Photo by Gepiblu

When cooking gourmet gifts for Christmas, why not try the wonderful Sicilian traditional “Croccante” or Nut Crunch.  It is very similar to a French praline except pralines are sweeter.  Croccante is made with carmelized sugar and nuts – most often almonds.  If you are not fond of almonds, try hazelnuts or whatever you like!

Croccante actually means “cracking” and it is made very similar to peanut brittle, so you know that you have to work fast.  The part I always hated about making peanut brittle was spreading the hot candy before it hardened without burning my hands.  I recently read a great tip!  Just before you are to pour your hot sugar mixture out onto your marble slab or aluminum foil, peel a potato and cut it in half.  Once the candy is out of the pot, use the faces of the potato to spread it all out.  Pure Genius!

If you are cooking gourmet gifts and including Croccante, be aware that this stuff is VERY hard and one could easily break a tooth with this.  For that reason, I am going to include a second option that contains butter and is therefore not quite as hard as the original recipe.

First you want to toast 1 1/2 cups of whole blanched almonds in a 450 degree oven for about 6 minutes – until golden brown.  Watch them carefully.  When cool, pulse the nuts in the food processor until they are about half the size of a grain of rice.

Put 1 heaping cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small pan.  Melt this over medium-high heat without stirring.  Tilt the pan once in a while.  When the mixture turns a light, gold color, add the chopped nuts and stir constantly until you have a deep golden brown color.  Now pour RIGHT AWAY onto a greased marble slab or greased sheet of aluminum foil.

Now grab your potato halves and spread as fast as you can to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch.  If you like, you can cut the candy into diamonds or any other shape before it cools or you can just break it once cool.  If you would like to try the softer version, just add 1 1/2 tablespoons each of butter and lemon juice.  Croccante can be pulverized in the food processor and used as an Italian dessert topping. 

Watch an Italian chef cutting up his chocolate version of croccante here!

Mangia Bene!