Flashback Friday - Pumpkin Seed Brittle

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on January 20, 2014.

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In 2012, I made caramels for the first time; they turned out so well, I promised myself I'd try other candies in 2013. I don't know why I drive myself so crazy with making holiday treats, but I do (especially considering how few gift recipients I have). I'm sure cookies and fruitcake would suffice, but even more sweet stuff is better, right? Fudge! Brown sugar caramels! Mini chocolate orange loaf cakes! Bacon jam! And pumpkin seed brittle!

Why pumpkin seeds? Because my dear brother has nut allergies, but can eat seeds. I searched the Interwebs for a fairly simple recipe and came up with this one at Food 52. I didn't have enough allspice on hand, so rewrote the recipe using the amount I used. I also added a bit of cayenne pepper, for a nice kick.

A few days after Christmas, my Dad called and said, "What is this stuff I am eating? It's crunchy and spicy and like heaven in my mouth!" So apparently my alterations were a hit with the parental unit. I thought it was pretty fabulous, myself.

If you try it, don't skimp on the salt.

Pumpkin Seed Brittle (adapted from Food 52)

1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Kosher or sea salt

Pour the pumpkin seeds into a dry skillet. Turn the heat on to medium-high and toast seeds, shaking pan frequently, until seeds have started to turn from greenish to brownish and are plump. Remove from heat and pour seeds on a plate to cool.

Measure out the spices and toss with cooled pumpkin seeds.

Combine butter, sugar, and maple syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, boil mixture until it reaches 280°F. Carefully pour in seeds and spices and stir. The mixture may clump up a bit but keep stirring until it smooths out. Continue cooking over medium heat until the thermometer reads 300°F. If the mixture smells like it's burning before it reaches 300°, remove from heat anyway.

Once the candy has reached 300° (or smells like its burning!), pour onto a Silpat-covered cookie sheet and spread out to a thickness of about 1/8" - 1/4". Sprinkle with sea salt while it's still warm.

When completely cook, break into pieces. Store at room temperature in tightly covered containers for a week or two.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Annie B's Caramels

Caramels are a homey sort of snack that makes one think of a simpler time. One that we never actually lived in but that we all like to romanticize about, like looking at a Currier & Ives painting. There's something about the rich, buttery texture and pure sweetness of a caramel that makes you pause to savor the moment. Every Christmas, I help the Minx make dozens of caramels of various flavors that we give away as gifts to our family and friends. They are always a big hit and makes all the trouble of boiling the caramel, cooling the trays, cutting up the sugary slabs into bite-sized morsels, and wrapping them in wax paper well worth it.

As for the rest of the year, going through all that difficulty doesn't seem quite as worthwhile. Thankfully, Annie B's sells a line of tasty caramels that can be had with just a few clicks of the keyboard. Annie B’s is a small family-owned caramel and popcorn company based in Kellogg, Minnesota. 

They take pride in using natural ingredients, free of gluten and high fructose corn syrup. Each individually wrapped caramel is made using local products including brown sugar, water, corn starch, butter, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and inverted sugar. Annie B’s caramel is slow cooked in copper pots using a small-batch method. Each piece is hand crafted with the exception of cutting and wrapping of the caramels.

There's over a dozen flavors from your traditional caramel to exotic concoctions like amaretto, huckleberry, black licorice, and coconut. The pieces are quite large, so one caramel can satisfy a quick sugar pang, and they are creamy and soft.

As I mentioned, Annie B's caramels can be purchased from their web site, but they are sold at hundreds of locations throughout the US. Take a gander at the retailer locator on their  web site to find a location near you.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Bourbon Salted Caramels

I started making caramels around the holidays a couple years back, just on a whim. It seemed easy, and the homemade caramel I'd eaten was delicious, so I knew the payoff would be worth the effort. And it is.

Patience isn't my strong suit, and it does take a little while for the caramel to reach the perfect temperature. Like 45 minutes. The sugar mixture hits 220°F pretty quickly, but it takes f  o  r  e  v  e  r for it to get another 20 degrees hotter. I usually try to find something else to do in the kitchen to pass the time, like work on dinner. It's not a good idea to leave the room while sugar is cooking, because sometimes it rises up while boiling, and hot sugar spilling all over the stove top would be bad news. I have found that caramels made with sweetened condensed milk, rather than heavy cream, are a bit less likely to boil over, but I still watch that pot like a hawk.

These caramels have a rich, dark, flavor, because of the brown sugar. You can use white sugar instead, if you want, for a lighter flavor. And I suppose, if you don't like bourbon, you can use another type of liquor. Rum might be nice, for example, or Kahlua.

Brown Sugar Bourbon Salted Caramels

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sea salt

Cut a length of parchment to fit the bottom of an 8" square metal baking pan, with about 6" overhang on each side. Set aside.

Put both sugars, corn syrup, and water in a 2 quart saucepan. Turn heat to medium and stir sugars to combine. Cook until bubbly, 3-4 minutes. Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and the butter, and stir until the butter is melted. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan. Make sure the tip of the thermometer is in the syrup, but not touching the bottom of the pan.

Close, but no cigar. 

Continue to cook syrup over medium heat until thermometer reaches 240°F. It's likely the temperature will jump to 220° pretty quickly, then take half an hour or so to get the rest of the way to 240°.

Once the syrup has reached temperature, remove from the heat, remove the thermometer, and quickly stir in the bourbon and salt.

After pouring into pan. The stuff sets up pretty quickly, but should be completely cool before cutting.

Pour into prepared pan, sprinkle with sea salt, and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Wrap each in waxed paper and store in a zip top bag in the fridge (they'll stay fresher that way). Allow to come to room temperature before eating.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

In 2012, I made caramels for the first time; they turned out so well, I promised myself I'd try other candies in 2013. I don't know why I drive myself so crazy with making holiday treats, but I do (especially considering how few gift recipients I have). I'm sure cookies and fruitcake would suffice, but even more sweet stuff is better, right? Fudge! Brown sugar caramels! Mini chocolate orange loaf cakes! Bacon jam! And pumpkin seed brittle!

Why pumpkin seeds? Because my dear brother has nut allergies, but can eat seeds. I searched the Interwebs for a fairly simple recipe and came up with this one at Food 52. I didn't have enough allspice on hand, so rewrote the recipe using the amount I used. I also added a bit of cayenne pepper, for a nice kick.

A few days after Christmas, my Dad called and said, "What is this stuff I am eating? It's crunchy and spicy and like heaven in my mouth!" So apparently my alterations were a hit with the parental unit. I thought it was pretty fabulous, myself.

If you try it, don't skimp on the salt.

Pumpkin Seed Brittle (adapted from Food 52)

1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Kosher or sea salt

Pour the pumpkin seeds into a dry skillet. Turn the heat on to medium-high and toast seeds, shaking pan frequently, until seeds have started to turn from greenish to brownish and are plump. Remove from heat and pour seeds on a plate to cool.

Measure out the spices and toss with cooled pumpkin seeds.

Combine butter, sugar, and maple syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, boil mixture until it reaches 280°F. Carefully pour in seeds and spices and stir. The mixture may clump up a bit but keep stirring until it smooths out. Continue cooking over medium heat until the thermometer reads 300°F. If the mixture smells like it's burning before it reaches 300°, remove from heat anyway.

Once the candy has reached 300° (or smells like its burning!), pour onto a Silpat-covered cookie sheet and spread out to a thickness of about 1/8" - 1/4". Sprinkle with sea salt while it's still warm.

When completely cook, break into pieces. Store at room temperature in tightly covered containers for a week or two.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Another Sweet Giveaway!

I don't know about you, but I'm not all that convinced that life is like a box of chocolates, if I may be allowed to quote fictional characters. But life *with* a box of chocolates at hand always seems at least a little bit sweeter to me.

If you remember, I gave away a box of Summer Collection Macarons from Sucré A Sweet Boutique back in June. That giveaway proved to be so popular, I can't resist another one.

So we already know that Sucré makes yummy macarons. They also make king cake, traditionally served between January 6 and Mardi Gras, lovely specialty cakes, and chocolates! If you'd like to sweeten up your life a bit, Sucré is giving me a fifteen-piece box of their yummy chocolates to give away to one lucky winner!

The Indulge Chocolate Collection contains three pieces each of five flavors. Wedding Cake is white chocolate and toasted almond. Rhum is a bittersweet ganache flavored with spiced rum. PB&J is pretty self-explanatory, as is Malted Milk, and finally there's the Hazelnut Cream with hazelnut-spiked semi-sweet ganache.

Drooling? I am. If you want these yummy chocolates, just leave a comment at the end of this post. Please make sure you use a valid e-mail address or leave some way for us to contact you electronically if you are the winner.

The Fine Print:

Winners must be 18 years of age or older and a resident of the 48 contiguous United States.
A valid e-mail address must be included.
Contest ends September 30, 2013.
Winner will be notified via e-mail.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

NY Eats

When I go to NY, I try to poke my head into as many food-related shops as possible. For educational purposes, of course. I have my favorites that I visit every time I'm in the city, but I'm always on the lookout for something new and exciting. Here are some places I visited on my most recent trip.

(Photo credit: Midtown Lunch)

Flex Donuts For the time being, this pop-up spin-off of Flex Mussels (by pastry chef and Top Chef Just Desserts season 1 cheftestant Zac Young) is sharing space with Zócalo in Grand Central Station. Stop by and snag a couple three salted caramel donuts and maybe some of the maple bourbon bacon as well. Pure, delicious, evil.

Dylan's Candy Bar Dylan's is primarily a shop for the kiddies, as it's chock full of gummy this and sour that, but there's also a nice collection of nostalgic regional candies like the Big Hunk, Valomilk, and Idaho Spud bars. It's the perfect destination for those, who, like me, have read Steve Almond's Candy Freak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America and want to know exactly what he's going on about.

David's Teas Canadian tea company, David's, has two shops in the US so far, both in New York: at 275 Bleecker Street and at 1124 3rd Avenue. Their selection of black, green, rooibos, herbal, pu'erh, etc., is comprehensive and includes both familiar and exotic flavors, from an organic English breakfast to Coffee Pu'erh (both of which I purchased).

Rocco's Pasticceria A trip to Rocco's on Bleecker has long been a Minx Family tradition. While I'm a big fan of their nutty biscotti (which are chewy when fresh), Mr Minx prefers anything chocolate, including the chocolate shortbreads. I'm also partial to their baba rum. They have gelato, too.

While you're on Bleecker, you should also check out Amy's Bread at Leroy St. and Murray's Cheese, right next door. Delicious sandwiches may ensue.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Candy Corn

I gotta know - does anyone like the stuff? Personally, I've always hated it.

poll by twiigs.com

Caramels

I love buttery, sweet, chewy caramel candy. But no Kraft or Goetz Caramel Creames for me (yuck and double yuck) - I like better quality goods, thankyouverymuch. California chocolatier See's does a pretty good job with their caramels, and I always stop short of ordering a custom mix box of milk and dark butter chews for myself (as I did for Mom).

I was perusing Etsy the other day, contemplating it as a venue for my jewelry, when I stumbled upon La Bella Caramella, purveyors of fine homemade salted caramels in such intriguing flavors as lavender, jasmine, violet, pumpkin pie, and double bergamot Earl Grey, along with the more familiarly flavored crushed vanilla bean. I couldn't resist, and ordered a fall sampler of pumpkin pie, chai, and spiced apple flavored caramels, along with a batch of vanilla. All are fantastic. The flavored caramels are pretty intensely spiced, but the sweet richness of the candy can certainly support the big dose of yum.

She added a sampler of the lavender flavor, and those are pretty delectable too.

What are you waiting for? Go buy some caramel!