Sesame Brittle

When I was a kid my mother told us often about the sweets in her childhood. On rare visits, her aunt would give her a coin that she would use to buy a single candy (she loved these). Back then in the '50s, kids didn't have any of the sweets we are bombed with nowadays. And most certainly didn't eat nearly as much as we do today. Not even I did when I was a child.
But one thing I remember with joy was making a walnut brittle with my aunts and uncles (my mother was the second of nine children, so my youngest uncles were closer to my age than to my mother's). It was fun not only for the joy of making and eating it, but because everything was made while my grandma was visiting a neighbour, and eaten and cleaned up before she came back. The reason everything was made in secret was that my grandmother would have considered it a waste of sugar and walnuts. All things that were expensive and that she kept for making cookies or other baked goods, on special occasions.  But to us, it was the best tasting sweet ever. Hard, crunchy, sweet, delicious.
Even now, when visiting a local fair or something, I cannot but stop at those candy stands and grab one. However, ove time, I have switched from walnut to sesame brittle. I just go nuts about it. Literally.
Since I came over this recipe (I only omitted the nutmeg), I actually got addicted to it. Therefore, I'm warning you, unless you really NEED this addiction in your life, skip this post and run, run, run somewhere else ^_^
But if you are looking for an excuse to make these, do like I do: sesame seeds are rich in calcium (foget about these bars being loaded with sugar, oh, well, once in a while). Arm yourself with self-discipline: hide them somewhere and give yourself a rule - one a day or something like that.

Sesame Brittle
(from Simply Recipes)

* 150 g (3/4 C) sugar
* 80 g (1/4 C) honey
* 1 TBspoon water
* a pinch of salt
* 15 g (2 teaspoons) butter
* 140 g (1 C) sesame seeds
*  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Combine the sugar, the honey, the salt and the water in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Cook the mixture on medium heat until smooth.
Add the sesame seeds and let cook for 5 to 10 minutes stirring often until the mixtures becomes amber caramel colour (if you have a candy thermometer it should reach 150°C/300 F).
Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the butter and the vanilla extract.
Once the butter's melted and it's been incorporated, add the baking soda. At this point the mixture will foam a little because of the reaction of the baking soda with the acid of sugar caramelization.
Pour the mixture onto a silpat or a piece of parchment paper and spread with a spatula. In alternative cover the mixture with another piece of parchment paper and roll out thin with a rolling pin.
You can cut the rolled out mixture with a pizza cutter while still soft if you want to have even and regular bars. Or you can leave it to cool down completely and harden, and then simply break into uneven pieces with your hands.
The best way to store them is to wrap each piece into cellophane or parchment paper and store in a cool and dry place.

Croccante al sesamo
(ricetta presa dal Simply Recipes)

* 150 g di zucchero
* 80 g di miele d'acacia
* 1 cucchiaio di acqua
* un pizzico di sale
* 15 g di burro
* 140 g di semi di sesamo
*  1 cucchiaino di puro estratto di vaniglia
* 1/4 di cucchiaino di bicarbonato di sodio

Mettete lo zucchero, il miele, il sale e l'acqua in una casseruola. Scaldate sul fuoco medio fino a quando il composto risulta liscio.
Unite i semi di sesamo e lasciate cuocere per circa 5-10 minuti mescolando spesso, finché la massa assume il colore ambrato del caramello (se avete un termometro, la temperatura dovrebbe raggiungere 150°C).
Togliete la casseruola dal fuoco, aggiungete il burro e l'estratto di vaniglia e mescolate bene.
Una volta che il burro sia assorbito aggiungete il bicarbonato. La massa si gonfierà subito diventando spumosa per via della reazione del bicarbonato con l'acido del caramello.
Mescolate bene e versate subito la massa su un tappetino di silicone o un foglio di carta da forno.
Assottigliate la massa usando una spatola oppure coprendola con un altro foglio di carta da forno e stendendola con un mattarello allo spessore che preferite (io le preferisco molto sottili, 2-3 mm,  perché più croccanti).
Potete tagliare le barrette subito usando una rotella per la pizza unta leggermente se volete delle barrette uniformi e regolari. Altrimenti potete lasciar raffreddare completamente, e una volta che si sarà indurito, spezzare con le mani.

Jednostavne za pripremiti, a zarazno dobre.

Pločice od sezama
(recept s bloga Simply recipes)

* 150 g šećera
* 80 g meda
* 1 žlica vode
* prstohvat soli
* 15 g maslaca
* 140 g sjemenki sezama
*  1 žličica čistog ekstrakta vanilije
* 1/4 žličice sode bikarbone

Stavite šećer, med, vodu i sol u posudu i zagrijavajte na srednje jakoj vatri dok smjesa ne postane glatka i ujednačena.
Dodajte sjemenke sezama i kuhajte oko 5 do 10 minuta miješajući često, dok smjesa ne dobije zlatnu boju karamela (ako imate termometar za hranu onda biste trebali kuhati smjesu dok ne dostigne 150°C).
Maknite posudu s vatre i dodajte maslac i ekstract vanilije. Miješajte dok se maslac ne sjedini a zatim dodajte sodu bikarbonu. Smjesa će se naglo zapjeniti zbog reakcije sode bikarbone s kiselinom u karamelu.
Istresite smjesu na silikonsku podlugu ili na komad masnog papira za pečenje i rastanjite je na željenu debljinu. Ja volim da su pločice jako tanke, pa sam smjesu pokrila drugim komadom papira i rastanjila valjkom za tijesto. Radite sve brzo prije nego smjesa očvrsne.
Dok je smjesa još topla izrežite je kotačićem za pizzu na pločice (ako želite pločice istih dimenzija i pravilnog oblika) ili ostavite da se potpuno ohladi pa samo iskidajte rukama na komadiće kasnije.
Da se ne bi zalijepile jedna za drugu, pločice svaku posebno omotajte u celofan ili komad papira za pečenje. Čuvajte ih na suhom i hladnom mjestu.