Pumpkin Pecan Pie Candy
It’s the third day of A Week of Pumpkin. And today we’re going to mix it up a bit. I don’t make candy. It’s just not my thing. I like to make things that go into the oven. But I wanted to step out of my comfort zone for a minute to try these candies.
My friend KT really liked these candies. I thought they were a bit too sweet. I know I used sweetened coconut instead of unsweetened, but I reduced the sugar by 1/2 cup. If I made these again, I might reduce the sugar by another 1/4 cup or so. These candies taste like a pumpkin flavored pecan pie and were really fun and messy to make. These would go great on a holiday treats tray for sure.
Pumpkin Pecan Pie Candy
Yield: 30 pieces
Ingredients:
1 (15oz) can pure pumpkin
2 cups white sugar - since my coconut was sweetened, I cut the sugar down to 1 1/2 cups
2 cups unsweetened coconut - I couldn't find unsweetened, so I used sweetened coconut
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine the pumpkin, sugar, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. On medium heat, cook and mix together and allow sugar to dissolve. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture forms into a ball, about 15-20 minutes. Have patience, it will eventually turn into a ball once the liquid evaporates.
Remove mixture from heat and add in vanilla. Transfer to a heat safe bowl and cover mixture with plastic wrap so a skin does not form. Chill in refrigerator until cool.
Using a cookie scoop that is about a TBSP size, scoop up balls and roll in the palm of your hands. Roll balls in the chopped pecan, coating all sides. Put back in fridge to let set.
Store in airtight container up to a week.
Recipe from Cathy's Kitchen Journey
And don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge going on all month.
Check out my week of pumpkin here.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy these. It had all my favourite flavours, so I thought they would be delicious but I had a feeling whilst making they were going to be too sweet, and they were.
Also the base definitely needs increasing as half the mix barely covers the bottom of the tin and with two wet elements it needs to be sturdier. Whilst the side pieces all stayed together the middle ones were just a gooey mess.
But still didn’t detract from the biggest issue – far too sweet. (And I have plenty a sweet tooth!)
Lovely blog though! (Sorry, hate leaving negative feedback! I just wouldn’t want someone else to have the same issues. Also, tinned pumpkin is quite pricey in the UK so wouldn’t want others to waste money on a recipe that doesn’t work)
beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 11:02 am
Sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you… Thanks for the feedback.
I’m going to try these. I think Brits don’t generally eat things as sweet as we do and I read the recipe and it doesn’t seem as if it has too much sugar, but I am going to double the crust recipe because it does seem as if it is a bit scant, plus I’m going to make a double batch. Tell me, do these have to be stored in the fridge? I see the note to put in fridge to set. Are they too soft at room temp? If so, do you think not adding the milk to the dulce de leche would take care of that? I’m bringing them to an event and there will be no refrigeration available.