pecan brittle (brickle???) (WTSIM… #16)
Waiter, there’s something in my… brittle!
A few days ago, my sister gave us some peanut brittle she had made. It was great peanut brittle.
Or perhaps you prefer to call it “brickle”? Brickle??? Does anyone call it “brickle”?
That isn’t really a serious question, by the way. It had never occurred to me to call this confection “brickle”, but T suddenly and inexplicably decided that’s what it’s called.
When we had finished devouring the paltry amount of peanut whatever it’s called that my sister gave us (okay, okay… we’re hogs; it was actually a very generous amount), T neeeeeeded to make “brickle” too. And happily, my sister emailed the link to the recipe she had used. It looked pretty straight-forward, especially with a candy thermometer.
As luck would have it, we just happen to have a “never-been-used-by-us” candy thermometer that I bought at a yard sale last year. (Or was it two years ago?)
And armed with the thermometer, T headed into the kitchen to make “brickle”.
(click on image for larger view and more photos)
At the last minute, he decided to use pecans instead of salted roasted peanuts. And in so doing, forgot to add salt until after he had poured the molten liquid onto the cookie sheet. So he added the salt then.
Here’s how T made pecan brittle (brickle???):
pecan brittle (brickle???)
based on “Salted Peanuts Peanut Brittle” at recipes.findjunkfood.com
- ½ c raw pecan pieces
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp + ¼ c water (used separately)
- 1½ c sugar
- 1½ c corn syrup
- 3 generous Tbsp unsalted butter
- ~½ tsp seasalt
preparation
- In a small bowl, stir together baking soda, vanilla extract and 2 tsp water. Set aside.
- Stir together ¼ c water, sugar and syrup in a pot. Bring to a boil over moderate heat and cook, stirring from time to time until it measures 270F on a candy thermometer (hard ball stage).
- Add butter and stirring continually, cook until the thermometer reads 300F (hard crack stage). Remove from heat.
- Add vanilla mixture. Quickly stir in pecans and stir for aproximately 30 seconds. Use a silicone scraper to put the mixture onto a silicone (or greased parchment paper) covered cookie sheet. Spread to ½ inch (1.25cm) thickness with the silicone scraper. Sprinkle salt evenly over top.
- As soon as edges are slightly cool, carefully pull out as thinly as possible, ¼ inch (0.75cm) thick or less.
When the candy is completely cool, break into pieces.
How does it taste, you ask? It’s reminiscent of the best McIntosh toffee, but with pecans added. It’s buttery and sweet (duh…). We loved it!
Thanks, B, for giving us some of your peanut brittle so we could have pecan brittle!
Nuts!! Late again… So what else is new? Maybe the WTSIM… Administrators will cut me some slack (again) and allow me to submit this anyway…. Pretty please? With pecan brittle on top?
Andrew (Spittoon Extra) is hosting May’s WTSIM…. The theme is fruit and/or nuts. Here is what he wrote in the announcement:
I thought dried fruit and nuts would make a good theme and get all those imaginative bloggers scurrying to their kitchens.
It falls to you to decide which fruits you should use and whether you use both fruit and nuts in the dish or just play with one. The actual dish can be anything at all – bread, salads, desserts, whatever you fancy!
The deadline for WTSIM… dried fruit and nuts! is 30 May, 2008. If you would like to participate, please read the following for more information:
edit 2 June 2008: I must lead a charmed existence. Andrew has kindly included my tardy entry in the
Brickle? Brickle?? I’ve NEVER heard this term before. I would say that T is out of his mind but then he made pecan brickle (did he call it “brittle” or “brickle” when he was eating it?).
Your mention of MacIntosh toffee reminded me of something that happened last year. MrBrown and I were shopping Boyless at a dollar store when I saw a bar of MacIntosh toffee. I said, “hey, did you have this when you were a kid? I loved it. I loved breaking it and then sucking on the broken bits.” MrBrown agreed that we needed to get some for our son who we were sure had never had the pleasure of MacIntosh toffee. This is a VERY big deal as MrBrown believes that sugar is the Root Of All Evil and Must Not be ingested. I explained to our son that to break it, you had to tap it firmly against the edge of a table or against the curb to break it into several bite sized pieces. MrBrown looked at me with disdain and said, “No, THIS is the way you break it.” He took the box WAY over his head and threw it down on the floor with all his strength. The toffee shattered into hundreds of pieces inside the box. We agreed that my way was better as the pieces were much larger but his way was more fun.
Yeh, late… but not the last! So you are in! Thanks for taking part.