Make Homemade Nut Brittle in Your Toaster Oven

I love nut brittle, including the most common one: peanut butter brittle. A little bit of looking will turn up an unlimited number of peanut butter brittle recipes; for that reason I won’t bother adding another to the already flooded list of contenders. Instead I’ll share with you some different varieties of nut brittle I have come up with over the years.

I am not a big fan of corn syrup, so I make my brittle without it. The reason most recipes use the corn syrup is because it makes the sugar mix easier to brown without overcooking. If you pay attention to the sugar while it caramelizes, you won’t have any troubles. However, if you are having difficulties, you may use a half sugar and half corn syrup mix and follow the same instructions.

The procedure is the same for all brittles, so I will first list the ingredients for the individual recipes, followed by directions for all. Each recipe makes a small batch, perfect for your toaster oven. Here are my three of my favorites:

Ingredients for Cinnamon Cashew Brittle

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 cup of salted, roasted cashews
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the spatula
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

Ingredients for Orange Pistachio Brittle

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 cup of salted, roasted pistachios
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the spatula
• 2 teaspoons of pure orange extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg

Ingredients for Vanilla Walnut Brittle

• 1 cup of vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon of molasses (add to water and sugar in beginning of recipe)
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 cup of roasted walnuts
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the spatula
• 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract

Directions

Pre-heat your toaster oven to 325 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside for now. Grease a spatula with butter and set aside.

Put the sugar and water in a sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat. The sugar will first melt, then caramelize. During this time, you will mix it by occasionally moving the sauce pan in a circular motion. Do not stir it! This will cause excessively large sugar crystals to form which fouls up the final texture of the brittle. In about four minutes, the sugar should be golden brown. Remove from heat. Add the butter and flavoring (spices or extract,) and stir well. Add the nuts and stir again. Use the greased spatula to spread the mixture on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in your toaster oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before breaking into individual pieces.

The Author:

Heather Krasovec