Cakes & Bakes: Mixed nut toffee brittle

We’ve had a whirlwind week; we had visitors come to stay and are currently spending a couple of nights at Justin’s mum’s. I realised that the weekly Cakes & Bakes post would be due and I hadn’t yet made anything.

Seeing as Justin’s mum (aka Granny Glittens) regularly says how much she likes my peanut brittle, I took the hint and made some mixed nut toffee brittle.

Rather than plain peanut, I found a bag of ‘Best’ mixed nuts in the supermarket and bulked them up with a bag of cashews that I already had in the store cupboard. In the mix were pecans, hazelnuts, Brazils and Carmel and Marcona almonds.

Apparently the latter are:

The ‘Queen of Almonds,’… imported from Spain. They are shorter, rounder, softer, and sweeter than the California variety.

If you’re using large nuts like Brazils or whole walnuts, it’s a good idea to chop them into 3 or so pieces to make them a better size for gobbling up!

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest

Mixed nut toffee brittle

2019-06-19 08:59:40

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

500g/17½oz caster sugar
3tbs water
50g/2oz butter
250g/9oz roasted mixed nuts
2tsp bicarbonate of soda

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Instructions

Line a large, shallow baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper. You can grease the tray lightly to make the paper stick to it
Pour the sugar into a large, heavy-bottomed sauce or frying pan
Turn the stove on to a medium-low heat, add the water and stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar has turned to a thick syrup
Stop stirring!
Bring to the boil (still without stirring) allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes or, if you're using a candy thermometer, bring up to the hard crack stage of 146-154°C/295-309°F. You'll see the consistency go from grainy to smooth and shiny.
As soon as you get to this point, turn off the heat and stir in the butter quickly
Add the nuts and stir those in quickly
Add the bicarbonate of soda, again, stirring in quickly
Pour the boiling mixture carefully on to the prepared baking tray and allow it to cool for about half an hour
Break it up into pieces using a toffee hammer or the butt end of a kitchen knife
Store in an airtight container lined with greaseproof paper

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Price Points: Halloween Treats

Do you celebrate Halloween? We’re a kid-free household so it’s not at the top of our agenda on 31st October. That’s not to say we don’t get the neighbourhood kids knocking on our door expecting Halloween treats!

No one wants to be known as the local Scrooge (mixing my festivities there!). So everyone should have a selection of sweets to hand over to eager witches, warlocks, mummies and pumpkins… and their patient custodians.

Halloween Chupa Chups (pack of 14): £1.00
Pumpkin marshmallows in a bag, 180g: £7.50, Fortnum & Mason
Halloween treats selection jar: £19.79, A Quarter of…

Cakes & Bakes: Peanut brittle

Peanut brittle is a fantastic, quick, easy, last-minute sweet party snack or Christmas gift idea. Just two or three fairly low-cost ingredients and about 10 minutes of your time.

Perhaps saying it’s easy to make is a bit subjective. I won’t lie, I messed it up on my first attempt. I made the fatal mistake of stirring the sugar when it was boiling – NEVER succumb to the temptation of fiddling with it as it approaches the hard crack stage. It causes the sugar to become grainy which doesn’t allow the brittle to develop properly. Also, keep an eye on it; don’t heat it too quickly or it could quickly overheat and burn.

The results, when it was done properly, were delicious. The added bicarbonate of soda gives it an airy texture – almost like a Crunchie bar – and makes it much easier on the teeth. The added butter is optional, but it gives it a glossy sheen and a richness of flavour. You can try this recipe with other kinds of nuts such as cashews, almonds, pistachios, macadamias and Brazil nuts – or a combination!

Click here to save this peanut brittle recipe to Pinterest for later

Peanut brittle

You can try this recipe with other kinds of nuts such as cashews, almonds, pistachios and Brazil nuts

Print recipe Pin recipe

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Ingredients

500 g/17½oz caster sugar
3 tbs water
50 g/2oz butter optional
250 g/9oz roasted peanuts
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

Line a large, shallow baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper. You can grease the tray lightly to make the paper stick to it
Pour the sugar into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan
Turn the stove on to a medium-low heat, add the water and stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar has turned to a thick syrup
Stop stirring!
Bring to the boil (still without stirring) allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes or, if you're using a candy thermometer, bring up to the hard crack stage of 146-154°C/295-309°F
Turn of the heat, stir in the butter quickly
Add the peanuts and stir in quickly
Add the bicarbonate of soda and stir in quickly
Pour carefully on to the prepared baking tray and allow to cool for about half and hour
Break up into pieces using a toffee hammer or butt of a kitchen knife
Store in an airtight container lined with greaseproof paper

Keyword brittle, candy, nuts, peanuts

Cakes & Bakes: Plot toffee

Plot toffee – otherwise known as bonfire toffee – is a traditional Yorkshire sweet eaten in the autumn around Halloween and – you guessed it – Bonfire Night!

It’s called Plot toffee after the Gunpowder Plot. It’s referred to by different names in different parts of the country; loshin du or taffi triog (Wales), Tom Trot (Yorkshire), claggum, clag or clack (Scotland).

Some recipes include a little milk and malt vinegar like this one that I’m using from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore. Others I’ve come across include ginger, cayenne pepper and even chilli powder.

Plot toffee

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Cuisine British

Servings 300 g

Ingredients

225 g Demerara sugar
55 g black treacle
55 g butter
2 tsp water
2 tsp milk
2 tsp malt vinegar

Instructions

Bring all the ingredients except the vinegar to the boil stirring constantly
Boil gently for 15-20 minutes, still stirring, until the mixture becomes brittle when a small piece is dropped into cold water. Even better, if you have a jam thermometer the temperature needs to reach the hard crack stage of 149-154°C / 300-310°F
Stir in the vinegar and then pour into a well-greased tin
When nearly set, you can score it deeply into squares. Alternatively, allow to cool and give it a bash with a toffee hammer
Store in an airtight jar or container

Keyword sweets, toffee