This incredibly moreish caramel can be used as part of a dessert (at the Fat Duck, we serve it with carrot ice cream and pumpkin oil, or chocolate sorbet and peanuts), or as a sweet with tea or coffee. What the hell; it is so great that it can — and will — be eaten at any time of the day.

There are two important points to be aware of when following this recipe: the mix must be stirred continuously while it is being cooked and, once it is made, the caramel must be left in the pan, untouched, overnight, before serving.

Ingredients

150g peeled, salted pistachios
150g salted peanuts
375g unrefined caster sugar
375ml liquid glucose (from chemists and supermarkets)
375ml whole milk
300g best-quality unsalted butter
10g table salt
450ml whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Roast the nuts on a baking tray for 5-10 minutes, taking care not to burn them. Combine the caster sugar, glucose, milk, butter and salt in a heavy saucepan. Place over a high heat and whisk continuously using a balloon whisk, ensuring that the sides of the pan do not get ignored. Do not stop whisking; it will take more than 30 minutes. And be careful — the mixture gets very hot.

If you have a thermometer, or probe (I will talk about probes in a later column), heat the mixture up to 120C/250F. If you don’t own either, cook the caramel until it reaches a light golden colour — a little darker than the inside of a Snickers. The caramel will be ready when it comes together as one slippery mass.

Now add the whipping cream and the roasted nuts. Take care when adding the cream, as the caramel will bubble and spit. Remove the pan from the heat and stir as hard as possible (you won’t need to go to the gym today) to ensure the caramel is well mixed and all the cream is incorporated.

Leave overnight — don’t touch it — so that it hardens. Use a spatula to remove it from the pan. It can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.