almond brittle

almond-brittle.jpg

making nut brittle is incredibly easy and if you’re after a nice homemade sweet to give someone as a gift, or just to have around to indulge yourself, it’s a great alternative to homemade chocolates. this is especially true if you’re likely to be sharing them with vegans or people who can’t eat dairy.

i used flaked almonds but you could choose any nut. just think about how big the nuts are and how easy it’ll be to break up the brittle/ put it in your mouth and eat it! this almond brittle was part of a larger recipe, more of which later…

almond brittle – makes c200g

150g white sugar

75-100g flaked almonds

line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and lightly butter/oil this (use a flavourless oil).

put the sugar in a heavy pan which is large enough for the sugar not to be more than 1cm deep. heat over a low flame until the sugar melts – it will start from the outside edge and move in. do not stir but you can swirl the pan to stop the edges burning. if you have sugar crystals forming on the side of the pan brush with water to remove them.

after 10-20 minutes the sugar should all be melted and starting to become caramel in colour. if the central bit of sugar doesn’t melt, stir briefly. when all the sugar is melted and caramel in colour (be careful, your brittle will taste bitter if you burn it), remove the pan from the heat, tip in the nuts and stir well to coat them with the caramel.

return to the heat and stir to coat the nuts evenly (the caramel will have hardened when you add the nuts and will now soften again).when the mixture starts to bubble remove it from the heat and pour out onto the greaseproof paper. spread as evenly as possible remembering that as it cools it will harden.

when cool break your brittle into pieces and store in an airtight container in a cool dry place. do not refrigerate.

you can eat the brittle as a sweet or blitz it in a food processor and use the resulting crumbs to stir into cream or ice-cream for a praline flavour.

more sweet gifts:

Sweet Thingsabby dysonsweets, nuts3 Comments