Spiced Pumpkin Brittle

Promised you all this recipe last week,

so here it is....

Spiced Pumpkin Brittle

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin seeds, plus a handful more for dipping

• 1/2 cup of water

• 1/2 cup of light corn syrup

• 1 cup of granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice

• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

• 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. First, toast the pumpkin seeds over medium heat in a pan. Keep the seeds moving so they don’t burn and stop toasting once they start to tan and you can smell the toasted seeds.

2. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. In a medium saucepan clipped with a candy thermometer (make sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan), heat water, sugar and corn syrup over medium high heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it starts to boil. Stop stirring and let the mixture boil until it reaches 285 degrees. You may have to turn the heat up to high if the temperature isn’t increasing.

3.Stir in the pumpkin seeds and continually stir the mixture so it doesn’t stick to the bottom until the temperature reaches 300 degrees. Remove from the heat and stir in all the spices, vanilla extract, baking soda and butter, just until combined. The baking soda will cause it to bubble up a bit, but that’s normal.

4. Working quickly, pour the mixture over the baking sheet and using the back of a wooden spoon spread across the sheet evenly. Allow the brittle to harden completely at room temperature, or if you’re in a rush, pop it in the refrigerator for about a half hour or until completely hardened.

5. Break the brittle into random irregular shapes.

6. Temper the chocolate chips to dip the brittle into. 

7. Finely chop a large handful of raw pumpkin seeds and place on a dish.  After dipping the brittle in the chocolate, dip the ends in the raw pumpkin seeds and sprinkle with some sea salt. 

8. To package them for gifts, place them in a box lined with parchment paper.  Place a sheet of parchment between each brittle to ensure they don’t stick together.

Let me know if you guys have any questions

--its a fairly easy recipe just make sure you

 get the corn syrup, sugar, water to the proper temperature

or it won't get to that crack candy state 

and you will have taffy instead of brittle!

xo,

Rach

Recipe from Honestly Yum.

Roses are Red, Cake Pops are Pink

Really enjoyed making these 

Sweetheart Cake Pops!

After all, it's an opportunity to not only 

brush up on my baking skills but also

to hang with the girls.

We had so much fun decorating them,

we wish we made more pops!

You can find this silicone heart tray at Michaels.

These are the kind of nights that I cherish

and hold dear to my heart.

Good, clean fun

with some wonderful woman!

You can find the recipe here.

If I can give you one baking tip,

it's to use the photo just as a source of inspiration -

don't be controlled by it or let it box you in.

I used to get upset when my baking creations

didn't turn out exactly like the picture.

The message is: 

Life isn't picture perfect.

Go with the flow, and find your own original.

The end result is so much more beautiful.

P.S Oh, and one more chocolate dipping secret I just remembered,

and wish I knew prior to this recipe because it would have

made my life a lot easier and saved a lot of previous cake pop casualties.

(Yes, there is such a thing. I can attest to it.)

Secret: Add one tsp of vegetable or canola oil to
 your baking chocolate during the melting process.

Its pure dipping perfection.

xo,