Pumpkin Seed Brittle · GF (enough to fill a large zippy bag)Tweet

This brittle works well with many kinds of toasted squash seeds, not just pumpkin. I’ve found butternut and acorn squash seeds work really well, and spaghetti squash not so much. But your mileage may vary; experiment and find which seeds you like the best.

During the fall months, I save scooped out squash seeds in a half pint jar in my refrigerator. When the jar fills up, I wash and toast the seeds, then turn them into brittle. Rosco took some amazing photos of the brittle, which I’ve posted here.

6 ounces toasted squash seeds (a heaping cup)
7 ounces sugar
4 ½ ounces honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup
3 ounces water
⅛ tsp kosher salt

Lightly grease a sheet pan with butter and set aside.

Combine the sugar, honey, water, and salt in a medium pot. Turn the heat to medium and stir gently while heating to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture starts to boil, stop stirring and let it carry on, undisturbed.

Cook until the mixture is a nice foxy brown color. If you use maple syrup it makes it hard to tell, so aim for between 365°-375° degrees. How dark you cook it really depends on how “deep” you like your caramel flavor. Around 365° you’ll have a mild, sweet caramel, and farther along, the flavors will grow deeper and a little more bitter.

When the caramel has cooked to your satisfaction, shut off the heat, add in the toasted seeds and stir thoroughly. Pour the mixture onto the sheet pan and spread it out with your spatula. As it cools, you can use your hands to pull the pieces thin, just take care because it’s burn your fingers hot at first.

This brittle jazzes up ice cream better than almost anything. Serve with pumpkin pie or just eat it out of hand!

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Any questions?