Crazy addicting Christmas candy in a very good way. This sweet and salty “crack” is made with toasted pecans, ginger spiced caramel and dark chocolate.
Last week my sister and fiancé had us over for a fun weeknight Chanukah dinner. Jess and Quoc made a delicious dinner that included perfectly crispy latkes, salmon with dill yogurt sauce and salad with roasted squash. Just ask L, he hijacked most of my salmon and ate his weight in latkes. Chanukah success! I brought a green vegetable along with some cookies (my sister thought these tasted like a chai latte).
There were also “cookies” there, though, that tasted like some sort of ginger toffee caramel hybrid. I had one bite and then couldn’t stop going back for more. The sweet and salty flavor combination with the added ginger spice was addicting. And to torture treat myself, I made my own interpretation to share with you.
This crunchy, sweet and salty candy treat is currently calling to me from a tupperware inside my fridge. I made a big batch and take a couple of bites worth almost every time I open the door. I just can’t help myself! What I love about this treat is that it differs from the other “crack” recipes out there by having an added spice and a hefty dose of toasted pecans. Oh, and don’t let the term “candy” fool you. There are no candy thermometers used in this recipe and it’s actually pretty straightforward. The ease of making it is either really great or really dangerous, You decide.
- 340g (3 cups) pecans
- 227 grams (1 cup / 2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 230 grams (1 cup packed) light brown sugar
- 2½g (1/2 teaspoon) table salt
- 1g (1 teaspoon) ground ginger
- ½g (1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- 2 milliliters (1/2 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 255 grams (1½ cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- flaky sea salt to taste (I used about ¾ teaspoon)
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper
- Top parchment paper with pecans and toast in oven for 8 minutes or until fragrant; set aside
- In a large heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, stirring over medium heat until it begins to boil; once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes; it will thicken a bit as it cooks
- Remove from the heat and add the table salt, ginger, nutmeg and vanilla, and then quickly pour it over the pecans
- Bake the for 12-15 minutes or until all of the caramel topping is lightly bubbling (watch carefully at end of cooking to make sure it doesn’t burn burn; if it appears to be browning too much, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees)
- Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips; let stand five minutes, and then carefully spread them evenly across the caramel and sprinkle with flaky sea salt
- Chill in refrigerator for about two hours or until firm; break into pieces by hand
- Store it in an air-tight container in refrigerator or cool space for best results
- Enjoy within one week
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Brown Butter Chocolate Pecan Blondies
This sounds SO good, and I love that there’s no candy thermometer involved…I don’t get along with them.