is October! Not only is it my favorite time of year, but it is the best time to be in New York City. I can leave my windows wide open and feel the strong breeze swept my apartment (which makes lighting the oven bearable!) I also just love the energy in the air among my fellow New Yorkers. It seems that the new season everyone feels hopeful, excited, and fresh. (At least, I do.)
anyway on these delicious candies- after seeing the popular combination of pumpkin and caramel everywhere these days I told myself a pumpkin flavored caramel was something that had to happen in my life. I'm not sure if the process of making candy would work with the addition of real pumpkin, but I'm so glad he did. These caramels are soft, full of spice and they melt in your mouth. Plus- they have a toasted pumpkin seeds bonuses that add nutty crisis. I plan to do as part of my holiday candy-making this year.
Although the manufacturing process of these was easy, it was a bit long. It requires some monitoring and hands-off patients (who happens to be ideal when you have to wash dishes, prepare dinner, etc.) Do not worry-if you're waiting for your cooking caramels kitchen smell absolutely divine ...
PS- I used these caramels as cupcake toppers for some small very festive cakes. Stay tuned for the recipe tomorrow!
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Salted Pumpkin Caramels
Ingredients
⅔ cup pepitas unsalted
1 ½ cup heavy cream
⅔ pumpkin puree cup
1 tablespoon of pie coffee pumpkin spice
white sugar
2 cups
½ cup light corn syrup
good ⅓ cup maple syrup
¼ cup water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¾ teaspoon sea salt coffee
Instructions
dry toast the Pepitos in a pan until they begin to pop.
Line the bottom of a square glass baking dish with parchment 8. Butter the parchment and sides of the pan. Pepitos evenly grilled on the bottom of the tank, above the parchment. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt.
In a saucepan, combine cream, pumpkin and spices. Heat the mixture, but not at the boiling point.
In a second heavy medium sized saucepan (with sides at least 4 inches high) combine sugar, syrups and two water. Stir until the sugar is melted, then boil until it reaches 244 degrees (soft ball point on a candy thermometer). Then add very carefully the mixture of cream and pumpkin, and slowly bring the mixture to 240 degrees as recorded on a candy thermometer
This will take some time -. As 30-60 minutes - but do not leave the kitchen, keep an eye on it, and stir occasionally. When it hits 230 degrees begin stirring frequently to prevent burning.
Once it reaches 240, remove from heat and stir in butter and lemon juice. Shake vigorously for butter is well incorporated.
Pour mixture into prepared pan. Let cool 10-15 minutes and sprinkle salt on top. Caramels entirely fixed (at least 2 hours) before using a hot knife to cut them into 1-inch squares and wrap individually in wax paper.
