Peanut brittle
confection / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brittle is a type of sweet consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy with nuts mixed into it, such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts.[1] It is usually less than 1 centimeter thick. It has many variations around the world, such as pasteli in Greece, sohan in Iran,[2] croquant in France,[3] alegría or palanqueta in Mexico,[4] gozinaki in Georgia, gachak or gajak in Indian Punjab, chikki in other parts of India, kotkoti in Bangladesh, sohan halwa in Pakistan,[5][source?] huasheng tang (花生糖) in China, thua tat (ถั่วตัด) in Thailand and kẹo lạc in Vietnam. In parts of the Middle East, brittle is made with pistachios.[6] Many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.[7] Peanut brittle is the most popular brittle recipe in the United States. The term "brittle", was first printed in 1892 meaning food, though the candy itself has been around for much longer.[8]
Type | Confectionery |
---|---|
Main ingredients | Sugar, nuts, water, butter |
Usually, a mixture of sugar and water is heated to approximately 300 °F (149 °C), though some recipes also use ingredients like glucose and salt in the first step.[9] Nuts are mixed with the sugar, which is caramelized. At this point, spices, leavening agents, and often peanut butter or butter are added to the mixture. The hot candy is poured out onto a flat surface for cooling, traditionally a granite or marble slab, or a baking sheet. The hot candy can be smoothed to an equal thickness. When the brittle is cool enough to touch, it is broken into pieces or chunks.[10]