Microwave Nut Brittle

"This is a really simple way of making nut brittle, without using a candy thermometer or doing any of the stage tests. A trick that I use is to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper so there's no sticky stuff to pry off and then wash up."
 
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photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns) photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns)
photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns)
photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns) photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns)
photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns) photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns)
Ready In:
12mins
Ingredients:
8
Serves:
16
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ingredients

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directions

  • Spray cookie sheet and metal spatula with the cooking spray.
  • In a 2-quart microwavable glass measuring cup or bowl stir sugar, corn syrup and salt with a wooden spoon until mixed.
  • Microwave on High (100%) 7 to 8 minutes or until syrup is pale yellow.
  • (CANDY SYRUP IS VERY HOT. HANDLE CAREFULLY; DO NOT TOUCH HOT MIXTURE.) Stir in nuts.
  • Microwave 1 to 2 minutes or until nuts are lightly browned.
  • Immediately stir in margarine, vanilla and baking soda until foamy.
  • Quickly pour onto prepared cookie sheet; spread evenly with spatula.
  • Cool; break into pieces.
  • Store in tightly covered container.

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Reviews

  1. I gave this as corporate gifts for Christmas and made 20 batches (plus about 5 more for the failed batches) that delivered enough to make 40 cute little Christmas jars of brittle. The recipe is a quick and easy one and that's why I chose it. For the nuts, I used pecans, honey roasted and regular peanuts and decided in the end that it is much better to use the food processor to chop up the nuts if you want to end up with a thinner brittle (because thinner is easier to bite and chew). Otherwise the brittle will be as thick as your nut. The type of nut honestly didn't make much of a difference. Here the less expensive nut is fine. About 1/4 of my batches ended up tasting a little burnt and after a few bites that little burnt taste seems to get stronger and stronger so I had to throw them out and make more. Seriously, watch that time and brittle color because at least in my microwave 20 seconds makes the difference between perfect and burnt. Pale yellow is a very very slight change in color so it is best to use a clear bowl when you microwave. Medium yellow results in that bitter or burnt taste. Once, I thought I would eliminate a step or two and added the vanilla and the nuts at the beginning. Don't do that. Because the vanilla colors the syrup, you can't get an accurate feel for whether it is done and the nuts burned big time. It is annoying to try and remove sticky brittle from my only clear bowl while the smoke alarm is going off:-) Also, make sure your bowl is cooled before starting a new batch. A hot bowl seems to cut the time needed to cook and it is important to be precise here, so I just took a few extra minutes to make sure my bowl was cool. I did get creative and try other extracts including maple and almond. In the end, plain old vanilla was the best and maple made the brittle too dark. I developed two techniques for saving time: First, I used a used dry breakfast cereal bag as a lining for my baking pan. I sprayed the bag with nonstick and poured the brittle on the bag. Then I placed another used cereal bag on top...did not spray that one though and using a metal meat mallot I smoothed out the hot brittle through the cereal bag getting it as thin as I wanted. My mallot stayed clean and so did my pan. While smoothing out the brittle, I ran hot water into my microwave bowl and by the time I was done smoothing out the brittle and getting that batch to cool, I was ready to wash out the bowl and dry well and start over. During the drying of the bowl it usually cooled enough to start over again. I used two baking pans so I could have two batches going at one time. It took about 3 1/2 hours to make 25 batches and break them up. I noted that with the batch that I kept for myself, after two days the brittle seemed to stick together and it started tasting stale. This was quick and easy and did make a pretty homemade gift, but it should be eaten fairly quickly so that it tastes fresh. Thanks for submitting and for anyone reading this crazy-long review!
     
  2. this is just too easy and delicious. i've made micro peanut brittle before, but this time i used raw cashews, pecans, and almonds. i added a pinch of kosher salt. and this was great!!!
     
  3. Quick, easy and oh so tasty! I make mine with cashews. Love it!
     
  4. The first time I tried this my sugar was black and smoking after 5 minutes! I knew my microwave was strong, but who knew? I am glad I tried it again though. It took about 3.5 minutes for it to get to the pale yellow color. It turned out wonderfully. I love brittle but am always intimidated to make sugar candy. Thanks!
     
  5. Using a glass microwavable bowl needs to be emphasized. I have a heavy plastic bowl that I use frequently in the microwave, and the sugar & corn syrup mixture when heated melted the bottom of the bowl. Perhaps if I were an experienced candy maker, I would have known better. Now I do!
     
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<p><strong><span style=color: #ff0000;>Come and visit me on my blog:&nbsp; </span></strong></p> <p><a href=http://www.miriyummy.wordpress.com><strong><span style=color: #ff0000;>www.miriyummy.wordpress.com</span></strong></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>October 2011: It's been 10 years since I came into Zaar one day at the recommendation of someone on another website. If you ask my husband (or my coworkers), I haven't logged out since! <br /><br /><a href=http://www.TickerFactory.com/><br /><img src=http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;15;0/st/20011021/e/I Joined Zaar%21/dt/6/k/f656/event.png border=0 alt= /></a> <br /><br />So what's happened in the ten years since I became addicted to Zaar? Well, I've been happily married, happily divorced, and happily married once again. (Wanna see wedding pictures? Click <a href=http://community.webshots.com/user/mirjamdorn>here</a>.) <br /><br /><a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=chuppah2.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/chuppah2.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> <br /><br />Originally from the Bronx, I've been living in Israel since 1983. I'm married to a brilliant man with the most yummy British accent (this is the part where he rolls his eyes and says, Yeah, yeah, yeah). Let's call him Sushiman, even though he hates that name. <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/52282>Chia</a> gave him that nickname when I was trying to create a dinner to show off my culinary talents. I posted here on Zaar with questions about the menu and since sushi was the main focus of the meal, he became Sushiman. That dinner was just the first of what I hope will become a lifetime of meals together. <br /><br />This is a picture of us taken in September 2005 in Kew Gardens in London. 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Not all eight live with us, but everyone is in and out all of the time, so we're thinking about replacing our front door with one of those revolving thingies.</p> <p>If you need help figuring out the whole complicated mess, you can check out <a title=Miriyummy -- A Guide to the Perplexed href=http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/about/ target=_blank>Miriyummy, A Guide to the Perplexed</a>.</p> <p>Here are my four beauties -- from left to right: Adiya, Sara, Nomi and Tehila <br /><br /><a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=111.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/111.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> <br /><br />On March 18, 2009, my oldest, Sara, got married to Ariel. 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