The Hirshon Pistachio Cranberry Cardamom Brittle

Citizens, one of the great sweet confectionary triumphs must be brittle – usually in the U.S., this is peanut brittle but I have decided to take a decidedly fusion approach to brittle, combining middle Eastern, Indian and American ingredients in a whole new way! There is no historic provenance for this recipe, unlike virtually every other one here at TFD – but it is a delicious new hybrid indeed!

Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts. It has many variations around the world, such as pasteli in Greece, croquant in France, gozinaki in Georgia, gachak in Punjab (Pakistan), chikki in India and kotkoti in Bangladesh.

In parts of the Middle East, brittle is made with pistachios, while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts. The term brittle first appears in print in 1892, though the candy itself has been around for much longer.

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 corn syrup and salt in the first step.

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 or marble slab. The hot candy may be troweled to uniform thickness. When the brittle cools, it is broken into pieces.

My recipe is based very closely on one from juliausher.com – my version is immodestly delicious, and my additions of cardamom, vanilla paste and garam masala really elevates the candy to a whole new level, in my humble opinion.

Battle on – The Generalissimo