Honey Walnut Brittle

This microwave recipe for Honey Walnut Brittle is super easy and quick, yet delightfully buttery, nutty and delicious. I think Gram would approve.

There was really nothing my grandmother liked more than a good old-fashioned peanut brittle so occasionally I used to make or buy her some. She wasn’t really supposed to be eating candy because of her diabetes but, hey, the occasionally treat didn’t kill her. 

In fact, she lived to the impressive age of 99 1/2 years old. When she passed away in July of 2013, we already had a big shindig planned for December to celebrate her 100th birthday. Truly, we expected her to live even longer than that.

Though a child of the early 1900s who rode a horse and buggy to school every day, she eagerly embraced cooking breakthroughs like the microwave and canned "cream of" soup. Her favorite cooking appliance was a little toaster oven. She made all sorts in that thing, from biscuits to baked chicken thighs and mini pizzas. 

As I stirred this microwave brittle, I thought of Gram and how much she would have enjoyed both eating it and how easy it is to make.  

Honey Walnut Brittle

You need a large microwaveable bowl for this recipe! When it boils in the microwave and again when the baking soda is added at the end, the mixture foams up and will overflow a small bowl. This recipe is adapted from one on All Recipes.

Ingredients

1 cup or 200g sugar

½ cup or 120ml honey

1 cup or 100g chopped walnuts 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the foil

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon baking soda

Method

Line a large baking sheet with foil and grease it well with butter.

Mix the sugar and honey together in a large microwave-safe glass bowl. 

Place in the microwave and cook on high for 1 minute. 

Stir, and cook 1 minute more. 

Stir mixture again, and cook until mixture boils and the sugar is completely dissolved, an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. I watched through the microwave door and mine started to bubble up at about 45 seconds. 

Fold the walnuts into the sugar/honey mixture. 

Heat in the microwave another 3 minutes, stirring between each minute. (I took photos all along the way but do you truly need to see them all? I'm guessing not.) The bowl will be hot so use mitts to protect your hands. 

Stir in the butter, salt and vanilla extract. 

Microwave until mixture is caramel in color, an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

Carefully remove the hot bowl from microwave, and quickly stir in baking soda until fully incorporated. This will foam up!

Immediately pour the mixture onto your buttered foil-lined pan. 

Allow to cool until the brittle is set, about 15 minutes in a cool kitchen. It could take longer in a warm place. In hot Texas, I popped mine in the refrigerator when I got impatient. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 23th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter W. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the W recipes below:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Whole Wheat Waffles 
• Culinary Cam: Roasted Watermelon Radish with Maple-Kissed Tahini Sauce 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Homemade Wonton Soup 
• Blogghetti: Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup 
• Food Lust People Love: Honey Walnut Brittle 
• A Messy Kitchen: Whiskey Sriracha Caramel Corn 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Cheesy Wafer Pav 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Salted Caramel Whiskey Espresso Cocktail 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Walnut Chocolate Tartlets
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Whiskey-Soaked Raisin Baked Stove Top Stuffing

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs 

P. Homemade Piri Piri Sauce 

Q, Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread 

R. Leek and Lobster Mushroom Risotto 

S. Cheesy Sausage and Egg Casserole 

T. Stuffed Turkey Cutlets 

U. Spicy Urad Dal -

V. Spicy Vinegar Braised Chicken 

W. Honey Walnut Brittle - this post!

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Small Batch Banana Walnut Muffins #MuffinMonday

These small batch banana walnut muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time, full of sweet banana flavor and crunch from the nuts. Serve them with a cup of hot tea or a glass of cold milk!

It’s the last Monday of the month so it’s time for Muffin Monday! Also, happy Halloween! I’m not going to suggest you hand out muffins because kids want candy, but muffins would be good for snacking on while you hand over the sweet stuff. 

Make sure to scroll down to see the other muffin recipes my friends are sharing today. 

Small Batch Banana Walnut Muffins

This recipe is adapted from one on One Dish Kitchen. I have a feeling that my bananas must be larger than hers because I could easily have stretched the batter out to another muffin or even two. As it was, a couple of mine spilled over while baking. I’ve amended the ingredient list to say “medium” bananas. Perhaps that will help. I will say, we loved the muffins and I would make them again! 

Ingredients

2 overripe medium bananas

6 tablespoons or 85g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for the pan

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup or 125g flour

½ cup or 100g sugar

1 oz or 28g walnuts, chopped (about 13 shelled walnut halves) 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Optional for decorating: 6 shelled walnut halves 

I set six aside and then forgot to put them on top before baking. Oh, well. 

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 6-cup muffin pan by buttering it or lining it with paper liners. Alternatively, you can use silicone muffin cups, as I did. 

In a large bowl, mash your bananas with a fork. 

Add in the cooled, melted butter, the egg and the vanilla extract and whisk till all are incorporated. 

Fold in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, along with the chopped walnuts, until just mixed. 

You might have a little flour still showing and that’s just fine. 

Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups. Top each with a walnut half, if desired. (Or if you remember.)

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.

Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned, today is Muffin Monday. Check out the recipes my fellow muffin bakers are sharing. 

• Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Cinnamon Pecan Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Pulled Pork Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Raisin Bran Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Small Batch Banana Walnut Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet Potato Walnut Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Small Batch Banana Walnut Muffins!

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Walnut Butter Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This walnut butter Bundt cake is delightfully flavored with homemade toasted walnut butter, which is super easy to make. The walnuts at the bottom of the pan are a pretty topping when the cake is turned upright. 

Recipes abound on the internet for homemade nut butters but I must confess that I have never made any. We don’t have any nut allergies and good ole Jif has been my go-to peanut butter since time eternal. If I had a dime for every jar I’ve hauled overseas in my suitcases over the last thirty plus years, I’d be a wealthy woman. 

That said, the last place I lived outside of the US was Dubai and Jif was blessedly available there. Even in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore it turned up on occasion. Anyhoo, no good reason to make my own nut butter until now. 

This month’s Bundt Baker theme is Nut Butters so I decided to be brave and try something new. I have this to say: Toasted walnut butter is fabulous. Such lovely flavor! Who knew it would be so easy to make.

Walnut Butter Bundt Cake

If you have an allergy to walnuts, I daresay you could substitute any nut you can tolerate but I highly recommend not skipping the toasting step. It adds a lot of depth to the nut butter. I used a 10-cup Bundt pan to bake this because I love the way the bottom of the Nordic Ware Fleur de Lis pan holds the extra walnut pieces in an almost diamond pattern, but it would fit in a 6 or 8 cup one as well, for a smaller taller Bundt.  

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup or 75g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup or 75g fine sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons milk

4 1/4 oz or 120g walnut pieces

Method

Turn your oven on to preheat to 350°F or 180°C. Put the walnuts on a baking pan and pop them in the preheating oven. Keep a close eye on them as the oven heats up and give the pan a shake every few minutes. Remove the walnuts from the oven when they start smelling toasted.

Grease your Bundt pan with butter and lightly flour. (As mentioned above, mine is the Nordic Ware Fleur de Lis <Amazon affiliate link with a good price. I paid almost $12 more back in 2015! Dang it.)

Process half of the toasted walnuts in your food processor until they become a fairly smooth paste. 

Beat together the butter and sugar till fluffy and pale. Add in the eggs one at a time.

Cream well until well combined before adding another one. 

Beat in the walnut butter, vanilla extract and milk.

Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold well to combine. 

Put the remaining half of the toasted walnuts into the bottom of your prepared Bundt pan. 

Spoon in the batter. 

Gently use the bottom of a spoon to smooth the top out. You don't want to dislodge the nuts.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the walnut butter cake comes out clean. If you are a person who uses an instant read thermometer, the King Arthur Flour website says the internal temperature of a baked cake should be between 200-210°F or 93-99°C.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. 

Loosen the cake from the Bundt pan and invert it onto a serving plate. 

Slice to serve with tea, coffee, hot cocoa or a cold glass of milk.

 Enjoy! 

As mentioned, this month’s Bundt Bakers theme is Nut Butters. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the other recipes using nut butters in the batter, icing or glaze below. 

• Banana Bundt with Cocoa Peanut Butter Glaze from Sweet Sensations
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar
• Easy Frosted Peanut Butter Bundt Cake from Making Miracles
• Mini Peanut Butter Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• PB & J Mini Bundt Cake from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Peanut Butter Cake With Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting from Sneha's Recipe
• Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Peanut Butter, Nutella and Banana Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Walnut Butter Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our home page.

Pin this Walnut Butter Bundt Cake! 

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