Caramelized Sunflower Seeds

       Sunflower seeds are one of my favorite toppings on salads. So a couple weeks ago I bought a huge bag of kernels just to have on hand. Although I've been sprinkling them over my lettuce, the bag doesn't seem to be emptying. I don't want them to go stale before I finish the bag, so I decided to look up a couple of recipes. I chose to experiment with these caramelized seeds because they are super simple--2 ingredients, 10 minutes. They're not amazing but they do bring variety to bored pallets. They're sweet and crunchy with a delayed flavor of being toasted seeds. Very interesting and unique. If I want I can still put them on salads, but their caramelization will add a sweetness I usually don't have. Really, how you use them is limitless. You could eat them as a plain ol' snack, sprinkle them over Greek yogurt, or even mix them in with pasta.




Caramelized Sunflower Seeds
Recipe from National Sunflower Association

Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds (just the kernels, not the shells, silly)
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar

*Can easily be increased or decreased proportionally.



Directions
--Cover a small cookie sheet with wax paper and set it aside for later.

--In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm up the sunflower seeds for about three minutes. Stir frequently.

--Add the brown sugar to the saucepan and stir constantly until the sugar is melted. About another 3 minutes.

--Once the sugar is melted and the sunflower seeds are completely coated, spread the seeds evenly on the prepared cookie sheet.

--Let cool and enjoy.




Happy Baking!
--H