This thin, crisp and crunchy candy is halfway between a chikki, which is a candy brittle with no or very little fat, and a toffee, with a substantial amount. Because the proportion of butter is less than a toffee, it cooks up fast – the active stirring time is about twelve minutes – but it still has those pleasant toffee notes. It’s great for gift-giving, as it can be turned out quickly. There’s no waiting-around time as with baking cookies, and it contains no corn syrup. One batch will make enough for four 6″ x 9″ (15 x 23 cm) treat bags.
White Chocolate Ginger Cashew Brittle
A fast, easy, and impressive brittle flavored with ginger and topped with white chocolate, perfect for holiday gift-giving.
Servings: 8
Calories: 608kcal
Equipment
- half-sheet pan
- silicone spatula
- small offset spatula
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing
- 450 g sugar
- 57 g butter
- 3 g salt
- 10 g finely grated fresh ginger
- 9 g vanilla
- 200 g roasted unsalted cashews crushed into 10-12 mm (1/2 inch) pieces
- 255 g white chocolate chips Ghirardelli or Guittard strongly preferred
- 50 g crystallized ginger very thinly sliced (1/3 c)
Instructions
- Nota bene: This recipe needs constant attention, moves quickly, and involves extremely hot sugar that requires careful handling, so it’s necessary to have everything prepared in advance.
- Grease a half-sheet pan (460 mm x 330 mm, 18” x 13”).
- Grease the tines of a pair of forks and set aside.
- Prepare a heatproof surface or put trivets or hot pads in place on which to set the half-sheet pan in such a way that it will not shift or tip.
- Set out a silicone spatula and table knife.
- Measure the remaining ingredients.
- Roughly crush the cashews into 10-12 mm (1/2 in) pieces using a nut chopper, or by placing them in a bag and pounding them with a rolling pin, mallet, or pounder. This size is optimal; pieces that are too large or too small will make the brittle difficult to spread.
- Place the sugar and the 57 g butter in a 10- or 12-inch skillet. Place the skillet over high heat. As the sugar melts around the edges, begin stirring the sugar and butter. Stir constantly as the sugar melts. It will form clumps before melting; if necessary, use the table knife to knock any clumps off your stirring utensil and back into the pan.
- The sugar will caramelize, changing to a light brown syrup. This will take about ten minutes. The moment the last grains of sugar disappear, turn off the heat.
- Add the salt. Protecting your hand and standing at a safe distance to avoid syrup spattering, add the ginger and then the vanilla. The vanilla will crackle violently. Swiftly pour in the crushed cashews. Turn the heat back on, and set it to medium.
- The cashews will bring the heat of the mixture down, and it’s necessary to bring it back up before forming the brittle. Begin stirring the crushed cashews and the syrup together.
- When the cashews and syrup are completely incorporated, increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring, for about two minutes, until the mixture is quite fluid.
- After two minutes at medium high, turn off the heat.
- Pour the syrup-cashew mixture onto the half-sheet pan. Working quickly, take the forks in hand, and spread and pull the mixture to cover as much of the half-sheet pan as possible.
- When the syrup-cashew mixture is spread, sprinkle the white chocolate chips over it evenly. Let the chips stand a few minutes to soften. When they have melted sufficiently, use the offset spatula to spread them over the surface of the brittle.
- Sprinkle the spread white chocolate with the sliced crystallized ginger.
- Allow the brittle to cool to room temperature, which will take a couple hours. When it has cooled, break it into pieces by hand.
Nutrition
Calories: 608kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 231mg | Potassium: 242mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 81g | Vitamin A: 188IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 2mg
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