Black-Sunflower-Brittle (fructosefree, vegan, gluten free)

Happiness is when you receive “2 star”-ratings on Amazon, but still have every reason to smile. Who cares about critics, when there are care-bears like you?! Okay, give the critics some credit. It’s true, I didn’t include any tables or hard nutritional facts in my cookbook, but why should I have done so in the first place? I never pretended to be anything I am not. I am not a professional dietician or physician, but simply someone confronted by the daily difficulties of handling fructose malabsorption and trying to do my best to turn the negatives into positives and live a healthy life. 

That being said, I prefer not to waste my energy mulling over negative comments, but rather to focus my gratitude on all the love you guys have been sending my way. For the past couple of weeks, your kind words and support have made me one proud sugarfree cookie as I’ve been busy sharing your posts, one new Fructopia cookbook at a time, happy to have found a new home. I am stunned and touched and just want to say thank you! Thank you for your overflowing enthusiasm, your eagerness to discover and your trust. And thank you internet for letting me soak it all in over and over again. One thing is for sure, your positive energy has been working wonders! Lately I’ve happily been creating and testing more new recipes than ever. And obviously, once I saw this, I couldn’t stop thinking of new brittle variations to try out myself. Plus, it’s one of the easiest and most satisfying desserts ever! You probably already have all the ingredients on hand, so dive right in!

Black Sesame Sunflower Seed Brittle (fructosefree, vegan, gluten free)

Prep Time: 5 min, Baking Time: 15 min, Serves 6

Most recently I’ve been baking and experimenting a lot with fructose free corn sugar (see here and here). As much as I like it, it is not yet available to most of you living abroad. That’s why, for this recipe, I’ve returned to my favorite sweetener, namely brown rice syrup with its addictive caramel note. I also added some of my favourite seeds: Black sesame! If you are wondering, why I included salt, there is a rather groundbreaking explanation to that: First of all, salt reduces bitterness in baked goods. But hold your breath, salt even triggers your tastebuds to register sweetness! By combining sweet and salty ingredients we perceive desserts sweeter than they actually are. I think this is a genius trick for anyone who wants to reduce their sugar intake, but still loves a sweet snack. If you are interested in the actual scientific process, continue reading here and here.

Ingredients

100 g sunflower seeds
30 g black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground vanilla

60 g rice malt syrup
1 tsp coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.

In a bowl combine all dry ingredients and stir well.

In a small saucepan, melt the rice malt syrup and coconut oil over low heat and whisk until blended. Pour the warm liquid over the dry ingredients and mix quickly.

Add the brittle mixture onto the prepared baking tray and smooth out the top with the back of a spatula. I usually don’t bother smoothing it out perfectly , as it kind of flattens on its own as soon as it meets the heat.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Rotate the tray after 10 minutes to make sure your brittle bakes nice and evenly. Let cool completely.

Crack the brittle into pieces and store them in a sealed container at room temperature.

Note: As it is very hot here in Istanbul, I stored mine in the fridge.