Homemade Cherry-Pistachio Nougat

I had a lot of pistachios to use up and not a lot of time to whip up a recipe. When I saw this recipe on Bon Appetit I was a little intimidated. It looked like it would be really difficult to make. I don’t like being wrong {just ask the HH}, but I’m so glad I was wrong about this! It wasn’t hard at all and I would totally make it again in a heartbeat cause dang it was good!

Ingredients

1 cup pistachios
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg white, room temperature
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup dried cherries {cranberries would be good too}
{2} 8×8′ sheets parchment paper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly coat baking pan with nonstick spray. Line the 8×8″ baking pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 1″ overhang on all sides and set aside.

On a baking sheet, spread pistachios out and bake for 10 minutes, stirring once, then cool, chop and set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, honey and water and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of pan. Increase heat and boil about 3 minutes or until thermometer reaches 252 degrees.

Meanwhile, beat egg white and salt in a stand mixer with whisk attachment until soft peaks form. With mixer running, slowly add in hot sugar mixture. Beat until about 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and triples in size. Add cherries and pistachios and carefully mix with a rubber spatula to incorporate.

Place one 8×8″ sheet of parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray in the prepared pan. Transfer nougat to pan, spreading evenly. Top with second sheet of sprayed  parchment paper. Using a spatula, press the nougat into an even layer. Let stand at room temperature for about 2 hours or until set.

Once set, use the plastic wrap to lift the nougat out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Remove plastic wrap and cut into desired squares using a hot knife {I ran mine under super hot water and then dried the knife before cutting}. Enjoy.