Salted Pistachio Brittle

I have long harbored a desire to only give out handmade gifts for the holidays, but thus far, either lack of time, laziness; or some combination of both would create hurriedly purchased commercial doodads.

This year, that changed. I don’t know what it was-perhaps it was the repeated commercials on television, or the inspiration drawn from a drool-worthy picture of some nut brittle I came upon while perusing some glossy food magazine.

Whatever it was, it resulted in a mad surge to prepare batch after batch of brittle, which I shared with everyone from the family that ‘doesn’t celebrate Xmas’ to the landlord, and the office where I had to be careful not to make a mention of any ‘religious’ holidays and keep it corporately sterile.

I might go back to sharing joy of the commercial variety next year, but for the time being, I must confess to having enjoyed the process of making the brittle and packing the shards in tins with picnic paper.

The nuts in question were pistachios. I had been saving a large batch for something like this so finding this recipe worked out splendidly. The real hook, however, was the step of adding sprinkles of Maldon salt over the brittle; which even sounds so marvelous, I find myself wanting to stop and squeal every time.

Some may balk at the idea of salt over brittle, but in this case, it makes the deal. It is simply not negotiable.

The recipe calls for a darker caramel, but I made a lighter one as well. Technically, it is just a matter of how much time you let the sugar caramelize.

Salted Pistachio Brittle

Recipe from Food & Wine’s Best-Ever Nut Brittle

Sugar – 2 C
Water – 1/2 C
Unsalted butter – 1 stick
Light corn syrup – 1/3 C
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Shelled pistachios – 12 oz
Fleur de sel or crushed Maldon sea salt

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, water, butter and corn syrup and bring to a boil.

Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the caramel is deep amber and has the very first hints of a lightly burnt aroma (about 10 minutes).

Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the baking soda. The mixture will bubble.

Stir in the pistachios, then immediately scrape the brittle onto a large rimmed, nonstick baking sheet. Using the back of a large spoon or an offset spatula (oil it lightly if it sticks), spread the brittle into a thin, even layer. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Break the brittle into large shards.

P.S- I did it! I made it to Dec. with at least 3 posts a month, which means I met my blogging  goals for 2011! There was a bit of time lapse and post/pre dating involved, but that’ll be our little secret.

Happy Holidays and New Year!

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