Day 8 of 12 Days of Christmas Fun: Almond Roca Brittle

♪♫ On the 8^th day of Christmas Food, Folks, and Fun gave to me…♪♫

Almond Roca Brittle

Christmas Cookie Round-Up

Jingle All the Way Shadow Box Tutorial

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting & a GIVEAWAY!

Cranberry-Pecan Chicken Salad

CHRISTmas Subway Art Printable

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Christmas To-Do List Printables

FOUR ingredients never tasted so good! I’ve made 3 batches of this brittle so far and have given most of it away as gifts. I’m thinking of making another batch today because it to SOOOOOO good! The buttery toffee is incredibly addicting; my husband’s grandmother said it’s even better than See’s Candies, Score!

Cook’s Note: This recipe relies on 2 things to help make it so incredibly yummy: toasted almonds (really make the effort to toast the almonds and not use raw ones), and a candy thermometer—you really want to make sure you heat the butter and sugar mixture to exactly 290°F…you can’t “eye-ball” this one, I tried to on my first batch and ended up burning itL.

My 9x13 pan all buttered and ready to go!

Look at all that butter, Paula Deen would be so proud! ;)

My almonds toasting.

Chopping my toasted almonds; I like to do 1/4 cup at a time to make sure I chop all the nuts.

The toffee mixture (butter, sugar, almonds) all smooth in the pan.

The chocolate atop the toffee mixture.

Spreading the chocolate with the back of a spoon.

The almonds atop the melted chocolate--all ready to be chilled!

The finished product: Almond Roca Brittle!

Almond Roca Brittle

Ingredients:

2 ½ C toasted almonds, chopped and divided

1 ½ C tightly-packed brown sugar

1 ½ C (3 sticks) salted butter

6 Hershey’s Bars

Directions:

Butter a 9 x 13 pan and set aside.

Chop the toasted almonds and place 1 ½ cups in a small bowl, and the remaining 1 cup in another small bowl, set aside.

Unwrap the chocolate bars and set aside.

In a medium or large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter stops foaming, add in the brown sugar and stir. Once the mixture begins to bubble, place in the candy/instant-read thermometer and stir constantly until the mixture reaches 290°F.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the 1 ½ cups of toasted, chopped almonds. Pour into the buttered pan and smooth the mixture so it sits in the pan evenly.

Place the chocolate bars on top of the mixture and let it sit for about 3 minutes so the chocolate has the chance to melt so it will make spreading easier (you’ll know it’s ready to spread when it gets all nice and shiny).

Using the back of a spoon spread the chocolate in an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of toasted almonds over the chocolate and gently press it in.

Cover and chill the Almond Roca Brittle for at least 4 hours before breaking it apart (I personally like to chill it over night).

Use a knife to break the brittle apart.

***NOTE: After breaking apart the brittle you’ll be left with about ¼ cup of brittle shards. My family and I have found that these little shards are delicious on top of ice cream, YUM!

Source: mostly mine, but inspired from this recipe.

I’m linking this post up at:
Metamorphosis Monday, Menu Plan Monday , Skip to My Lou, Tip Me Tuesday, Today’s Creative Blog