Crispy Macadamia Nut Brittle - between2kitchens (2024)

To avoid over complicating things, a nut brittle always works wonders! It can be broken into small pieces, chopped or ground into a coarse crumble.

It makes for a great garnish for desserts and other sweets, see our lemon myrtle cheesecake, it does look great with the crushed macadamia.

Ingredients for Nut Brittle

Nut brittle is made from sugar, water, butter and nuts. The sugar and water make the caramel and the butter helps to make the brittle buttery-crunchy and easy to chew. Keep reading to find out, why we chose Macadamias for making our brittle.

Macadamia Nuts

Australia is one of the largest producers of Macadamias in the world. They are not only known for their buttery, rich flavour but also for being high in healthy fats. Harvested only a few times a year, makes them rare hence not the cheapest variety of nuts to buy.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in a place that is surrounded by macadamia farms. We love incorporating the rich flavours from this native nut in our savoury and sweet creations, that's why we decided to use them for our brittle recipe.

If you cannot find Macadamia nuts, don't worry, as these can be easily substituted with hazelnuts, almonds or other nuts.

How to make macadamia nut brittle

Nut brittle is a recipe that can be made in 20 minutes. It takes a bit of practice but if you can master it in the first attempt, you will be even faster the next time you make it. Depending on which nuts you are using, the roasting time may differ.

We bought whole macadamias from the farm but I decided to halve them as I find the brittle turns out too hard when done with whole nuts. You want to be able to break the brittle easily and not have to wrestle it!

I made sure they were roughly cut the same size so that they all roast evenly. Buying halved macadamia nuts beforehand, will definitely save you time😉

Once the macadamias are roasted golden brown, have them ready on a tray with baking paper or a silicon baking mat underneath. This is important because you do not want your set brittle to stick. Now, we need to make the caramel so make sure the prepared tray with the macadamia nuts is next to the stove.

Making the caramel

For the caramel, in a heavy pan, combine sugar and water and reduce. When the sugar starts browning and turns into caramel, you need to keep a close eye on it otherwise it can quickly turn into a burnt caramel.

A tip, I always use a pan that has a light surface as it is easier to see how dark the caramel is. We are after an amber colour for our caramel, so once you are there take the pan off the heat.

Adding the butter

Next, quickly add a few butter cubes and stir them into the caramel until they are completely melted. Repeat with the remaining butter.

While the caramel is still hot, pour over the roasted macadamias. Be careful not to burn yourself, caramel has a very high temperature and can get you second or third degree burns. Ouch!!

Leave to cool at room temperature. The amount of butter we use determines how rich will the brittle be and also the texture. While some brittles might shatter into pieces, others might be soft and chewy.

Once cool, this brittle recipe will give you a hard block which can easily be broken into pieces or cut with a knife for more even pieces.

What to use Macadamia Nut Brittle for

Besides munching on them all day long, these addictive nut brittles can be used in many ways. They go well as a snack with coffee or tea or just as a candy after meals. One of my favourite ways to use the brittle is in an eaton mess or simply chopped over ice cream or fruit salads for an extra crunch.

Nut brittle can also be turned into a crumble. Simply add the macadamia nut brittle into a food processor and blend with a few pulses to a coarse crumble.

Ideal for desserts missing a bit of texture, just sprinkle some crumble and voila, great on top of these parisian crepes or these yummy french toasts. Or make a tuile out of it like in this poached pear recipe, it instantly takes the dessert to the next level giving it a mouth watering nutty, crunchy texture!

Are you ready now to make your own nut brittle? Leave us a comment to let us know, how your brittle turned out. Did you end up just snacking on it or did you use it as a topping for a dessert?

If you enjoyed working with caramel, try our ile flottante recipe, fan of macadamia nuts make these chocolate macadamia pralines.