It is hard to ignore that halloween is round the corner. All the stores are stocking up on pumpkins of various sizes and colour and not to mention the hideous costumes being sold. I tried to find something cute for my toddler to wear but I just couldn’t bring myself to spend money on something I would probably bin after the event. If I had the energy, I would have made an outfit for her. I settled on creating a recipe instead to mark the day.

As I walked round the store to pick my fruits and vegetables, I came across already quartered pumpkin with the seeds intact. I never buy a whole pumpkin because I just end up wasting it. As I added the pumpkin to my shopping basket which contain fresh coconut, a thought of combining the two to make some sort of sweets crept into my head.  This would do perfectly for my treats when the kids come round. I just need to make sure that no one is allergic to nuts!

Coconut-Pumpkin Candy

Ingredients:

2/4 cup raw brown sugar

1 tbs golden or maple syrup

a chunk of fresh ginger, just for flavour

½ tsp cinnamon powder

½ cup chopped fresh pumpkin flesh

1/4 cup fresh pumpkin seeds (I scooped the seeds out of the pumpkin) or  store bought roasted pumpkin seeds

1 1/4 cup grated fresh coconut

500ml of water

Directions:

In a sauce pan, bring to boil the water. Add the sugar and syrup plus the cinnamon powder, chopped pumpkin and  ginger. Simmer until the liquid is thick and all the pumpkin flesh has dissolved. Test if the syrup holds on the stirring spoon. Remove the ginger and discard. Add 1 cup of the grated coconut and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime, toast the remaining coconut and pumpkin seeds (if you have the fresh ones) for a minute or so. Be careful not to burn it.

Pour the coconut syrup in a flat baking tray, sprinkle the toasted coconut and pumpkin seeds on top and let it cool.

When the candy is warm to touch at this point you can either divide them into squares or roll it into balls like I did. Leave in the fridge to cool and harden. Enjoy.