With Halloween coming soon, I’ve got to start making candy! Let’s start easy with a candy that only takes two ingredients, honey and pepitas (or pumpkin seeds). You will need a candy thermometer, but it’s really pretty fast and easy. It’s rather healthy in the realm of candy too!
How good the result is relies on using fresh pepitas (be careful of rancid stuff!) and good honey. Honey is so fascinating, varying so much by where and what the bees are pollinating on. If you haven’t already, go to a honey stand at the farmer’s market and they will let you sample the different types, from light to dark. Linden, raspberry, bamboo, buckwheat, and many more, all taste so different, some fruity, some floral, some light, some deep. I use different ones for different purposes so we often have two or three in the cupboard. So how do you select one? Just put a dab of honey on some pepitas and try it together. See which one you like best.
Pepitas Candy
- 3/4 cup honey
- 7 oz (about 1 3/4 cup) roasted salted pepitas
Instructions –
1. Coat a 9″ springform pan with vegetable oil, bottom and sides. Set aside.
2. Put honey in a heavy bottom sauce pot and bring to a boil on medium heat, while stirring. Once it boils, leave it alone (with the candy thermometer in it) and just wait till it gets to 290 degrees F (for sticky candy) or 300 degrees F (for hard crack candy).
3. Dump pepitas in and stir quickly to coat and spread into prepared springform pan. Pat it down to an even layer, working quickly.
4. Set aside to cool and harden for about 40 minutes. Remove the ring of the springform. Then slowly pull the pepitas candy from the bottom. (Be careful. It was hard to pull apart at first but then it suddenly swung loose and I almost knocked everything off my counter.)
5. Set on a cutting board and cut into any size and shape you like. Store in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.
I love pumpkin seeds and will definitely be making this scrumptious candy for Halloween; my daughter will be sure to love it too!
How simplistic but perfect for Halloween! I’m sure the kids would love some of these when they come knocking. I remember one year Baz gave them a tin of tomatoes, (he looked in the wrong cupboard for sweets)I couldn’t stop laughing!!
This reminds me of a childhood treat that my mom used to make! I remember that I could never get enough of this candy. I would be in so much trouble if I made this for myself! What sweet memories this post has inspired!
Nastasha, your daughter has mature taste buds. =)
Lesley, HA! I can imagine the look on the kids faces, but hey, I’d take the tomatoes.
Fresh Local and Best, you can treat yourself for Halloween, and these are healthier than the other possibilities.
Beautiful pics, Jess.
it would be great for friends, but probably not ‘safe’ to distribute to the neighborhood kids. Their parents probably won’t trust a stranger’s homemade snack. Yep. Welcome to the 21st century. But definitely great as gifts, especially around the holidays.
Oh this looks so wickedly good. Love the photos.
Kim, I wasn’t suggesting giving it to strangers. It’s too expensive for mass distribution too. Since, I’m in that married but not kids bracket and living in Manhattan, I don’t even really see trick or treaters. Roughly 3 come to my door each year.
i don’t get many trick-or-treaters either. i often make a lot of candy under the guise of preparing it for the kids, only to eat it all myself when no one comes. 🙂
great straightforward recipe!
this is great even though we wouldn’t give it to trick or treaters. i imagine a few pieces with some prosciutto, cheeses and wine for a quite evening outdoors.
thanxs for sharing! greetings from Mexico!
wow. That looks so good.
This is so pretty! I used to eat candy like this every summer my family spent in Mexico!
De Harina and Erika, funny, I forgot to mention that this was sparked by something I had in Mexico. I can’t remember it exactly but I do remember really liking some sort of pepitas candy.
I’ve eaten Mexican candy similar to this (I think it was a mix of pepitas and peanuts) but love that this is honey and pepitas! Yum! Totally going to make this.
Oh my goooooodness! So making this. Incredible, incredible! That’s really all I can think to say, love pepitas + love honey!
Alta and Cinnamonquill, don’t forget to send pictures!
Great idea, this sounds amazing!!!
I wouldn’t mind having these leftovers after trick or treating ends!
This reminds me of the sweet rock candy at the yearly local Festas in Malta. I finally found an excuse to buy a candy thermometer. I will try it. Diabetes, here I come ha ha.
I bought some wild honey the other week, and I wasn’t really happy with it’s overpowering flavor. Then I saw your recipe and decided to give it a try with these yummy pepitas from Trader Joe’s. Sadly I don’t have a thermometer so the candy came out stickier than I wanted….BUT…the flavor is amazing! Could you give me a tip on what the consistency should be like for next time I make it? Thanks lots. 🙂
Lexy, it’s harder to get it more exact without a thermometer but you can use a cold water test, described here. You want to get it to the hard crack stage.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I thought I’d never have a candy treat ever again since becoming gluten/wheat/soy/refined sugar free.
I just posted the recipe, and gave credit where it was due. 🙂
http://mealswithmorri.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-treats-without-tricks-gooey.html
Best,
Morri
Thanks Morri! Great looking site.
How many calories does this have per piece/serving?
Rebecca, I did a quick calculation and if you cut the whole thing into 20 pieces, then each piece will be roughly 100 calories.