How to make stunning Spiky Candied Nuts
Love these Spiky Candied Nuts. Nutty candy brittle that looks gorgeous on any bakes! Crunchy delicious sweet nuts that can glam up any cake!
Servings: 40 spiky candied nuts40
Ingredients
- 200 g sugar
- 30-40 mix of hazelnuts/ macadamia nuts
Instructions
Prepare the nuts and high work station
- Gently poke a toothpick into each nut for easy dipping. (*Be careful not to poke too hard or the nut will split)
- On the baking table, set up a high work station (I used one cake stand, my bamboo steamer tray and a turntable). Make sure it is sufficiently tall to allow a nice long drip. To minimize the mess and make cleanup easier, line the table with parchment (along the perimeter of the work station) to catch the drip.
Melt the sugar
- Using a heavy bottom pan, melt the sugar over low heat.
- As the sugar starts to slowly melt, gently swirl the pan to spread the syrup and let the rest of the sugar melt more evenly. (*This took 20min on my induction cooker on Low heat)
- Once the sugar is fully melted, it’s ready for dipping.
Assemble spiky nuts
- Dip the skewered nut fully in the sugar caramel and let the excess syrup drip back into the pan. Work quickly.
- Once the sugar syrup becomes a thin drip, tape the end of the toothpick onto the edge of the workstation allowing the candied nut to form long drips. (*If the syrup in the pan starts to harden, put it back on low heat to melt it down again.)
- Repeat with the remaining nuts. Leave the candied nuts to set until the syrup drips have hardened, at least 15-20 minutes. Carefully remove skewers from the candied nuts and use them to garnish your dessert or bake.
Video
Notes
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#1 Build your own work station
Quite a few recipes suggest to let drip the these candied nuts spikes from the kitchen counter top unto the floor (albeit lined with parchment). I find that rather messy and cumbersome to clean up plus the way my kitchen top space is structured, it is most unsuitable. For practicality, I decided to make my own tall work station directly on my baking table.
Making my own tall work station gives me more working space and better control of the dip-and-drip process as I can organize everything within easy reach. I used my cake stand, bamboo steamer and turntable etc to build up the height. Use what is at hand and whatever suits you best in your kitchen. The key is to build sufficient height such that the caramel can drip down from high to get those nice long spikes.
#2 Type of nuts
Nuts that are round or oval shaped work best. The nuts should be suitably sized and solid to be able to hold the inserted toothpick. I used mainly hazelnuts and macadamia nuts to make these Spiky Candied Nuts. Almonds should work too.
#3 Water
You might ask, can we add some water to melt the sugar? Yes that is entirely possible and I did too at first but it did not work for me given the hot weather where I am.
As I live in sunny humid Singapore, having water content in the caramel resulted in these Spiky Candied Nuts dripping off very quickly even after the caramel has set. In the end I decided not to add water. Without adding water, these Spiky Candied Nuts last quite a bit longer in a humid environment. There will still be some drip off but the rate of decline is more sustainable.
My advice is if where you are living is hot and humid, do not add any water and use these Spiky Candied Nuts soonest possible, after the spikes have set.
#4 Handle with care!
When inserting the toothpick into the nuts, poke gently or you will find that the nut splits easily if too much force is exerted. So gently gently does it.
If you were thinking of wearing gloves to remove the toothpicks and put these beautiful nutties on your bakes, FORGET GLOVES. Gloves are no help as these Spiky Candied Nuts stick! The best way to handle these Spiky Candied Nuts is clean damp hands. Wash hands thoroughly and using slightly damp fingers and a fork, remove the toothpick and place the nuts nicely and gently exactly where you want them.
These Spiky Candied Nuts also tend to be very brittle especially the longer drip ones. So handle gently otherwise your slender gorgeous supermodel long drip might break and become a cute dwarf spiky nuttie instead!
#5 Storage
I usually decorate my bakes with these Spiky Candied Nuts straight from my work station. I then store the bake directly in the refrigerator (you will need to free up a tall enough space in the fridge if you have long spikes) and only take it out just before serving.Storing them in the refrigerator will help prevent/minimize drip off whilst keeping the spikes hardened and chilled. Once the Spiky Candied Nuts are taken out of the refrigerator, do note the difference in temperature in the environment will start to affect them so serve immediately.
I will always use the long drip spikes first as they are most fragile, tall and difficult to store. Plus they tend to drip off and become shorter spikes anyway if left unused for too long. I made this No Bake Nutella Cheesecake with beautiful long drip spikes.
For the shorter spikes, these have already dripped off and they tend to harden up quite nicely when chilled and are quite stable. These can keep well stored in an air tight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.