While I’m all about a well-crafted Halloween costume, I could do without the jack-o-lanterns. The distinctive feel of sticking your bare hand into the slippery, hollowed-out core of a pumpkin makes me squirmish. But the tasty treat that rests inside is well worth its tricky retrieval.
Pumpkin seeds go from savory to sweet when toasted and caramelized into crunchy brittle. Cut the homemade Halloween candy into thin sticks or go the more rustic route by breaking it into pieces. Either way, a creamy chocolate coating sprinkled with more pumpkin seeds and a pinch of sea salt will kick those store-bought sweets to the curb.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup raw green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (not toasted)
- 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 Tablespoon large-flake sea salt
Equipment:
- candy thermometer
Instructions
- Tape a 24- by 12-inch sheet of parchment paper on your work surface.
- In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, water and fine sea salt to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook the mixture, without stirring, washing down any sugar crystals from the side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water, until the syrup registers 238ºF (soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, 10 to 12 minutes (sugar syrup will be colorless).
- Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in ¾ cup of the seeds with a wooden spoon, then continue stirring until syrup crystallizes, 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture will become dry and crumbly.
- Return the pan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts completely and turns a deep caramel color, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Pour hot mixture onto parchment and cover with a second sheet of parchment paper. Immediately roll out the mixture between the two sheets as thin as possible with a rolling pin (pressing firmly).
- Peel back the top layer of parchment and immediately cut the brittle into pieces with a sharp knife (or allow it to cool until firm and then break it into pieces). Cool brittle completely.
- Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler or the microwave. Chop the remaining ¼ cup pumpkin seeds. Dip the cooled brittle in the chocolate then immediately sprinkle the chocolate-covered area with the chopped pumpkin seeds and large-flake sea salt. Let cool until chocolate is firm then serve.
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Recipe inspired by Gourmet.
Great recipe, Kelly. Thank you so much for sharing it.
You are so welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
My first message came out wrong there must’ve been an error…what I was trying to say is I made the brittle and I followed the instructions rolled it between the parchment paper and It got stuck to the paper and I couldn’t salvage any of it I had to throw it on the garbage any suggestion.
Hi Darlene – Was the brittle fully cooled before you tried removing it?
My brittle went dull looking. Any idea as to why that might happen and how I could possibly get it back shiny again?
Thanks
YUM! Made this up but did it in the microwave instead of on the stovetop. Turned out great!
Hi
This recipe looks amazing. I want to make this for a party I’m having next weekend. Do you think I can make this brittle a week ahead of time, package it up in cute paper and give to my party guest next week? Or is it necessary to serve this recipe the day its made?
Great idea, Tracy! The brittle will keep up to two weeks (but I’d make it max one week ahead). Just make sure you store the pieces in between wax paper and in an air-tight container. Enjoy!
Where have you been all my life? These look absolutely amazing!
How pretty is this?? Totally pinned it & now I’d like a taste!
Delicious Kelly! Would love to make these with Pisatchios – I’m obsessed with them & think they could work perfectly with this recipe :)
omg great looking Kelly!
These are gorgeous! I’ve been looking for a brittle recipe to top a cake, and those look like the perfect topper to a fall cake! Yummy, and stunning.
These are almost too pretty to eat! Nah I would totally devour one of these very quickly.
Perfect way to use pumpkin seeds! I agree, the slimy inside of a pumpkin is NOT my favorite part either!
This sounds awesome!
These are absolutely lovely – gotta love that 2nd to last photo. It almost looks like a pattern someone might use for wallpaper! ;) I love peanut brittle, but I’ve never made pepitas brittle. Time to change that, it seems!