best pecan brittle recipe

Pecan brittle has a sweet buttery crunch of caramelized candy and a slow spicy burn of chipotle powder. Baking soda adds a delicate foam for the perfect texture!

This pecan brittle recipe might be my best brittle yet. I have a thing for candy making and have recently gotten really into homemade brittle. Roasted nuts surrounded by sweet caramelized, crunchy sugar and a hint of salt is just about as good as homemade candy gets. The baking soda adds a light foam throughout the candy to give it a perfectly delicate bite. 

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But this pecan brittle?

It has the added intrigue of ground chipotle peppers. They give this pecan brittle a slow burn and a touch of smoke, and it really is the perfect balance to a sweet nut candy. Sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy-- what more could we actually want?

Homemade candy is the best way to share your love of food and cooking with friends and family. And it’s becoming such a lost art! If you’re here, I hope this recipe inspires you to try your hand at making candy the traditional way. 

Follow the directions, prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time, and invest in a reliable instant-read thermometer. You’re all set to make something delicious and totally amazing.

what is pecan brittle?

Pecan brittle is a hard candy made with sugar, pecans, corn syrup, and baking soda. The nuts are cooked in the syrup, which gives them a deeply roasted flavor and helps the syrup caramelize (via maillard reactions).

Butter, vanilla, and in our case, chipotle powder, are added for flavor.

Baking soda is stirred in at the end to react with the slightly acidic sugar syrup. The result is a fine foam that makes the hard candy easily “chewable” at the ¼-inch thickness.

what you need for pecan brittle:

how to make pecan brittle:

1. Butter a baking sheet and offset spatula.
2. Measure your ingredients and set aside.
3. Heat sugar and water until dissolved, then add corn syrup.
4. Boil syrup and cook to the soft ball stage (239°F)
5. Add pecans and cook, stirring constantly to the hard crack stage.
6. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla and salt.
7. Stir in baking soda.
8. Spread into a thin layer on prepared baking sheet and let cool completely.
9. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

tips to make pecan brittle candy:

• Use a good instant-read thermometer and prep everything ahead of time. Small, homemade batches of candy cook quickly and you probably won’t have time to measure as you go.
• The syrup will expand as it boils, so use a medium-sized saucepan to avoid an overflow. Don’t go too big, though, or it will be hard to get a good read on the temperature.
• Constantly stir the candy once you add the pecans or the nuts can burn.
• Corn syrup makes it harder for sugar to dissolve in water, so add it after that happens.
• Corn syrup is a crucial ingredient. It’s a crystal blocker and prevents the candy from recrystallizing-- don’t skip it. It isn’t high fructose corn syrup!

how to store pecan brittle:

The best way to store brittle is in a vacuum-sealed bag. Any amount of humidity in the air will cause the candy to become sticky, so you can wrap it really tightly in cellophane, put it in a resealable plastic bag and press out as much air as possible, or, ideally, vacuum seal the bag.

If vacuum-sealed and frozen, the pecan brittle can last for at least 6 months.

more candy recipes to try:

peanut brittle

cashew brittle

chocolate peanut clusters

chocolate turtles

chocolate covered caramels

coconut clusters

sea salt caramels

butter toffee recipe (buttercrunch)

chocolate holiday bark

dark chocolate truffles

old fashioned chocolate fudge

Watch our Christmas candy web story here!

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