Brittle: caramelise nuts in 5 minutes

What is brittle?

Brittle is nothing but caramelized nuts or seeds. Everything from walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds to pumpkin seeds can be coated with a layer of sugar. This leads to the deliciously crispy and sweet Brittle feeling.

Even though some people may be afraid at first. It's... really easyto make your own brittle. With only few ingredients and in a short time anyone can produce a great result.

You just have to follow a few tips, which I will tell you below, of course.

ingredients

• 100 g nuts or seeds (e.g. Hazelnuts* or Almonds*), chopped
• 100 g sugar or cane sugar*
• optional: 1 Msp spice (suggestions under Variants)

Preparation of brittle

• Chop nuts with a food processor or knife if you didn't buy chopped nuts.
• Put the sugar and nuts in a non-stick pan.

• Heat the pan over high heat and stir regularly with a wooden spoon.
• After a few minutes the sugar starts to melt. You can see this very well in the picture below.
• Adjust the heat to medium and stir constantly.

• Keep stirring until all the nuts are covered with the sugar mixture and have taken on a light brown color.
• Let cool on a plate.

Tips

• Better, Whole nuts to buy and these fresh to chopbecause chopped nuts go rancid faster and lose flavor. But I can also understand everyone who buys the chopped version right away.
• The thicker the bottom of the pan, the more evenly the heat is distributed and delivered. The heating of sugar and thus the production of brittle succeeds better with a properly coated pan with thick bottom.
• At melted sugar be very careful! Do not bring into contact with skin or even taste. The high temperature can quickly cause burns. The stickiness of the mass makes it additionally difficult to quickly cool down again at the spot.
• There is also the possibility of something Butter (approx. 1 tablespoon on top of the recipe described above). But I prefer the variant without butter and it also keeps better.
• If everything sticks together after cooling, just put it in a bag and cover with a rolling pin crumble.
• After preparation, fill the pan with warm water. The remaining sugar mass gradually dissolves in the water. This way you do not have problems with the Cleaning the pan.

Storage

The caramelized nuts can be placed in a Glass airtight many months cool and dry must be kept. I'm going to make a little Stock and I'll have some ready when I need them.

Use of brittle

I use brittle of course mainly for Ice cream. Especially in combination with Milk ice cream varieties it is unbeatable. At Chocolate ice cream, Vanilla Ice Cream and Nougat ice cream make caramelized nuts especially good. Brittle also finds for many Cakes et al Desserts Use, such as pudding or mousse

Variants for brittle

You can try here well different variants. To do this, simply one of the ingredients listed below near the end of the caramelization process sprinkle over the nuts or seeds. You should not add the spices too early, otherwise the heat will cause the spices to become bitter or burn. Only salt can be added right from the start.

• Cinnamon or speculoos spice: are of course very suitable for the Christmas season
• Vanilla: is always a good option
• Salt: is an interesting combination for people who love opposites
• Chili: for those who like it a little spicier. Goes very well with for example Chocolate ice cream.
• Cardamomwith an Asian touch, e.g. with chai latte ice cream

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