Last Christmas, I received a delightful cookie box in the mail from my sister in law. What a lovely treat! Everything in it was great but what shines in my memory was the pistachio brittle she tucked in there like little shards of nutty, crunchy heaven. It was salty, sweet, crisp but melt in your mouth with lots of complex caramel notes. I didn’t waste any time texting her for the recipe and was surprised to find out it was an Alison Roman recipe but vintage A. R. (circa 2012) before she blew up. OF COURSE it’s from her, I thought.
Jump to RecipeMake pistachio brittle for a last minute sweet gift or treat!
This pistachio brittle is very easy as long as you do two things:
- Use a candy thermometer. It can be hard to gauge when sugar is cooked to the right “stage” so it will harden correctly.
- Have your ingredients prepped and measured out.
Caramel keeps on cooking, even after you turn off the heat, so it’s best to not waste time with measuring and fussing with ingredients. Also, since you’re working with hot, molten sugar, work safe and have your ingredients at the ready when you need them.
Didn’t have time to make cookies? With only a small handful of ingredients, you could make this for Santa’s treat in less than 20 minutes. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, you break it into pieces and you’re done! Incidentally, this will make enough to treat Santa, you and the neighbors, if you’re willing to share.
Don’t have a candy thermometer?
Can you make pistachio brittle without a candy thermometer? A few solutions: use a laser temperature probe or good digital instant read thermometer. Either needs to be able to measure up to 400 F. Another way would be to use the cold water candy test. This is the old-fashioned way of gauging cooked sugar but it works (see notes in recipe card). If you want to use this method, you want to cook the sugar to the hard crack stage.
Don’t want to use pistachios?
Maybe you have a nut allergy or don’t want to shell out on expensive pistachios? Seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, flax and chia would make great substitutes. Any other nuts like almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans or a mixture would be delicious. Dried fruits like apricots, cranberries, raisins would work too. Or you could go extra fancy and add dried rose petals, lavender or saffron. It’s a blank, sweet canvas- go wild!
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Pistachio Brittle
Ingredients
- vegetable oil spray (or neutral oil or butter)
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- ½ cup (100 ml) light corn syrup (or golden syrup or brown rice syrup)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup (140 g) pistachios, raw, shelled and unsalted
- 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- 1 teaspoon salt, kosher (or to taste)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- course salt (such as Maldon, fleur de sel or more kosher salt) for garnishing
Method
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat. Spray with non-stick spray or brush with oil or butter. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook over medium heat, whisking to combine. Fit a candy thermometer into saucepan. Stirring often, bring to a boil and cook until mixture reaches 290°F (140°C).
- Add pistachios, butter and salt to pan. Stir to combine (mixture will seize up at first but then loosen again). Continue cooking until caramel turns a pale amber brown (about 300°F/148°C) and nuts smell toasty. Off heat, add the baking soda and stir in quickly (it will bubble up a bit).
- Quickly pour the caramel onto the prepared baking sheet. Using an offset spatula or heatproof rubber spatula (greased with a little cooking spray or butter) spread out as thinly as possible. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt (to taste) and leave to cool completely. Once cool, break brittle into pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Oh my this sounds delicious! I love pistachios and haven’t made brittle in many years so I have to give this a try even! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for checking out my blog! Hope you give it a try.
Yum! Just reading this makes my teeth hurt😂 but seriously, what a yummy recipe.
Lol, it’s worth it, I think.
Oh yum! This would make a perfect snack and a wonderful gift. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
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