The kids and I were looking for a new recipe to try, when I stumbled across one for pumpkin seed brittle. I love peanut brittle but haven't had it in years, so I was really excited to try this recipe, hoping it would taste just as good.
This is the first candy recipe I have ever made - I even had to go buy a special candy thermometer for it. And after standing over the boiling mass of sugar, leaning close in to peer at the progress of the temperature, and nearly burning my eyebrows off in the process...I don't anticipate that I will become a professional candy maker anytime soon. Baking is much more my style...and a lot less intense. Here, my bubbling concoction is almost ready:
When the sugar mixture reached 285 degrees, we dumped in the pumpkin seeds, and when it reached 300 degrees I hurriedly dumped it all out on a baking sheet covered with parchment to dry. After about 20 minutes, we had a flexible sheet of pumpkin seed brittle!
The kids helped me break it up into chunks, and since the recipe said to store in an airtight container, we put what would fit into a mason jar. Doesn't it look pretty?
Don't be fooled by its good looks....this was a huge mistake! Within a few hours, the brittle was hopelessly stuck together in the jar, and there was no possibility of retrieving a piece to eat. In the end, I had to fill the jar up with soap and water, and wait for it to break down so that I could dump it all down the drain. Luckily we had a a bit left over that we hadn't been able to fit in the jar, so it wasn't a total waste.
The verdict? Its just okay. Certainly not like peanut brittle - I don't know if its just this recipe or because of the seeds instead of the peanuts but the consistency wasn't the same at all. This was really sticky, and had a sort of funny sweet yet salty flavor. It was slightly addicting though, and the kids seemed to love it. Follow this link to the recipe if you want to try it at home...just watch those eyebrows!
This is the first candy recipe I have ever made - I even had to go buy a special candy thermometer for it. And after standing over the boiling mass of sugar, leaning close in to peer at the progress of the temperature, and nearly burning my eyebrows off in the process...I don't anticipate that I will become a professional candy maker anytime soon. Baking is much more my style...and a lot less intense. Here, my bubbling concoction is almost ready:
When the sugar mixture reached 285 degrees, we dumped in the pumpkin seeds, and when it reached 300 degrees I hurriedly dumped it all out on a baking sheet covered with parchment to dry. After about 20 minutes, we had a flexible sheet of pumpkin seed brittle!
The kids helped me break it up into chunks, and since the recipe said to store in an airtight container, we put what would fit into a mason jar. Doesn't it look pretty?
Don't be fooled by its good looks....this was a huge mistake! Within a few hours, the brittle was hopelessly stuck together in the jar, and there was no possibility of retrieving a piece to eat. In the end, I had to fill the jar up with soap and water, and wait for it to break down so that I could dump it all down the drain. Luckily we had a a bit left over that we hadn't been able to fit in the jar, so it wasn't a total waste.
The verdict? Its just okay. Certainly not like peanut brittle - I don't know if its just this recipe or because of the seeds instead of the peanuts but the consistency wasn't the same at all. This was really sticky, and had a sort of funny sweet yet salty flavor. It was slightly addicting though, and the kids seemed to love it. Follow this link to the recipe if you want to try it at home...just watch those eyebrows!