pumpkin seed brittle

there's something that i love quite a bit (all right, a lot) but is just possibly the worst thing for my already cavity prone teeth. that's brittle. when i was making up some pumpkin cupcakes (which i failed to photograph) i found this recipe for pumpkin seed brittle. since i had a container full of the raw little seeds lying in the pantry, i figured it was a great way to use some of it up. first time around i followed the directions as is - and rolled out caramel mixture as thin as possible. delicate and melt-in-your-mouth this went well as a decorative addition to the pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting i made. the taste was reminiscent of the hard candy made entirely of sesame seeds that my mom used to buy. 

the second time around, i wanted to serve this brittle up with some vanilla ice cream. since i did not want a really thin brittle, i went with a thicker version by patting out the mixture between parchment paper with an oven mitt (cus that mixture was effin' hot!). the slightly thicker brittle lent itself as a nice "spoon" to the ice cream so that the actual spoon was pretty much an obsolete item in this whole scenario. 

although it does take a little while to get this brittle going in terms of its temperature and the right color before it's ready, it's more than worth it! the result is just a great nutty sweet snack that is hard to resist from eating up - i just have to remind myself i don't want another 16 cavities and more visits to the dentist to keep myself from eating up the suckers...