Pepita Brittle Food

PEPITA BRITTLE

Steps:

• Line a 12×16x1/2-inch sheet baking pan with parchment paper and lightly coat it with vegetable spray or butter.
• Put the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water to a large saucepan, and stir together until all the sugar is wet. Cook over high medium-high, but watch it carefully as it will foam up quite a bit and you might need to dial back the heat to medium until it begins to thicken.
• Once the mixture turns a medium golden (takes at least 10 minutes) immediately remove from the heat, and carefully whisk in the baking soda followed by the salt (taking care, as the caramel will rise in the pan and bubble some more). Switch to a wooden or metal spoon, and fold in the pepitas or nuts.
• Quickly pour the mixture onto the sheet pan, and spread it out over the pan using the back of the spoon before it starts to harden. Alternately, you can slide the parchment paper out of the baking pan and onto a counter, cover it with another sheet, and use a rolling pin, pressing down hard, to roll it out as flat and thin as you would like.
• At this point you can either let it cool completely (pulling off the top sheet of parchment, if you use the rolling pin technique) and break it into bite-size pieces with the back of a knife or other blunt object or, while it is still fairly hot and pliable, cut it into a shape of your choice (I went for long, thinnish strips) and let the pieces cool, separated on parchment paper.

PEPITA AND LAVENDER BRITTLE

Steps:

• Coat a 12-by-17-inchrimmed baking sheet withcooking spray. Bring sugarand corn syrup to a boil in amedium saucepan, stirringand brushing down sides witha wet pastry brush to preventsugar crystals from forming,until sugar dissolves. Cook,swirling occasionally, untilmixture just starts to turn goldenaround edge.
• Stir in mix-ins. Cook, stirringoccasionally, until mixtureis pale amber, about8 minutes. Pour onto bakingsheet without spreading.Let cool. Break into pieces.

PEPITA BRITTLE (RAW)

Steps:

• Soak the pumpkin and sunflowers seeds for 4 hours in enough purified water to cover by about 1 inch. Drain seeds into a colander and allow to drip-dry for about 30 minutes.
• Using a food processor, pulse-chop seeds for only a few seconds, until the seeds are cracked and broken but not ground into a meal. A blender is the second-best appliance recommended for this task.
• Transfer seeds to large bowl and stir in the honey. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the mixture and stir to blend thoroughly. The mixture will appear moist and granular and will not form a cohesive dough.
• Using a spatula, gently spread half of the mixture on a mesh dehydrator screen, forming a square about ¼-inch thick. Repeat this step with the remaining mixture onto another screen. Dehydrate at 105°F (41°C) for 22 to 26 hours or until the consistency is similar to thick, slightly flexible leather.
• Peel the brittle off the mesh screen and allow to cool in waxed paper or a cake rack for about 30 minutes. It will harden as it cools and will be even firmer and quite crunchy within a few hours of storage. Break into pieces of varying sizes.
• Store in a ziplock freezer bag either in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or at room temperature for 1 week. Pepita Brittle packs well and makes a great travel or hiking snack.