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My mother and I share a secret (well maybe not so secret) indulgence. Sesame brittle. Our local health food store almost always has it available, and sometimes we’ll make a trip to that store to buy whatever, it doesn’t matter, the real reason is to satisfy a hankering for sesame brittle.
Now that I’ve discovered how easy it is to make, I think mom and I are doomed.
Before, we at least had to make the effort to drive a few miles to get our fix. Sigh. Well at least I’ll have someone to share it with when I make a batch!
Speaking of which, this must be one of the easiest things in the world to make. All you really need is raw sesame seeds, sugar, and honey.
A pinch of salt will add a little sparkle, as will a little nutmeg, butter and vanilla. A little baking soda will help create tiny pockets of air, making the brittle a little lighter.
You can easily make a batch in less than 15 minutes, with maybe another 15 or 20 to cool. You don’t even have to toast the sesame seeds first. Cooking them in the honey and sugar will brown them sufficiently.
Sesame Brittle Recipe
Adding a small amount of baking soda to the hot mixture right before pouring it out will cause the mixture to foam up a bit, as the baking soda reacts with the acid from the caramelization of the sugar. This creates bubbles of carbon dioxide which helps produce a slightly lighter, more porous texture for the brittle, making it easier to eat.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1 cup raw sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
Method
1 Heat sugar, honey, water, salt, nutmeg: Put the sugar, honey, salt, nutmeg, and water into a small (1 1/2 quart), thick-bottomed saucepan. Heat on medium heat and stir until a smooth slurry is formed.
2 Stir in the raw sesame seeds.
3 Cook the sesame seed mixture, stirring often, until the mixture turns an amber caramel color, about 5 to 10 minutes.
If you have a candy thermometer, the temp should be 300°F. At this point, remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and the butter.
Once the butter has completely melted into the mixture, stir in the baking soda. The mixture will foam up a bit after you stir in the baking soda, as the baking soda reacts with the acid from the caramelization of the sugar.
4 Pour the mixture out onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. (If you don't have Silpat, no worries, pour directly onto a buttered metal baking sheet and use a metal spatula to separate brittle from the pan once cooled.)
5 Once completely cooled and hardened (about 15-20 minutes), break into pieces.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Sesame Brittle
can i use maple syrup instead of honey
Hi Megha! That should work, although I’ve not tried it. Give it a go and let us know how it turns out. I bet the flavor will be delicious.
This was a big hit with everyone. I didn’t bother with vanilla and put my baking tray in the oven to heat it before pouring it on. Worked great.
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Very good. You do need to take it to 300 to get the brittle to be crunchy. I made 5x the batch all at once and it worked out fine. It took quite a while to reach 300, 30 minutes or so. I pulled out a second thermometer just to double check the temp since it was very golden brown and taking so long. I was worried it would burn, but it didn’t. If you increase the batch size, increase the pan size too, as the baking soda increases the volume of the candy. Mine almost overflowed. I set out 5 sheets of parchment and poured it out. Put another sheet of parchment on top and used a rolling pin to flatten it. Honestly, that didn’t thin it out as much as I would have liked. I’ll have to think on that and see if I can come up with another way to spread it thin. I think the temperature might have been too hot to roll it, as it was sticking to the parchment. I was able to lift the top sheet and reposition it to reroll , but even when I flipped the whole thing over the parchment that was on the bottom stuck. However, after it cooled more it peeled right off. Anyway, I scored it using a ruler and a pizza cutter. That worked great. When it was all cool I broke it apart and stored in Tupperware between the sheets of parchment.
xxxxxyyyyy
Great recipe. I have a candy thermometer which helped to get to the right stage. I changed a little bit of the method by toasting sesame seeds in another skillet til golden briwn, then added them at the very end. Also added ground flax and chia seeds. Nice and crunchy. Thanks!
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I followed the recipe exactly the first time but warmed my sheet pan in the oven which allowed the brittle to flow very thin like the store bought kind sesame snaps.
It was good but found the raw sesame seeds lacked a bit if that sesame flavor.
Second batch i toasted the seeds and changed the nutmeg to cinnamon and it was amazing. Thank you for posting this
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