Easy Pecan Brittle Recipe - CopyKat Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is pecan brittle made of? ›

In a nonstick saucepan, heat and stir sugar, corn syrup, water and salt over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Over high heat, using a candy thermometer, cook sugar mixture to a hard crack stage (290 °F). Add pecans and butter and cook to 300 °F stirring all the time to keep the nuts from burning.

Baking soda is also very important at this stage since it reacts to the heat, creating carbon dioxide that aerates the caramel, enabling it to snap when someone bites into it rather than requiring them to gnaw at it until it breaks or pulls apart.

Whether it's during the cooking, cooling, or storage process, moisture and humidity can ruin the best batch of brittle in minutes, leaving you with a soggy, sticky mess. This is why eliminating moisture anywhere you can is our top tip on how to store peanut brittle.

The brittle can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

This is a temperature issue. Make sure the candy reaches exactly 300ºF / 149ºC, which is hard crack stage, before pouring onto baking sheet. See “Equipment Used to Make Peanut Brittle” for my recommended thermometer. If you're peanut brittle is still chewy after it cools, you may be able to save it!

Brittleness is a material property that describes its tendency to fracture with little to no plastic deformation when stress is applied to it. Brittle behavior results when atoms in a material cannot slip past each other while maintaining the overall integrity of the atomic lattice structure.

The main reason why peanut brittle doesn't get hard and have the crunch we expect is because the sugar was not cooked long enough. The sugar needs to be cooked to what is called the hard crack stage, 300ºF.

If your peanut brittle is not hardening, it's because the sugar mixture did not get hot enough to properly caramelize, cool and become hard, crisp and crunchy. If you have this issue, next time, use a thermometer to make sure the peanut brittle mixture gets to 300°F.

Brittles are typically composed mostly of sugar, while toffees contain a fair amount of butter and in some cases milk. This makes toffees fuller and richer in taste, while brittles are more purely sweet and sugary. Brittles are also much thinner than most toffees.

Didn't get it hot enough. You have to hit hard crack stage heat or it's not going to harden. From internet: Hard-Crack Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 – 154 C (300 – 310 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it.

Why did my peanut brittle turn white? ›

Peanut brittle turning white, often referred to as "sugaring," is typically the result of crystallization of the sugar in the candy. This crystallization can make the brittle appear white or cloudy rather than having a clear, glass-like consistency.

You will want the cookie sheet to be non-stick. Use parchment paper, a silicone baking sheet or a greased cookie sheet. Spread the peanut brittle as thin as you can. Immediately add your sea salt.

Any amount of humidity in the air will cause the candy to become sticky, so you can wrap it really tightly in cellophane, put it in a resealable plastic bag and press out as much air as possible, or, ideally, vacuum seal the bag. If vacuum-sealed and frozen, the pecan brittle can last for at least 6 months.

Do not refrigerate as the moisture from the fridge will cause the brittle to soften. Store for 6-8 weeks. To Freeze: Peanut brittle can be frozen and stored up to 3 months. Allow the brittle to cool completely and store it in a freezer safe, airtight container.

Sealed plastic bags are best for storing pecans in the freezer. In-shell pecans can be stored in a cool, dry place for 6 to 12 months. They can be refrigerated up to 18 months and frozen for about three years.

New Orleans chefs took the original French recipe, which used almonds, and substituted pecans. They also added cream, giving the candy a creamy consistency. Pecan pralines, sometimes known as “pecan candy,” are made with brown sugar, cream, butter and pecans. They have a creamy, fudge-like texture and are very sweet.

Pralines have a lot in common with nut brittle, with the difference being mostly in the addition of cream and the cooking temperature––the sugary syrup used to coat pralines is heated to a soft-ball consistency, a lower temperature than the hard-crack stage of peanut brittle.

Pecan is a hardwood. Unfortunately, many people do not consider it a true hardwood, given its low density. However, the term hardwood refers to trees that shed leaves during fall. Because pecan does not retain its leaves all year round, it is hardwood.

Peanut brittle is cooked to the hard-crack stage. It's called that because it's the point when a drop of boiling sugar syrup immersed into cold water will separate into hard, brittle threads. While toffee is made with similar ingredients, it is cooked to a lower temperature: the hard-ball stage.