Brittle (food)

Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts,[1] which are usually less than 1 cm thick. It has many variations around the world, such as pasteli in Greece,[2] croquant in France,[3] alegría or "palanqueta" in Mexico,[4] gozinaki in Georgia, gachak in Indian Punjab, chikki in other parts of India, kotkoti in Bangladesh,[5] 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] while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.[7] Peanut brittle is the most popular brittle recipe in the US.[8] The term brittle first appeared in print since 1892, though the candy itself has been around for much longer.[9]

Brittle

Golden peanut brittle cracked on a serving dish
Type	Confectionery
Main ingredients	Sugar, nuts, water, butter
Cookbook: Brittle   Media: Brittle

Traditionally, a mixture of sugar and water is heated to the hard crack stage corresponding to a temperature of approximately 300 °F (149 °C), although some recipes also call for ingredients such as glucose and salt in the first step.[10] Nuts are mixed with the caramelized sugar. At this point spices, leavening agents, and often peanut butter or butter are added. The hot candy is poured out onto a flat surface for cooling, traditionally a granite, a marble slab or a baking sheet. The hot candy may be troweled to uniform thickness. When the brittle is cool enough to handle, it is broken into pieces.[11] It is also rare to break the brittle into equal pieces.