grocery store for candy and soda. Me and my siblings would walk the couple blocks to the nearby Walgreens for a treat, and without fail I would come home with one of two things. Either a half pint of Walgreens brand ice cream (it cost exactly 1.07) or more often than not a Big Hunk and Soda (also- exactly 1.07). I LOVED Big Hunks. So needless to say when I found this FANTASTIC recipe online (I don't remember where) I instantly bought the ingredients to make it.

The ingredients:
1 larger bottle Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts (lightly salted)
3 smaller jars Kraft Marshmallow Cream
2 1/4 cups light corn syrup
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt

The instructions:
Butter a large cookie sheet. Scatter peanuts equally on cookie sheet. Place marshmallow cream in a LARGE bowl, set aside. In a large saucepan, combine corn syrup and sugar. Place over high heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. Clip on candy thermometer. Cook to 280 degrees F, or to soft crack stage. Remover from heat and let stand 2 minutes undisturbed. Without scraping, pour entire batch into marshmallow cream and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add butter, vanilla, and salt and stir with wooden spoon until butter in incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly across peanuts. Allow to stand at room temperature until firm, about 3 hours. Cut and wrap in wax paper.


((The biggest difference here is how SOFT this candy is! It is firm enough to not be sticky, but soft enough to not break a tooth on. Clean up can be a mess, but is OH, so worth it!))