Crunchy Pistachio Brittle Recipes

RICH PISTACHIO BRITTLE

Steps:

• Butter a 15x10x1-in. pan, set aside. In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 240° (soft-ball stage). Carefully add butter and pistachios; cook and stir until mixture reaches 284° (soft-crack stage)., Remove from the heat; stir in baking soda and vanilla. Immediately pour into prepared pan. Spread to 1/4-in. thickness. Cool before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

PISTACHIO BRITTLE

Steps:

• Spray a quarter-sheet tray with cooking spray.
• Combine the baking soda and vanilla paste in a small bowl and reserve.
• In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, butter and 1 tablespoon water with a wooden spoon. Bring the mixture to 280 degrees F slowly over medium heat. Add the pistachios and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F, or hard-crack. Remove from the heat and carefully add the baking soda and vanilla paste mixture, continuing to stir.
• Carefully turn out onto the greased sheet tray and spread thinly and evenly with a spoon. Sprinkle sea salt flakes over the top. Let cool at room temperature until hardened, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Break into pieces. Eat as-is or with vanilla ice cream. Store any remaining in an airtight container.

PISTACHIO NUT BRITTLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (180 C).
• Spread the nuts on a baking tray and toast them in the oven until light golden, 6 to 8 minutes, turning the nuts after 4 minutes so they toast evenly. Remove them from the oven and let them cool to room temperature.
• Put the sugar in a medium saucepan. Add the corn syrup and water turn stove to medium heat, stir once to mix, bring to a boil. Continue boiling, undisturbed, until a layer of bubbles forms on top, 3 to 4 minutes. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and continue to boil undisturbed for 5 minutes longer. I place a wooden spoon on top of the foil to keep down.
• Remove the foil, add the butter, gently stir with a wooden spoon a few times. When the butter has melted and is combined with the sugar mixture -- and forms a soft boil add your candy thermometer continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer inserted into the mixture registers 300 degrees (150 C), about 12 - 15 minutes. Meanwhile, coat a 12-by-17-inch (30-by-43-cm) sheet pan with vegetable oil or spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
• As soon as the sugar mixture reaches the desired temperature, immediately but carefully stir in the combined salt and baking soda, vanilla and Pistachios.
• Using a long metal spatula, spread the nut mixture as thinly and evenly as possible over the prepared pan. Leave the brittle to cool to room temperature. The brittle will harden very quickly.
• When the brittle is completely cooled and hardened, run a clean, dry towel over the brittle's surface to absorb some of the oil. Carefully cut or tap the brittle with a mallet to break it into irregular pieces. Store in one or more airtight containers at cool room temperature.

PISTACHIO BRITTLE

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of foil lightly greased with canola oil spray.
• Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepot fitted with a candy thermometer. Bring to a boil without stirring; cook until the mixture reaches 305 degrees F (the hard-crack stage), 12 to 15 minutes -- the sugar will become deeply caramelized.
• Remove the pot from the heat and carefully add the butter, baking soda, vanilla paste and fennel; the sugar will bubble up and incorporate all the ingredients on its own. With a heatproof rubber spatula, stir in the pistachios and then immediately spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet in an even layer. While the brittle is still hot, zest the orange evenly over the top and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
• Let the brittle cool completely before breaking into small pieces. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature. For longer storage, place the brittle in a zip-close bag, remove any excess air, and freeze for up to 1 month.

PISTACHIO CRUNCH

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 325°F.
• Put the pistachios on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
• Put the toasted pistachios in a clean kitchen towel and, with a sauté pan or a rolling pin, bash them into smaller pieces, ideally halving the pistachios, or breaking them down to no smaller than one-eighth their original size.
• Combine the broken pistachios with the pistachio paste, feuilletine, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle on medium-low speed for about 1 minute, until homogenous. The crunch can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
• If you want to make this nut crunch gluten-free, substitute 75 g (1/2 cup) additional toasted ground pistachios for the feuilletine; used as the replacement for the milk crumbs, this makes the amazing almond flour Pistachio Layer Cake (page 83) entirely gluten-free.
• Pistachio crunch is used in the Chèvre Frozen Yogurt dessert (page 217).