Creepy Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Creepy Pumpkin Seed Brittle is a great seasonal party sweet and perfect for wrapping up to give as gifts for teachers, friends and coworkers. The crunchy pumpkin seeds toast and pop in the syrup as it cooks and caramelizes, flavoring the buttery brittle.

When my girls were quite young, we lived in a small oilfield town in Brazil where we were one of very few American families. Our neighborhood was just four or five blocks square, with the tiny little international school within its perimeter.

Halloween was not celebrated in Brazil, at least when we lived there, so if I wanted my daughters to experience that great American tradition as I had when I was little, it was up to me to organize it myself.

I started in early October by asking neighbors I knew to give out candy then I’d make a map of all the participating houses and pass them out at the beginning of the evening. 

Some participating houses had children so one parent would join the groups going from house to house, leaving someone at home to hand out candy. Others didn’t have kids but they got into the spirit with enthusiasm, decorating their front doors and more, to welcome the trick or treaters.

After trick or treating, everyone would come back to our house where we had decorated the backyard for a spooky Halloween party and set up a table with cupcakes, sandwiches, chips and punch. We’d bob for apples the old-fashioned way in a big basin of water, pass oranges or small balloons under chins and play other fun games. 

And, of course, the kids would sort out their candy, trading for their favorites and eating much of it in the process. It was a festival of sweetness and fun! Such a sugar rush! 

One of my favorite candies to make for a Halloween party was, and still is, peanut brittle. This week I made it seasonal, using pumpkin seeds to celebrate Halloween.

Your Halloween party guests will love it! Or make some as a gift for your favorite teacher or neighbor. Add a creepy chocolate spiderweb for decoration!

Creepy Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Like peanut brittle, pumpkin seeds brittle is simple to make but take the time ahead to butter your foil and put it in a heatproof pan before you start boiling the concoction, as per the instructions. I don't have photos of the in-between steps because there wasn't any time to stop to take a picture!

Ingredients

1 cup or 200g sugar 

1⁄2 cup or 120ml light corn syrup 

1⁄4 cup or 60ml water

1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1⁄4 cups or 180g raw green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (not toasted) 

2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus more for greasing the foil lined pan

1 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄3 cup or 66g semi­sweet chocolate chips for spider web ­- optional

Method

To make the pumpkin seed brittle, first line a large pan with foil and grease the foil liberally with butter. Set aside.

In a heavy pot, heat the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Separate out a tablespoon of the pumpkin seeds and set them aside.

Stir in the remaining pumpkin seeds.

Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the pumpkin seeds start popping and the liquid turns caramel colored.

If you use a candy thermometer, you are looking for a temperature of 300°F or 149°C. Alternatively, you can drop a small amount into very cold water. It’s ready when it separates out into hard and brittle threads.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the butter and soda. The syrup will froth up but just keep stirring till the butter is melted.

Pour the bubbling pumpkin syrup into your prepared pan.

Holding the pan securely, shake it from side to side and front to back, tipping it carefully this way and that so the pumpkin seed brittle spreads out. Quickly sprinkle on the reserved pumpkin seeds and leave it to cool.

To make the creepy chocolate spider web, melt the chocolate chips with a few quick zaps in a microwave or in a double boiler.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a number 3 tip with the melted chocolate. Pipe on a spider web following these instructions here.

Set the Creepy Pumpkin Seed Brittle out on your party table whole, then break it into pieces with a little hammer to serve.

Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay and since Halloween is nigh, we are sharing Halloween party treat recipes. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime and her able helper, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out all the links below!

• Creepy Pumpkin Seed Brittle from Food Lust People Love
• Ghostly Candy Apple Concoction Bark by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Jack O’Lantern Cheese Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs by Sneha's Recipes
• Spider Web Pretzels by Amy’s Cooking Adventures

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

 

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Crispy Green Herb Patties

From a reportedly Viking recipe, these crispy green herb patties are full of flavor from all the herbs and, of course, from being browned in butter. They make a great vegetarian main or appetizer. 

Today we are “cooking like Vikings,” at the behest of our Sunday FunDay host, Amy of Amy’s Cooking Adventures for Leif Erikson Day, which just happens to be today. 

I’ll be honest, aside from the fact that Leif Erikson was a Viking explorer, I didn’t know much else about him. And I had no idea that there was even a Leif Erikson Day! Turns out that it’s been on the official US calendar since 1964. You can read more about it here: https://www.wincalendar.com/Leif-Erikson-Day And even more about Explorer Erikson on History.com. Thanks to Amy, I am now much better informed!

I found this Viking recipe on a website from the Ribe Viking Center in Ribe, Denmark where archeological excavations have confirmed the presence of Vikings in the past. The original recipe title would translate to green meatballs but the description said that, of course, they were vegetarian so I changed the English name. Calling them green meatballs would just have confused people! And I hope you would agree that plain old “green balls” would have been weird. 

Crispy Green Herb Patties

I’m leaving the ingredients list intact, in case you do indeed have access to nettles, dandelion leaves, bird’s-eye grass, birch leaves and chervil. I don’t but I did find cress, chives and scallions to which I added some parsley and cilantro because they are green herbs and I already had them on hand. How much is a basketful? I have no idea but I leave you this photo of what I used. It’s a bunch of green stuff! 

The original recipe advises: If you do not make the herb patties early in the spring, you should remember to ONLY use the newest, tender shoots.

Ingredients

1 basketful of different, fresh herbs such as nettles, cress, chives, scallions, dandelion leaves, bird's-eye grass, birch leaves and chervil.

1 medium onion (mine weighed 120g)

1 large clove garlic

1 large egg

3/4 cup or 100g coarse wheat flour – I used stoneground wheat 

1/4 cup or 22g oatmeal

1-2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Butter for frying

Optional for garnish: chopped chives

Method

Thoroughly wash the green herbs and discard any tough stems. Spin them in a salad spinner to dry them. If you don’t have a salad spinner, put the herbs in the middle of a towel and bring the sides together securely. Go outside and swing the towel around quickly. Works like a charm. 

Peel and roughly chop your onion and garlic. Put them in a food processor and chop finely. 

Add in the herbs, in two or three groups depending on the size of your processor.

 

Chop finely, occasionally scraping down the sides of the processor with a spatula. 

Measure the flour and oatmeal into a large mixing bowl. Add in the herb mixture and the egg. 

Stir until well combined. 

Add the milk one tablespoon at a time – you might not need it all – mixing well. 

You don’t want it to be too wet or too dry. A spoonful should hold together when you press it into a ball with your clean hands. 

Add the salt and mix well. 

Use a spoon or scoop to divide the mixture into 12-13 portions. Shape them into patties. 

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add the patties, being careful not to crowd the pan. Remember, you will need space to turn the patties over with a spatula. 

You may need to cook them in two batches, adding more butter to the pan for the second batch. 

Cook the patties over a medium heat until they are crispy and golden on both sides. 

Serve warm. Enjoy! 

As mentioned above, it’s Sunday FunDay and also Leif Erikson Day. Check out the Viking recipes we are sharing below. 

• Meatball Lefse Wraps from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Crispy Green Herb Patties from Food Lust People Love
• Kjøttkaker med brunsaus (Norwegian Meatballs) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Norwegian Havre Kjeks (Sweet and Salty Oatmeal Rounds) from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pannekaken - Norwegian Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe
• Suaasat, a Greenlandic Christmas Stew from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Swedish Pickled Herring Appetizer from Palatable Pastime

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Clementine Pistachio Upside Down Cake

Take your dessert to a beautiful new level with this clementine pistachio upside down cake, baked with pomegranate arils. Easy to make but pretty enough for company. Lots of color and flavor, like a party on a plate. 

I am a huge fan of upside down cakes. First of all, they are super easy to make. The cake batter itself is a quick one bowl recipe – no creaming butter and sugar first – just pile all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and beat. 

The fruit or nuts at the bottom (and then, of course, the top when it’s flipped) can be varied by what you have on hand and the season. I’ve even used canned fruit too, with great success. Drained canned apricots are particularly pretty if you take the care to place them all rounded side down.

Clementine Pistachio Upside Down Cake

This upside down cake features beautiful orange clementines. Mine were quite large, but if all you can find are smaller ones, that works too. Just use a few more to make sure the bottom of your pan is covered in slices before spooning in the batter.

Ingredients

For the upside down part:

2 large clementines (zest one for the batter!)

1⁄8 cup or 20g pomegranate arils, some reserved for garnish 

1⁄4 cup or 30g slivered pistachios, some reserved for garnish 

1⁄3 cup or 75g butter, plus extra for buttering the pan

1⁄2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar

For the cake batter:

1 1⁄2 cups or 190g flour

1 cup or 200g sugar

1⁄2 cup or 113g butter, at room temperature 

1⁄2 cup or 120ml milk

2 eggs

3⁄4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Zest 1 large clementine

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare a springform baking pan (about 10in or 25cm diameter) by buttering it liberally and then lining it with parchment paper cut to the exact size of the bottom. You can take your chances and not line it if you have a non­stick pan but sometimes caramelizing sugar will stick. And that is one of the risks of upside down cakes. 

Melt your butter and allow it to cool slightly. Add in the brown sugar and stir well. Pour this mixture into the baking pan. It should spread right out and cover the bottom.

Peel your clementines and cut them into about four or five slices each. Remove any seeds.

Arrange them side by side over the sugar/butter mixture, making sure to put all the cut sides down, because those will be up when we turn the cake over. Sprinkle the pomegranate arils and pistachios all in and around the clementines, saving some for garnish.

In a large mixing bowl, beat all of the cake batter ingredients at low speed until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula.

Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for five minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Slowly spoon the batter over the clementine slices in your baking pan. Smooth out the top with your rubber spatula.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. The cake should begin pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Remove the sides of the springform pan. 

Invert your serving plate on the top of your wire rack and turn both over quickly and decisively. Lift the bottom of the springform cake pan off. 

Gently peel the parchment paper off of the cake. If any bits have stuck to the parchment, ease them carefully off with the tip of a knife as you peel back the parchment. Use a spatula to scrape up any syrup left in the pan and drizzle it over the cake.

Leave to cool completely then sprinkle on the reserved pistachios and pomegranate arils.

Cut in 8-10 slices to serve.

Enjoy!

It’s the first Wednesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Foodie Extravaganza friends to share recipes in celebration of October being National Dessert Month.  Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Radha of Magical Ingredients.

• Food Lust People Love: Clementine Pistachio Upside Down Cake 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories : Butterscotch Pots de Creme 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Rose Cham Cham 
• Magical Ingredients: Dried Fruits and Nuts Roll 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pumpkin Parfaits

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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