Chocolate Coated Holiday Nut Brittle Recipe

This shop for Planters Holiday Collection nuts has been compensated by#CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone but you can enjoy the Chocolate Coated Holiday Nut Brittle Recipe included below, too!

 The holiday’s are here and I couldn’t be happier! Why? Because one of my favorite places is in the kitchen and with the cold weather upon us, my stove is calling my name. When I go into cooking mode, I’m doing everything from treats to home cooked meals. Every time I walk in the store I’m inspired to make something new. If you need more inspiration than the store, you can check out the Cooking Up Good website for recipes, sweepstakes, loyalty programs, coupons and more!

When I walked in Walmart the other day, how could I not be inspired by this Planters sleigh display?

The display was conveniently placed in the main aisle near the grocery section, which meant this was a 360 degree display. I walked around it and realized these aren’t your every day nut mixes. These were the holiday, limited edition nut mixes! Score! It’s time to #GoNutsForNuts!

There are a lot of great options, but two jumped out at me. The first was the Brittle Nut Medley. Yum. Not only are there a variety of delicious nuts, but also yogurt covered raisins, pretzels and peanut brittle bits! I LOVE peanut brittle! That one instantly went in my cart.

This mix is fantastic, but remember, I have a stove calling my name. Seeing the Brittle Nut Medley inspired me to grab the Holiday Collection tin which has peanuts, almonds, cashews and pistachios, in order to make a Chocolate Coated Holiday Nut Brittle! This is a family favorite, and it’s great to gift on cookie and candy plates.

I’ll give you the photo recipe tutorial first, then you can find the complete, easy to read recipe near the bottom of the post.

First you’ll need to butter a baking sheet. Mine was 16X12in. I did not cover the entire bottom of my baking sheet, so I know you can go smaller, but this will give you an idea of where to start and how thick you want your brittle.

When you butter the baking sheet, make sure you use a good amount of butter. If you don’t use enough, you’ll run the risk of the brittle sticking to the bottom of the pan. Even with the amount I used below I was crossing my fingers it was enough. It was. None of the brittle stuck to the bottom of the pan in the end. Sorry to spoil the ending for you, but wow that was a weight off my shoulders!

Next I brought 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of light corn syrup and 1/4 cup of water to a full boil at medium heat. You also want to make sure all of the sugar is dissolved at this point. Don’t go too far, it boils fairly quickly, but you don’t have to stir constantly, just occasionally. I can’t emphasize enough to not go far and check it frequently though. We don’t want any burned brittle.

Once your sugar mixture is boiling add in 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter that’s been cut up into smaller pieces. Stir occasionally until a candy thermometer reads 280 degrees Fahrenheit. This will be the soft crack stage in case you don’t have a candy thermometer.

This right here is my candy thermometer. I really want a new one because this one isn’t as detailed as I would like. I have to guess when candy is just about to the right temperature and I don’t like guessing. I’m detailed like that. We’ll call it that.

After you reach the 280 degree Fahrenheit temperature, it’s time to stir in 1 cup of nuts. You can use more or less depending on your preference, just remember it will affect how your brittle spreads. Less nuts will allow the brittle to spread thinner while more nuts will keep it a bit thicker because it’s harder to spread.

At this point, when you stir in the nuts you’ll want to stir constantly. Don’t stop! This was interesting trying to grab this picture here because I did not stop stirring the nut brittle! I may or may not have high-fived myself for this after the fact. Stir constantly until the temperature reaches 305 degrees Fahrenheit, or the hard crack stage for candy making.

Once you hit that 305 mark, remove the mixture from all heat and stir in 1 tsp of baking soda. I don’t mean just turn the burner off, I mean physically remove that pot from the heat, you don’t want the brittle to over cook. At this point you need to move really fast.

Now that the baking soda is stirred in completely pour your mixture onto the buttered baking sheet. You remember, the one we started with earlier. I was amazed how easy the brittle came out of the pot without sticking to the edges.

Once on the baking sheet, immediately start spreading it out. It starts to harden right away, so try to spread as much as you can while it’s the most pliable. The harder it gets, the harder it is to stretch thin without pulling holes or breaking bits off.  I’ll warn you though, it’s really hot at this point. If you can spread it with a spoon or spatula, do that. When it started getting too hard, I wet my fingers down then tried pressing it thinner. This doesn’t work so well, and my kids gave me weird looks because they knew it was hot.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t need quite such a big baking sheet, however I like the abstract look of brittle done this way because it reminds me of the brittle my mom used to make for me when I was a kid. If you wanted, you could double the recipe and still fit it in a 16X12in baking sheet, however your brittle would probably be a little thicker and more like a toffee. I prefer it thinner, so I’m good with it this way.

Now it’s time to let the brittle cool. It does so pretty quickly for me, however I also keep my house fairly cool and I was working next to a window with below freezing temperatures outside, so that may have helped. While it was cooling I got the next phase of this treat ready. The chocolate topping with a crushed peanut and sea salt garnish.

For the chocolate I melted a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave. I probably could have gotten away with only half the bag of chips, but I used the left over melted chocolate to coat peanut butter cracker sandwiches. Another favorite treat this time of year that saves well in the refrigerator or freezer.

To melt the chocolate put the chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat at medium or low temperatures at thirty second intervals, stirring each time.

In the little green dish back there is my sea salt. Don’t worry, I don’t use all of it, it just makes it easier to reach in and grab a pinch from a bowl rather than the salt canister.

While I was melting the chocolate I was also crushing some peanuts. I just put a small handful in a baggie and smacked it a few times with a kitchen mallet. That could either be a good thing or a bad thing to do when stressed.

With all of my topping and garnish ingredients ready and the nut brittle cooled off, I was ready to finish up.

First spread some melted chocolate over the top of the brittle. I like to go for as thin of coating of chocolate as I can. I want the nut brittle to be the main flavor with the chocolate as the high light. Use as much as you like though. If you prefer a little more chocolate, then go for it. Ultimately you are turning this into your recipe with your preferences.

Finally sprinkle some crushed peanuts and sea salt over the top for a little added flavor and to make it look pretty.

The only thing left to do at this point is wait for the chocolate to harden so I can break it up into pieces. This takes longer than I expected.

While I waited, I decided to get on the Blippar app on my phone. I blipped (scanned) the Planters logo and was sent to some fun extras to play around with including taking pictures with Mr Peanut, recipes, and more information about the products. I decided to go on a date with Mr Peanut and the kids though I was crazy, but it was a lot of fun.

First we checked out Mr Peanut’s holiday collection.

Then we went sledding. We got into a drifted bank and then we got upsot!

Finally we went ice skating and grabbed a great shot of the two of us.

After all the fun and games it’s finally time to break up the brittle. For the most part, brittle breaks where you sort of want it to break. If a piece is too big, just break it again. There is just something about the nonuniform way it breaks that I love. It’s a holiday beauty for me.

If you’re gifting your brittle, I found the Planters Holiday Collection tin was a great way to package the brittle to give as a gift.

Enjoy your Chocolate Coated Holiday Nut Brittle! I know Charlie couldn’t wait to try a piece!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter, cut up
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 tsp baking soda
• melted chocolate (approximately half of an 11.5oz bag chocolate chips, more or less per preference)
• crushed peanuts
• sea salt

Instructions

1. Butter a 16X12in baking sheet. Set aside.

2. Dissolve sugar, corn syrup and water and bring to a full boil in a heavy 2 quart pot over medium heat stirring occasionally.

3. When sugar mixture has reached full boil and sugar is dissolved, stir in the butter. Stir occasionally and bring mixture to the soft crack candy stage, or 280 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer.

4. When mixture has reached 280 degrees Fahrenheit, add in nuts and stir continuously until it reaches the hard crack candy stage, or 305 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.

6. Immediately pour mixture on butter baking sheet and begin spreading it out. It hardens quickly so do this step fast. Then allow to cool completely.

7. Once brittle is completely cool cover it with a light coating of melted chocolate and garnish with crushed peanuts and sea salt.

8. When chocolate has hardened, break brittle into serving size pieces, approximately 1 to 2 inches each and store in an air tight container.

What is your favorite nutty holiday recipe? Tell me in the comments.