Pine Nut Brittle with Pumpkin Seeds and Rosemary (recipe)

Broken up pieces of pine nut and pumpkin seed brittle with rosemary, with text overlay.

5 from 5 votes

Pine Nut Brittle with Pumpkin Seeds and Rosemary (recipe)

This pine nut brittle is a perfect holiday gift, and made with only 5 ingredients plus salt. And you may already have them on hand. Sugar, pine nuts, unsalted butter, fresh rosemary and sea salt. And it's ready in about 30 minutes.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

cooling time1

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: holiday gift from the kitchen, pine nut brittle

Servings:

Calories: 280.3kcal

Author: Susan Pridmore

Equipment

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar
1 ¾ cups pine nuts
¾ cups pumpkin seeds
8 tablespoons unsalted butter sliced into pats
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely ground sea salt I used a mix of black and white sea salts

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place it next to the stove.
Pour the sugar into a large, heavy bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven. Begin to melt the sugar over medium-high heat. When it begins to melt, use a wooden spoon to nudge unmelted sugar into the pool of liquid sugar developing.
Lower the heat to medium, and continue nudging the sugar into the melted part until all the sugar is liquified. Continue to heat until the sugar turns a caramel color. This entire step will take about 10 minutes.
Stir in the pine nuts and the pumpkin seeds. Add the butter, and stir constantly with the wooden spoon until the melted butter is completely absorbed into the caramel and seeds.
It will take a few minutes to get the melted butter absorbed. Just keep flipping the caramel around with the wooden spoon. The caramel will be stiff from all the seeds, so just be patient. The butter will be absorbed.
Stir in half of the finely chopped rosemary and half of the sea salt.
Immediately dump the gooey caramel mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, and immediately start to flatten and spread it using the bottom of the spoon.
Spread it as evenly as possible to the thickness you want. I spread mine as thin as possible.
If the brittle hardens up too fast, slide the baking sheet into a 300˚F oven to rewarm the caramel.
While the brittle is still warm, sprinkle the remaining rosemary and sea salt over the top and gently press in.
Completely cool on the counter - this could take as long as an hour. Break into pieces and store on the counter in an air-tight container.
If it doesn't firm up enough to break easily into pieces, it could be because you're in a humid climate. Just slide the baking sheet into the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes, and try again.

Nutrition