Roasted Pumpkin Seeds and Roasted Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Four days to Halloween! I know because my youngest daughter Hanna is quite literally counting down. The girls really wanted to throw a Halloween party this year, so to get ready we’ve been doing some serious decorating which included taking a trip to the pumpkin farm to hunt out the best candidates for our Jack-O-Lanterns. I have to admit it was just as much fun for me as it was for them, and as an added bonus I also ended up with a ton of pumpkin seeds. We always roast some seeds with a little olive oil and sea salt, but this year as we had so many I decided to try making some brittle for the party too. It turned out wonderfully! The combination of sweet and salty is something I always really enjoy, I hope you’ll like it too – Melani

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Fresh pumpkin seeds, picked clean and washed in cold water, then dried throughly on paper towel
Olive oil
Sea salt

Okay so you’ve carved your pumpkin, try and separate the seeds out from the goo (and yes, that is the technical term for it) dump them into a bowl of water and then rinse them off in a colander. Lay them out on paper towel and pat them really dry (I’ve heard that it’s better if you air dry them over night but I’m way too impatient for that). Heat the oven to 350F/180C, toss the seeds with just enough oil to coat them, spread them on a tray and sprinkle liberally with the sea salt. Roast them for 30-40 minutes giving them a shake every now and again until they turn a gentle brown all over, oh and be warned don’t leave them too long as they will start to explode – it scared me half to death last year when we forgot to take then out of the oven in time!

Roasted Pumpkin Seed Brittle
1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds (see above)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey

Line a sheet tray with a silicone mat. In a small saucepan melt the butter, stir in the honey and the brown sugar. Over a medium-hight heat bring this to a rolling boil and then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for a further  4 to 5 minutes without stirring until the mixture changes color to a mid-amber and a candy thermometer registers 280F/140C. Stir in the pumpkin seeds, cook for a further 2 minutes or till 300 F/150C. You can always skip the thermometer and take your chances, which is how I do it, but watch it carefully as there is a fine line between taking it out too early and having it not set hard (you end up with more of a fudge), and leaving it too long and having it burn. Pour the mixture on to the silicone mat, sprinkle with a touch more sea salt let it cool completely and then break it into pieces.