Hazelnut Brittle Recipes

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, mix the sugar with the water until it looks like wet sand. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring gently to dissolve the sugar. Simmer without disturbing for 20 minutes, or until the mixture turns a light amber color.
• Spray a small rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread the chopped hazelnuts out on the baking sheet. Pour the caramel over the hazelnuts and let sit for 10 minutes, or until hardened. Break into shards.

Steps:

• Put a large pot or kettle over a medium heat.
• Add sugar, water, and corn syrup and bring to a boil.
• When mixture comes to a boil, add butter.
• Cook to 260 degrees F on a candy thermometer without stirring and add the sliced hazelnuts.
• Bring mixture to 300 degrees F and stir in salt, baking soda and vanilla.
• Pour mixture onto a greased baking sheet and spread out and allow to cool.
• Break up into pieces and decorate with melted chocolate.

Steps:

• Combine sugar, vinegar, and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan set over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Cook until dark amber in color, 20 to 22 minutes. Stir in nuts.
• Oil an 11-by-17-inch baking pan. Pour hot mixture onto pan. Let set until firm but still soft enough to cut. Invert onto a cutting board, and unmold. Working quickly, use an oiled chef's knife to cut the sheet into six rectangles. Store brittle in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 15 minutes until browned and fragrant. Let cool.
• Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium heat. Whisk in the sugar and corn syrup, and bring to a boil. Continue whisking constantly until the syrup is a rich amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully whisk in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the hazelnuts and then pour the contents of the pan onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it out into a thin layer. Let the brittle cool completely.
• Break the brittle into 2-inch pieces. The brittle will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Steps:

• Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Cook hazelnuts, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves.
• Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is golden brown (290 degrees). Stir in salt and baking soda (mixture will foam), and immediately pour on prepared sheet (do not spread). Let stand until hard, about 2 hours. Break into pieces. Using kitchen tweezers, decorate brittle with gold leaf.

Steps:

• Line a quarter sheet pan with a Silpat (parchment will not work here).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Follow the recipe for peanut brittle, substituting hazelnuts for the peanuts.
• [makes about 250 g (1 3/4 cups)]
• cashew brittle
• Follow the recipe for peanut brittle, substituting 3/4 cup cashews for the peanuts and increasing the sugar to 1 1/2 cups.
• [makes about 375 g (2 1/4 cups)]
• pumpkin seed brittle
• 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.
• 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!
• [makes about 250 g (1 3/4 cups)]
• Elsewhere in this book
• Peanut brittle is used in Peanut Butter Crunch (page 185).