While peanut brittle gets the attention, this buttery caramelized treat can be prepared with any nut. In this version, we added a touch of sophistication by using hazelnuts and then dressed it up by drizzling the finished candy with chocolate and sprinkling it with salt. Since we didn’t want a chewy candy, we added fat to the mixture in the form of butter, rather than liquid cream like we use in our Salted Caramels, cooking the butter with water, corn syrup, and sugar until the amber mixture reached the right temperature. Before adding the hazelnuts to the caramel, we stirred in some baking soda; the soda neutralizes the acids and creates air bubbles in the caramel mixture so it’s crunchy but not a jawbreaker. Toasting the hazelnuts added depth to the candy as did stirring some salt into the caramel mixture, which balanced the sweetness and brought out the flavor of the toasted nuts. A final sprinkling of salt over the chocolate drizzle really made all the ingredients shine. You will need a thermometer that registers high temperatures for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Kosher salt
- 2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped
- ½ cup water
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½ cups (10½ ounces) sugar
- 1¼ cups corn syrup
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Make parchment paper sling by folding 1 long sheet of parchment 13 inches wide and laying it across width of pan, with extra parchment hanging over edges of pan. Push parchment into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing parchment flush to pan. Grease parchment. Combine baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt in small bowl. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Add hazelnuts in even layer and bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Keep hazelnuts warm on sheet.
- Combine water and butter in large saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until butter is melted. Pour sugar and corn syrup into center of saucepan, taking care not to let sugar granules touch sides of saucepan. Gently stir until all sugar is moistened. Bring to boil and cook, without stirring, until syrup has faint golden color and registers 300 degrees, 6 to 7 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, gently swirling pan, until syrup is amber-colored and registers 325 degrees, 1 to 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in baking soda–salt mixture and, using parchment as sling, add hazelnuts. Working quickly, transfer mixture to prepared pan and smooth into even layer with greased rubber spatula. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Microwave chocolate at 50 percent power, stirring occasionally, until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Drizzle chocolate over brittle and sprinkle evenly with ¼ teaspoon salt. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Using parchment overhang, remove brittle from pan. Peel off parchment. Break brittle into rough squares and serve.