A stove-top brittle recipe from an aunt's family is similar to these but includes a heaping teaspoon of food grade paraffin wax along with the butter. Years later, I asked a professor of experimental cookery why this ingredient. After a moment's thought, she replied that it should make the candy less susceptible to stickiness in damp weather. I don't know how well this works — our brittle gets eaten before there's a real weather test (!) — but it doesn't affect the taste. I look forward to trying the microwave recipe.

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