Who but the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (EatWisconsinCheese.com) would come up with this innovative pairing: Gouda cheese with pumpkin seed brittle! Serve it as dessert during “pumpkin season.”

The result, while seemingly simple, is a complex dessert that is creamy, crunchy, spicy, and sweet. (If you don’t like spicy foods, leave out the pepper.)
 
 
RECIPE: SPICY PUMPKIN SEED BRITTLE

Ingredients

A seasonal “cheese course” (photo © Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board).

1. STIR together the baking soda and melted butter; set aside. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside a second sheet the same size. Butter the parchment on one side.

2. COMBINE the sugar, water, and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan; bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; wash down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Simmer the syrup for 10 to 12 minutes until it reaches 240°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat. With a wooden spoon, add the pumpkin seeds and pepper.

3. RETURN the pan to medium-low heat while stirring; melt again until the mixture turns amber brown and reaches 290°F (if the syrup becomes granular during cooking, continue to cook until it remelts). Remove from heat; stir in butter-baking soda mixture with a wooden spoon.

4. POUR the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet; cover with the second parchment sheet. Press the mixture with a rolling pin to 1/4-inch thick. Remove the top layer of parchment; cool completely; crack brittle.

5. STORE the brittle between layers of parchment in a sealed container for up to two weeks. Plate with a wedge of Gouda cheese, or serve alongside a platter of assorted cheeses.
 
 
> GOUDA, HOLLAND’S MOST FAMOUS CHEESE
 
 
> HOW GOUDA IS MADE
 
 
> GOUDA FOOD & BEVERAGE PAIRINGS
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CHEESE
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHEESE
 
 

It becomes a Bubba Gump menu of pumpkin: pumpkin bagels and cream cheese, pumpkin pancake mix and coffee creamer for breakfast; pumpkin spice yogurt or soup for lunch, pumpkin pasta or risotto for dinner; pumpkin spice cookies and loaf cakes for snacking; and of course, for dessert, pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream.

And that’s just what you can pick up in the store! We got a mailer from Trader Joe’s that was all pumpkin, all the time; so we headed over to load up on pumpkin products.

All of the following are available at Trader Joe’s (except asterisked items), and many are available at other retailers nationwide.

Breakfast

 
Snacks

 
Dessert

Plus…

 
Head for the store!

There are several reasons to love barkTHINS:

 
October is National Fair Trade Month, the perfect time to feature barkTHINS as a Top Pick Of The Week (here’s more about Fair Trade certification).

The line debuted in 2012. Unlike traditional chocolate bark that is thick and hard to break, barkTHINS are thin slivers of chocolate that are easily snap-able—easier to eat, fewer calories in your chocolate fix, more flexibility as a dessert garnish (well, that probably wasn’t their intent but it’s a use we employ regularly, by crowning a scoop of ice cream or breaking into pieces for mix-ins).

*The industry term for what many people call “mix-ins.”

Each variety is as delicious as the next, depending on your flavor preferences. We were personally thrilled with Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel, a limited edition for holiday season. The packages have a shelf life of 12 months, so if you can’t live without it, you can stock up until the new batches arrive for the next holiday season).

Feast upon:

• Dark Chocolate Almond With Sea Salt
• Dark Chocolate Blueberry & Quinoa (sweetened with agave)
• Dark Chocolate Mint
• Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel (Limited Edition)
• Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed
• Dark Chocolate Toasted Coconut With Almonds
• Milk Chocolate Peanut

A great party favor, stocking stuffer, teacher gift, etc. Photo courtesy Ripple Foods.

A Fair Trade certification guarantees consumers that the farmers who grow the product are getting paid a fair price. In many areas of the world, middlemen buy up crops at a price that often is the same or less than what it cost the farmer to grow it, resulting in a cycle of poverty. Under Fair trade, farmers can increase their incomes and gain afford education and healthcare for their families.

When you make a conscious decision to seek out Fair Trade products, you are helping hard-working people raise their standard of living. You can feel good about every bite and every sip (look for Fair Trade coffee, tea and hot chocolate, too).

Fair Trade certification also means that the farmers are following good agricultural practices and are investing in their farms and communities. To learn more, visit FairTradeUSA.org.

Here’s aother delicious recipe from our friends at Zulka sugar: pumpkin brittle. Enjoy it by itself, with a cup of tea or a pumpkin spice latte. Make a batch to celebrate Halloween, or to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.

You can customize the recipe by adding other seeds—nutritious chia, flax, hemp, nigella or sesame, for example. We actually prefer the deeper flavor complexity of a pumpkin-sesame seed mix. Just keep the total of all seeds to two cups.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN SEED BRITTLE WITH
CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. SET out a cookie sheet and top with a silicon baking mat or wax paper. Lightly oil the mat or wax paper.

2. COMBINE the sugars, butter, salt and water in a sauce pan over medium-high heat; stir. Once the butter is completely melted, stir again and clip on a candy thermometer and heat to 300°F.

3. REMOVE from the heat and immediately stir in the baking soda. Add the pumpkin seeds and stir well. Quickly spread over the mat or wax paper and spread to the edges with a lightly oiled silicon spatula. Let cool 30 minutes. Gently break into pieces.

4. POUR the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals until the chocolate chips are fully melted, stirring as they get more melted until smooth. Spoon the melted chocolate into a baggie or disposable pastry bag and snip a very small piece off one corner. Drizzle over the brittle pieces. Chill the brittle to set the chocolate. Store in an airtight container.
 
Find more delicious recipes at Zulka.com.

 
  

What’s Halloween like for people who can’t have sugar?

While there’s no sugar-free candy corn (because candy corn is essentially sugar, corn syrup, color and flavoring), there are other sugar-free treats, from Gummies, hard candies including Cinnamon Buttons, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Jolly Ranchers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and much more (for a great selection head to BlairCandy.com).

Or, you could go gourmet at Marich.

Marich Confectionery makes a lot of the all-American candies sold in bulk in better candy stories: bridge mix; caramels and toffees; chocolate-covered coffee beans, fruits and nuts; Holland mints, licorice; and our favorite malted milk balls.

Some of the most popular items are available in sugar-free versions: Sugar Free Chocolate Bridge Mix, Sugar Free Chocolate Espresso Beans, Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Almonds and No Sugar Added Chocolate Cherries (the cherries themselves have natural sugar).

Whether for Halloween gifts or for the holidays, in eight-ounce, ribbon-tied bags ($10.50, $11 for the cherries), we love these for gifting.

Sugar-free treats Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

LOOKING FOR SOME SUGAR?

From the regular line, two items great for stocking stuffers or party favors are two-ounce boxes of:

• Christmas Holland Mints (red, white and green, $2.50)
• Cinnamon Spice Apple Caramels ($3.00)
• Pumpkin Spice Caramels ($3.00)

The line is certified kosher by by KOF-K.

Dig in at Marich.com.