Sunflower Sesame Seed Brittle Chew and a Food Truck

My sister came to visit and on the last day we drove her to the airport in Eugene Oregon. On our way we stopped by Tam’s Place; a Vietnamese food truck. The food is locally sourced and Tam (the owner) makes everything from scratch. She is at the same place every day except Sunday. The tables are decorated with fresh flowers and condiments. My sister and I split the tofu broken noodle plate and it was the best tofu that we ever had. I think the tofu was grilled and served with some kind of Bonita flakes, fried vegetable rolls, shrimp, noodles and a magical secret sauce that we poured over everything. My husband had the banh mi and he felt the same way, so delicious.

Also, while my sister was here we prepared this sunflower sesame brittle chew. While this was completely different from what we had grown up on as kids we both loved the flavor. I substituted honey for the brown rice syrup and our batch turned out more chewy than crunchy. Not sure if I used too much honey, or if I should have baked for a longer period of time. But I did end up baking them 10 minutes longer anyway. The brittle is salty and sweet and reminded me a little bit of a Larabar but way better.

Recipe has been slightly adapted from “My New Roots”, by Sarah Britton.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups sunflower seeds
½ cup unsweetened coconut
¼ cup sesame seeds
½ cup dried cranberries (can substitute raisins, apricots, dates, blueberries)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons coconut oil
½ cup honey or brown rice syrup

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine all the ingredients except the coconut oil and honey in a medium sized glass bowl, mix well.

Melt coconut oil and add honey, whisk until completely mixed. Pour wet liquid over dry and combine. Mixture will be very sticky. Spoon onto the prepared baking sheet. Smooth out and even edges. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. (I baked 10 minutes longer and my brittle was still very chewy).

Store in a sealed container 10 to 14 days.