Thanksgiving Dessert: Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle

Chewy and brittle shouldn’t go together in the same sentence, but they do here because…I MAKE MY OWN RULES!! Just trust me on this one. It’s good, it’s real good. It’s sitting in my freezer just calling my name. Bastard.

I’m so excited the election is over. I miss the days when I didn’t know people’s political opinions. Back in the good ole days. Like 3 months ago. At least now people can kind of stop hating each other for their differences in opinion. Laura doesn’t hate me because I think squat snatching is fun and she thinks it’s awful. We understand that we both have differences in opinion and we definitely don’t rip each others faces off because of it. Politics stuff is weird. All I know is that my Tuesday night (one of which I finally didn’t have to work on) was not filled with laughter and smiling while watching New Girl and The Mindy Project. But instead it was filled with lots of red and blue covering the tv screen. What if I was color blind?! How the hell would I know what was going on!? Bad joke.

I’m bored with politics talk. Let’s talk about me! Only child syndrome going on. So I got my car back yesterday. Remember how it was stolen then found all within 36 hours? Well, I had to get the ignition fixed up since they tore that apart, as well as get an alarm installed. An alarm? Really? I DO NOT have a nice enough car to have an alarm. Whatever. So I have this stealth sounding alarm that makes me look like a tool every time I lock my car. But when I picked up my car, my dad told me to test out the alarm…by smacking the window. So I stood outside, staring at my car, and smacking the window like I was getting my revenge from a cheating incident. Thankfully I haven’t met anyone in years to break my heart and turn me into much uglier Carrie Underwood. Before he cheats style.

I’m going to try to fancy up my car. I’m going to go get it detailed. It needs it. It still smells like weed. I bet these little bros who keep stealing my cars are pumped about Amendment 64 in CO. Now they won’t have to steal a car to just smoke weed in. Even though this Amendment isn’t actually a green light yet, people on Twitter keep asking me if I’m going to spice up my baked goods…meaning with weed. Here’s the thing, weed smells like skunks. And makes me want to eat an entire box of Lucky Charms. So I tend to stay away from it. Especially when it comes to paleo baked good. If I made my sweet potato brownies into sweet weed potato brownies, sh*t could get real ugly. Meaning my ass could triple in size.

Btw, I started washing my face with honey. In the mornings, when I have no make up on. Just a little warm water and honey does the trick. And makes your face feel real smooth. So I’m washing my face with honey in the mornings, oil cleansing at night, and using coconut oil as my face moisturizer in the day AND night. I smell like a hippy. Straight up.

Print

Thanksgiving Dessert: Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle

  • Yield: 4-5 1x

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil then add your pecans to the pan. Toss around to coat in the oil and keep moving to help roast your pecans without burning them.
  3. When your pecans begin to become fragrant and browned a bit, add your honey and maple syrup. Mix well.
  4. Once your sugar begins to thicken just a little, add your coconut oil and coconut cream concentrate. Keep mixing with a rubber spatula to make sure your coconut cream concentrate doesn’t burn.
  5. Then add your cinnamon, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.
  6. When everything is well combined, turn burner on low and let simmer for about 3-4 minutes to thicken just a bit. (it won’t get super thick, so don’t expect that)
  7. While your mixture is thickening, line a 8×8 glass baking dish with parchment paper, pressing the paper down into the sides of the dish.
  8. Then pour your mixture into the parchment-lined baking dish and use a spoon to spread out the pecans throughout the mixture.
  9. Place in the freezer and let freeze for an hour or more. When you pull it from the freezer, it should be completely hardened but still have a chewyness to it.
  10. Use a knife to break it into pieces.
  11. Store in the freezer until serving!
  12. Sooooooo much better than pecan pie. #factoflife

Notes

*Prep only takes about 10 minutes, but it should sit in the freezer for over an hour before serving!
**To make it even creamier in texture, ad about 1/4 cup almond butter or sunflower seed butter!

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PaleOMG Thanksgiving Dessert: Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle

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Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.

I’m a food hoarder. And a really bad dancer. If you don’t know me well, you will probably not understand my humor. Therefore, I apologize ahead of time. Thanks for listening to my ramblings of my ever-changing life and trusting my kitchen mishaps. Your trust in me is appreciated.

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128 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Dessert: Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle”

  1. Yum, I’ll have to try this, but only with honey … can’t do maple. Thanks for the recipe inspiration! These look great to share with others.

  2. 1. Did you just admit to smoking weed? *highfive* for your giant internet balls!
    2. How do you NOT lick your face while washing it with honey?

  3. How well would this hold up if I were to make this and give it out as an Xmas gift like you would with peanut brittle in a pretty little tin?

  4. Thank you for making me laugh today! You really are so funny, and make my morning facebook check-ins so much more fun. Now I will go back and read the recipe.

  5. Hi Juli,

    I’m new to the Paleo way of thinking in the area of food and I would love to make this! I’m slightly confused about step #4 – It mentions sugar but I’m not seeing in the ingredients (or is that a term you use to describe the sauce that the the honey and maple syrup make) – because you don’t use sugar at all in your cooking – right? Please don’t shoot me – I’m still learning! 🙂

  6. this looks like legit heaven, i may just start doing 25 days of thanksgiving rather than christmas and make your delicious recipes every day up untill thanksgiving, brilliant idea but were already down 8 days i better get cooking

  7. Is coconut cream concentrate the same thing as coconut manna? Sorry to be so daft, but I live in a place where these foods are sometimes hard to come by – meaning I do NOT have a Whole Foods and likely never will!

      1. Silly question, is there a substitute for the cream? I have never come across it (Northern Alberta Canada!!) but this looks incredible!!

        1. Marissa, how far northern Alberta? I live just outside of Edmonton (I know, I know not that far North) but all that to say, try Real Canadian Superstore or Walmart and the Asian/ethnic aisle. There should be something called Pure Creamed Coconut in a green box, the company that makes it is called Grace. At least that’s where I get mine. Hope that helps.

          1. OMG, thank you for the shopping tip! I haven’t had much luck finding coconut butter in Edmonton (though probably I just haven’t been looking in the right places…). 🙂

  8. like I didn’t love you enough… you go and create this magic? Now I know what to do with my weekend 🙂

  9. Can’t wait to try this tonight. I’m assuming it’s a 1/2 cup of pecans, but I just want to make sure it’s not 1/2 lb or something else. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes and making me smile!

  10. Dude you are a trip! In my opinion your posts have got to be the most enjoyable to read! You never seem to sugar coat sh*t and I really love that. Straight forward and out there. You are awesome . Oh and love the food you post too. Especially this one.

  11. Since finding your blog (which was like 5 days ago). I literally go to bed looking forward to reading what you have to say in the morning. That means one of two things:

    1. I live a really sad life.

    Or

    2. You’re that awesome.

    I’m gonna stick with option 2.

  12. We have multiple food allergies in our home, including peanuts. I love this idea of pecan brittle. Unfortunately, coconut is one of those allergies. We are GF, but not Paleo. Can anyone give me ideas on a substitute for the coconut ingredients?

    1. i just made mine with palm shortening instead of coconut and cashew butter instead of the coconut butter and it thickened right up! im having a hard time waiting the hour for it to harden but my house smells delicious right now!

  13. Oh man this looks amazing, I am going to need to make room in my fridge.

    Also, so glad you’re trying the honey challenge! Keep us updated on your progress!

  14. You seriously crack me up! I love it 🙂 And I totally thought you were going to say you broke your window when you smacked it! Pheeew

  15. Aaaah, I seriously love brittle! I used to make peanut brittle all the time to snack on at home which, yeah, wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world. I’m pretty sure my dentist would have kicked my ass for that (if I told him about it, which I didn’t). So I will be making this, and crossing my fingers that keeping it in the freezer will stop me from mad snacking on it 24/7. Wish me luck!

  16. Love your recipes and your blog! Your sweet potato brownies are my husband’s favorite dessert! Anyway, re skin, this may be an annoying question, but have you been to a dermatologist? my skin broke out really badly when I turned 29 (out of nowhere) and it kept getting worse for a year until I finally went to a dermatologist. He put me on a lotion (Differin) and it toally completely cleared my skin right up in 6 weeks. Just in case you haven’t gone to a derm, you should definitely try it!! Good luck, love your site!!

    1. yes i have been. they looked at my skin for 2 sec, prescribed me sh*t that tore my skin apart and didn’t work 🙁 differin included. thanks for the tip though!

  17. I think I just fell in love w/ u for like the 1millionth time! Today I really liked the post (more than normal). I dont know if its because of that awesome youtube video, making me laugh with your “no bs” outlook, the smoking weed comment or because of this brittle. Either way, you are inspiring and always brighten up my day. Thanks gurl 🙂

  18. A word to the wise… Don’t skip the step with the paper. The pieces I’ve managed to chip off the plate are delicious though. I love any recipe that helps me eat as much coconut oil as possible.

  19. I will always hate squat snatches. Always. But Ju, these pics are awesome!! I love them, almost as much as I loved this brittle!

  20. I’ve had a crappy day that revolved around taking my car (that tried to occupy the same space on the road as a deer) back to an auto repair shop when they didn’t fix it properly. I made this after dinner and just had my first piece. It is amazeballs. My day was instantly made better!

  21. No joke you really rock, I’ve Been making this recipe for years but with butter and white sugar this is gonna help so much this Xmas!

  22. When you say spatula do you mean one of those silicone spoonula thingies??? I’ve melted the rubber ones before while making candy! Not very tasty, for sure!!

  23. Oh my god. I am SO making this! Thank you – it looks amazing and is right up my alley. I’m doing Thanksgiving at my house this year, so keep those recipes rolling! 🙂

  24. I am definitely making this for the FIL. Dude is a junk food junkie and I am going to get that SOB to eat clean one way or another!!!!! Thanks for your awesome recipes, and ab-fab blog!

  25. I gave this a shot, and I’m not much of pro when it comes to working with sugar. I think it did well tho. I used coconut creamer*** instead bc it’s the closest I could find in my nearest health market. It’s in the freezer now so we will see how it turns out!!!

    1. Fail lol… I will have to give this another shot when I can find some coconut creme or manna.

      Although, the result is still very yummy! haha.

  26. Do you just use extra virgin coconut oil on your face? I ask because I use it on my kiddos skin and thinking the expeller pressed may be cheaper.

  27. I made this tonite it’s 4 hours in freezer and still soft,tastes good though :-)What could’ve I done wrong?The cream concentrate i used had to be added to be added to 100ml water could this be where i went wrong?? thanks

  28. I love washing my face with honey! I also found a recipe for a mask on Pinterest with 1 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. It makes enough for two or three masks. Put it on a clean face and wash off after 30 minutes. The cinnamon is anti-inflammatory which should help with the redness and bumps. I’ve also used it as a face wash in the shower. It’s a very nice exfoliator! Plus, it tastes delicious 🙂

  29. I love pecan pie and will make this for myself very soon. I was thinking I’d like to try making this for my family for Thanksgiving, too, but my mom is allergic to pecans. Do you think walnuts or cashews would be a good substitute?

  30. ‘Great recipe! ‘Everyone loved it… I was one of four presenters at a Phoenix area Paleo Meetup group meeting. We met with the sole goal of tasting the dessert treats of 15 participants. I used Nutiva’s Coconut Manna for the coconut cream concentrate. These treats are hyper-sweet, which is great in that only a very small square will hit the spot for that after-Thanksgiving ‘pie.’ ‘Really is better than pecan pie. It thickens up nicely if you wait long enough and it does take a little time to mix in the coconut oil and manna, resulting in an almost taffy texture. It was a hit at the Meetup and your site was mentioned. Thanks for all you do! Marty

  31. So I made this today. Just ate my first bite. WHOH. It’s amazingly good but super sweet. Not sure I can eat very much in one sitting since I don’t eat that much sugar anymore.

    But it was GOOD GOOD GOOD!!!!!! And it was so easy to make, my 3 yr old helped me.

  32. These look delish! I have been doing Paleo for 2 weeks and gained 10lbs, I obviously cannot control my intake of coconut flour… ughhh… I sure would like to win those coconut vanilla bytes and Almond Butter ones from Goodbody Baked Goods. I stalk your blog!

  33. I tried to make this brittle and for some reason it was WAY too runny! Any thoughts? It still tasted delicious, but wouldn’t even make a sticky consistency, would just be runny the minute it came out of the freezer?

  34. The best honey for face wash is Wedderspoon 100% Raw Manuka honey. My esthetician turned me on to it a few months ago, it is fab. I mix it with a little pure jojoba oil & leave it on my skin for about 10 min. You can find it on Amazon. I love your blog!

  35. Glad i read reviews, i was wondering why mine was separating water from candy. I scooped out only the candy mixture to freeze and threw the watery part out. Will see how it goes in an hour after freezing.

    1. Mine doesnt look as nice as your pics. Its chunky and thick (i added 1 cup of pecans and got rid of extra coconut oil that separated from the mixture). the fun part was putting the block of candy into a ziplock bag and throwing it until it broke into eatable pieces. Mines definitely brittle! Crack your teeth brittle but then chewy. So good!

      1. I just finished mine (it’s currently in the freezer) and it has like this visible layer of oil or clear liquid on top, should you take that off before it hardens?

  36. This was so easy to make!!! Except I really needed parchment paper and I waited to the last minute before I realized I ran out. Tin foil didnt work as well. Anyhow…. or anywho…. this is fabulous! Very sweet. I tripled the recipe and increased the nuts by double and boy, I have a LOT. I cut these out in cute little triangles. I dropped some in my expresso. YUM. You should remind readers of this recipe just before christmas for emergency gift plates. Thanks JB, before this webite I thought paleo was nuts. Now I know PALEO is GREAT!!! I will bring a crate of your brittle to my box today and weare doing Angie AND Kelly (in teams). How nuts is that?

  37. This was EPICly awesome & easy!!! Heavenly delicious.

    And you & your blogs & recipe are once always keepin me paleo happy! Thanks for all you do!

  38. This was the one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life. IN MY LIFE. I made it with my aunt, took some home, she called me a few days later to tell me she ate the whole pan. It’s like candy. Really easy. I live in New Hampshire and we have no Whole Foods and I would bet a million dollars no store within 50 miles of me sells coconut cream concentrate soo I made coconut manna instead which I’m pretty sure is the same thing as coconut cream concentrate. Delicious.

  39. This is AH-Mazing….seriously! I made it early to have around for Thanksgiving….um, yeah, I need to make more. Seriously, someone needs to help me eat this or I have to move out of my house. That is all.

  40. Made this as my one indulgence for tomorrow – simply delicious!! – agree better than pecan pie – I think this would be an awesome add in for some homemade coconut milk ice cream

  41. So I love everything about this website, but I think I did something wrong with this one. My pecan brittle turned out layered (coconut butter/coconut oil on top and maple syrup/honey on the bottom. And I mean honey/maple syrup like it had never been mixed to begin with…) Any ideas?

  42. I made the last night in preparation for Thanksgiving and I used coconut sap in lace of maple syrup (I found it on Tuesday and thought I would give it a try) and my brittle hardened up! It is awesome, it would be good chewy or hard, I’m sure!

  43. Holy crap, this is one of the best tasting things I have ever eaten. How is it that every recipe of yours I try is even better than the one before? Would you hurry up with that cookbook? Where/when can we pre-order it?!? Keep up the amazingness!!

    1. holy moly, april! i’m glad i scanned comments (i usually do to see what substitutes, etc, people make). i’ll be adding that tomorrow!

  44. Just found your blog – so many awesomely yummy-looking recipes. Happy to see adding bacon works well (why wouldn’t it?!). Was wondering if anyone tried adding canned pumpkin for a sort of pumpkin pecan pie effect – would have to freeze of course, but I loove pumpkin.

  45. HOLY.MOTHER.
    there is no other paleo treat in my eyes.
    i subbed maple for date paste.
    i forgot to add in the bacon as i intended. grrr… next time.
    and i’m afraid next time will come sooner than it “should.”
    i accompanied a piece with my coffee blended with a bit of grassfed milk and butter.
    craving satiated x10.
    Thanks for sharing!!!

  46. This is AWESOME. If I could give it 10 stars I would. I honestly think I like this better than pecan pie because it is so rich. I don’t have to eat a whole piece of pie to get the sweet satisfaction. Because in my former life before paleo I never let a piece of pecan pie go to waste even if I was full.

  47. Mine did not freeze either this is disgusting this recipe is expensive and I am left with a hump of shit – word of advice be a bit more clear with instructions

  48. Made this last night for a potluck at my local box. It was delicious, especially when it came out of the freezer! I think I may have added a little too much of an ingredient or two because it did seem to “melt” when the brittle stayed out too long. But I just put them back in the fridge and they regained their form. Thanks for sharing!

  49. So I made this for my non-paleo dad as a treat because he absolutely loves pecans. So I used nikki’s pecan pie coconut butter and grass-fed butter instead of coconut oil because he doesn’t like the taste of it that much. Also, I put the mix in muffin tins. Anywho, they came out FANTASTIC. So delicious. I bet if you put bananas in the base you could make a freaking awesome paleo bananas foster. Once again, thanks for a great recipe!

  50. This is the sort of recipe that makes me think a lifetime of paleo is possible. So, so good! Of course, probably not good to eat the entire pan at once but whatever. Thank you – delicious recipe!

  51. O. M. G. This is delicious! Put a little paleo vanilla ice cream on top & it becomes orgasmic! 🙂

  52. Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh!!!!! These are soooo good! I am forever grateful that they are rich, or I could eat them all, right now!

  53. Got this tray of awesomeness chilling in the freezer as we speak. Used some Artisana Coconut Butter that I bought a while back but never used – wasn’t exactly smooth coming out of the jar – more like scraping shavings off a ball of wax, but it all melted down and the ‘batter’ tasted AMAZING! Thanks for another fabulous recipe – can’t wait to enjoy this sugar bomb and not feel (that) bad about it because it’s PALEO (winkwink)

  54. Hi I just made this and it tastes and smells delicious but has been in my freezer for hours and hours now and it still isn’t setting. I followed the recipe exactly with no substitutions and just the top layer is firm. Help…any suggestions?!?!

  55. It came out goowey and not hard like brittle. The honey was sticking to paper that I no one ate it at Thanksgiving. I used Coconut manna. What went wrong?

    1. check out the first sentence of this blog post. it tends to be a little more gooey. but the longer it sits, the harder it gets. i don’t think coconut manna should change it and it definitely shouldn’t stick to the paper

  56. Juli, I made this with the addition of the almond butter and it was AMAZING!!! sooo yummy! My toddler loved it too. Thanks for the great recipe!

  57. I made this for Thanksgiving, and mine came out more like fudge than like brittle. I used an 8×8 pan, but there seemed to be too much of it to get brittle-thin. It’s also too soft to break, so I definitely had to cut it into squares. If I did it again, I would use a bigger pan and spread it thinner. It’s delicious pecan fudge, but it’s not quite what I expected.

    1. Virginia, it sounds like yours came out like mine did… I’m not sure what exactly I did wrong, but I’m definitely going to try it again. People loved it anyway, so that’s good. I just really wanted brittle! Haha.

  58. most amazing thing ever! except I CAN’T STOP EATING them ! doubled the recipe, and it worked beautifully. wished I had cut the pieces after an hour as you suggested, bc it became quite hard to cut! iI had to bash it with a pan! consistancy came out exactly as you said, crisp to bite, then becomes this remarkable chewy-melt-in-your-mouth texture. just bliss. If I was newer in the kitchen, I think my texture would have come out funky as some as the posters mentioned . . . I might not have realized that the coconut cream needed a mixing, or heated up first to mix, if the oil had separated. The sugars took a little patience to thicken bc I was afraid of burning with high heat, the cream.took a little while and loving to mix all the way in to fully combine . . so I think it might be worthwhile for your newer chefs to hear the smaller details in order to have a better chance at perfection. Because they REALLY are, perfection. SO HAPPY to stumble upon this site. I’m your newest fan and most certainly will be back! for some reason, I can’t highlight a star from my phone. but, FIVE stars

  59. Excellent recipe! I’m gonna add more pecans this time around. I accidentally put a bit more coconut cream in mine which made it more like a soft caramel texture, it was fantastic anyway. I was kinda worried this treat might spike my blood sugar but it didn’t. Thank you, this is way better than any of the bad for you but tasty candy/treats I used to enjoy.

  60. howdy!

    I made these about 3 hours ago and it’s still goopy in the freezer, no stiffness about it…. is coconut cream concentrate the same as coconut cream from a can? This must be where I went wrong i think! Will have to eat this batch with a spoon and try again i think

  61. Made this tonight and it TASTES delicious, but all of my layers separated… So the top is white hardened Coconut Mana and the bottom is still sticky honey…. Any suggestions? I want to make this work for Thanksgiving. I didn’t make any substitutions…..

  62. I think you need to specify in the recipe to use coconut manna or coconut butter, NOT coconut cream from a can. I used Trader Joe’s coconut cream – which was really thick – but like some other people here, the coconut ingredients separated from the maple syrup/honey and formed two distinct layers. The maple syrup honey did not solidify at all, so it was just a gooey mess.

    That said, it still tasted like delicious pecan pie filling! I’ll have to try it again at Christmas with coconut butter.

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