Cashew Brittle Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is baking soda added to nut brittle? ›

Be sure to use a candy thermometer to ensure it reaches 300 degrees F or hard crack stage. What does baking soda do to peanut brittle? Adding a little baking soda aerates the peanut brittle causing it to expand slightly for a crunchy texture that won't break your teeth when you chew it.

Buttery cashew brittle is made with sugar, corn syrup, and cashews, which make it even more special. Cashew brittle is always welcome but is especially nice to have on hand for holiday guests and visiting family. When making brittle, it is important to use a reliable candy thermometer to ensure success.

Pralines have a lot in common with nut brittle, with the difference being mostly in the addition of cream and the cooking temperature––the sugary syrup used to coat pralines is heated to a soft-ball consistency, a lower temperature than the hard-crack stage of peanut brittle.

Why is it too hard? Using baking soda usually prevents peanut brittle from being too, well, brittle. However, if you cook the candy past the set temperature or overwork the candy once you spread it out onto the cookie sheet, that can cause it to become very hard and difficult to bite through.

If your peanut brittle is not hardening, it's because the sugar mixture did not get hot enough to properly caramelize, cool and become hard, crisp and crunchy. If you have this issue, next time, use a thermometer to make sure the peanut brittle mixture gets to 300°F.

While I love peanut brittle, most recipes include baking soda, which really ruins it for me. In theory, it's a good idea, the baking soda adds some air to the caramelized sugar, making the sheets of candy more brittle, but it also introduces a minerally, metallic taste that's off putting to say the least.

Like grains and beans, nuts contain enzyme inhibitors that can restrict our ability to digest the nutrients they contain. Soaking nuts and seeds in water, then drying in a low oven or dehydrator, neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors and makes their nutrients more readily available.

Black mould is one of the most important foliar diseases of dwarf cashew plants in coastal zone of northeastern Brazil.

Brittles are typically composed mostly of sugar, while toffees contain a fair amount of butter and in some cases milk. This makes toffees fuller and richer in taste, while brittles are more purely sweet and sugary. Brittles are also much thinner than most toffees.

Is toffee like peanut brittle? ›

English toffee and peanut brittle are both candies made with butter and sugar, but there a significant differences. Toffee has a much higher proportion of butter than brittle and that is what gives it a more pliable texture than that of brittle.

These are creamy. The grit comes from hitting a temp other than exactly soft ball. They are fun to make and if you are doing a single batch (about 24 to 36 pralines) you can knock out a batch in about 1/2 hour, start to finish.

Didn't get it hot enough. You have to hit hard crack stage heat or it's not going to harden. From internet: Hard-Crack Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 – 154 C (300 – 310 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it.

Why did my peanut brittle turn out chewy? The likely cause is that the sugar mixture didn't reach the proper hard crack stage temperature. Ensuring it reaches 300˚F is key to getting that classic brittle texture.

What's important to know is that the corn syrup controls the grain of the brittle so adding too little and you have a grainy textured brittle, while adding too much will result in a stringy and sticky brittle.

Is baking soda or powder best for frying? A pinch of baking soda can help produce crispy fried foods. It reacts with the acid in the batter to create carbon dioxide bubbles. These lead to an airy batter and a crisper, fluffier result.

Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents, which are substances used to help baked goods rise.

The baking soda (also known as bicarbonate of soda) heats up and when it does that, it releases a gas that gets trapped in the caramelized honey and sugar. This results in bubbles that resembles actual honeycomb from bees!

Although baking soda cannot soften the water fully, it, being alkaline, changes the pH of hard water to make it more suitable for skin and hair. Of course, the problem with this method is that you won't exactly be able to enjoy a shower, since you've to make use of a bathtub.