Persian Pistachio Brittle is a clever, fast, and easy recipe for a decadent toffee treat.  It is made with butter, brown sugar, soda crackers/Saltine crackers, and a hint of Persian saffron.  The result is an addictive, salty-sweet, crunchy snack.  Satisfy cravings for an old classic Persian treat called “sohan” in 15 minutes from start to finish.

Sohan is the Farsi word for a delightfully rich and decadent brittle or toffee.  In the traditional recipes for sohan, you need a couple of different kinds of flour, as well as some form of sugar such as honey, liquid glucose, or corn syrup.  The flavorings in a real sohan include of course saffron, but also some cardamom and a bit of rose water.  I prefer making caramel sauce and toffees with brown sugar for deeper flavor.  Keeping this modern recipe fast and simple, I use brown sugar for the sweetener, and saffron for unique, Persian flavor notes.

You honestly won’t believe how simple the steps are for making this irresistible toffee treat!  With a few basic ingredients, a pot, a sheet pan, and an oven, you can make “fake sohan”, also known as pistachio brittle any day of the week.  Dress it up with fancy green pistachio slivers and some royal rose petals and its nice enough to put out for guests or take to a party.

Steps:

• Arrange the soda crackers/Saltines in a single layer, neatly and evenly in rows on the lined, greased baking sheet
• Melt butter with brown sugar until the liquid comes to a boil, stirring constantly
• Drizzle the warm caramelized sugar syrup carefully and evenly over the crackers on the baking sheet
• Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
• Top with green-skinned, slivered pistachios

This is a versatile recipe.  Serve the cracker brittle plain, resembling sohan, or for the chocolate lovers in your life, add a layer of chocolate!  There is one more step needed to make a chocolate version.  Take a couple of handfuls of your favorite chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet chocolate chips) and sprinkle over the warm crackers and caramel sauce right after the baking step.  The chocolate chips will soften quickly and will be easy to spread with a butter knife.

For the very last step, add slivered green pistachios.  

Allow the toffee crackers to cool and transfer to a serving plate.

For a more authentic sohan flavor, add a few drops of rose water and a little ground cardamom into the caramel mixture along with the bloomed saffron.  The Persian flavors of rose, cardamom, and saffron will elevate this basic toffee to a dessert fit for the kings!

Yield: 50

Persian Pistachio Brittle

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Pistachio Brittle is a clever, fast, and easy recipe for a decadent toffee treat.  It is made with butter, brown sugar, soda crackers/Saltine crackers, and a hint of Persian saffron.  The result is an addictive, salty-sweet, crunchy snack.  Satisfy cravings for an old classic Persian treat called "sohan" in 15 minutes from start to finish.

Cook Time 5 minutes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• About 50 soda crackers/Saltine crackers, or about 1 1/2 sleeves
• 1 stick of salted butter, or 4 ounces
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon *bloomed saffron (see recipe notes for how-to bloom saffron)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup slivered green pistachio nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Line a standard-sized baking sheet with tin foil
3. Spray non-sticking cooking oil over the foil
4. Arrange the soda crackers/Saltines in a single layer, neatly and evenly in rows on the lined, greased baking sheet
5. Melt butter with brown sugar until the liquid comes to a boil, stirring constantly
6. Drizzle the warm caramelized sugar syrup carefully and evenly over the crackers on the baking sheet
7. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
8. Add some chocolate chips over the top (optional) - the heat of the warm crackers will melt the chocolate;  gently spread the melted chocolate over the baked in caramel
9. Top with green-skinned, slivered pistachios
10. Allow for cooling
11. Transfer to a serving plate

Notes

How to bloom saffron:

- grind dried saffron threads to a powder

- dissolve in boiling water

To get 1 teaspoon of bloomed saffron, use 1/4 teaspoon of ground saffron threads and stir into 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Allow the saffron to dissolve for 5 minutes before using it in the recipe.

Storage:

Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 479Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 384mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 4gSugar: 24gProtein: 5g

Yield: 50

Persian Pistachio Brittle

Print

Pistachio Brittle is a clever, fast, and easy recipe for a decadent toffee treat.  It is made with butter, brown sugar, soda crackers/Saltine crackers, and a hint of Persian saffron.  The result is an addictive, salty-sweet, crunchy snack.  Satisfy cravings for an old classic Persian treat called "sohan" in 15 minutes from start to finish.

Cook Time 5 minutes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• About 50 soda crackers/Saltine crackers, or about 1 1/2 sleeves
• 1 stick of salted butter, or 4 ounces
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon *bloomed saffron (see recipe notes for how-to bloom saffron)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup slivered green pistachio nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Line a standard-sized baking sheet with tin foil
3. Spray non-sticking cooking oil over the foil
4. Arrange the soda crackers/Saltines in a single layer, neatly and evenly in rows on the lined, greased baking sheet
5. Melt butter with brown sugar until the liquid comes to a boil, stirring constantly
6. Drizzle the warm caramelized sugar syrup carefully and evenly over the crackers on the baking sheet
7. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
8. Add some chocolate chips over the top (optional) - the heat of the warm crackers will melt the chocolate;  gently spread the melted chocolate over the baked in caramel
9. Top with green-skinned, slivered pistachios
10. Allow for cooling
11. Transfer to a serving plate

Notes

How to bloom saffron:

- grind dried saffron threads to a powder

- dissolve in boiling water

To get 1 teaspoon of bloomed saffron, use 1/4 teaspoon of ground saffron threads and stir into 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Allow the saffron to dissolve for 5 minutes before using it in the recipe.

Storage:

Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 479Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 384mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 4gSugar: 24gProtein: 5g