All of our nut brittles are extraordinarily simple. We use skinned (blanched) nuts, unroasted and unsalted. They take one part nuts to two parts sugar and about ten minutes of time. Nut brittles are one of few things we measure by volume, so no gram weights are needed here. There will always be a small amount of caramel and nut left in the bottom of your pan after making the brittle. No worries! We’ve never met a person who can make this brittle without leaving a trace of it behind. Here’s a hint: the best way to clean hardened caramel out of a pan is by putting water in it and boiling it. The hot water will dissolve the caramel and the pan will be a snap to clean.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 250 g (1 3/4 cups)
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Line a quarter sheet pan with a Silpat (parchment will not work here).
Step 2
Make a dry caramel: Heat the sugar in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. As soon as the sugar starts to melt, use a heatproof spatula to move it constantly around the pan—you want it all to melt and caramelize evenly. Cook and stir, cook and stir, until the caramel is a deep, dark amber, 3 to 5 minutes.
Step 3
Once the caramel has reached the target color, remove the pan from the heat and, with the heatproof spatula, stir in the nuts. Make sure the nuts are coated in caramel, then dump the contents of the pan out onto the prepared sheet pan. Spread out as thin and evenly as possible. The caramel will set into a hard-to-move-around brittle mass in less than a minute, so work quickly. Let the brittle cool completely.
Step 4
In a zip-top bag break the brittle up into pieces as small as possible with a meat pounder or a heavy rolling pin—we grind our brittle down in the food processor to the size of short-grain rice (you don’t want anyone to chip a tooth on it!). Eat or cook with it at will. Store your brittle in an airtight container, and try to use it up within a month.
hazelnut brittle
Step 5
Follow the recipe for peanut brittle, substituting hazelnuts for the peanuts.
Step 6
[makes about 250 g (1 3/4 cups)]
cashew brittle
Step 7
Follow the recipe for peanut brittle, substituting 3/4 cup cashews for the peanuts and increasing the sugar to 1 1/2 cups.
Step 8
[makes about 375 g (2 1/4 cups)]
pumpkin seed brittle
Step 9
This, obviously, is made from a seed, not a nut, but it works just the same. We use pepitas, or hulled pumpkin seeds. We’ve tried making them from raw shelled seeds scooped straight from a pumpkin, but to no avail.
Step 10
Follow the recipe for peanut brittle, substituting pumpkin seeds for the peanuts. When adding the seeds to the hot caramel, take care, they will “pop” a bit!
Step 11
[makes about 250 g (1 3/4 cups)]
Elsewhere in this book
Step 12
Peanut brittle is used in Peanut Butter Crunch (page 185).
