Here’s another simple “stocking Stuffer” like idea, if you are looking to make your own foodie Christmas presents this year: Chocolate-Covered Roasted Cashew + Pretzel Rounds Brittle. Takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, an hour to chill/harden and then voila! A homemade present! You can, of course, use other nuts, but I am definitely partial to cashews here. If you want to make them a little cinnamony, that might be a nice twist too.
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup Snyders Of Hannover Pretzel Rounds*
3/4 cup roasted salted cashews
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Either grease a large cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper or use a nonstick baking mat. Get all of your other ingredients ready; you’re going to need to add them quickly in a few minutes, and you won’t have time to hunt and measure.
Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepan, stirring just until sugar is wet. Attach a candy thermometer and heat over medium-high heat, without stirring, until mixture reaches between 300 and 305 F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you’re looking for a small amount of the mixture dropped into cold water to separate into hard, brittle threads. This takes exactly 8 minutes and 40 seconds on my stove (I know, overly precise, but important for candy-making.)
Remove from heat and quickly stir in butter (until it melts), baking soda, cashews and pretzel rounds until all are coated. Pour quickly out onto prepared pan. Use a spatula or, even better, two forks to pull and stretch the mixture as flat as you can get it, working quickly. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let rest for 5 minutes so that the chips soften. Once they are all soft, use a spatula to spread melted chocolate over the brittle.
Place baking sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes or fridge for an hour, after which point the chocolate is firm, the base is cold and you can bash the brittle into bite-sized chunks. You can do this by lifting a piece onto the rim of the baking sheet and use something heavy to break them from there. I do not advise breaking it up with your hands, the warmth of which will make a mushy mess of the chocolate.)
