Pumpkin Seed Toffee

The perfect fall candy to munch on. Careful, it's addictive to snack on!
I included just the regular toffee and one coated in orange spiced sugar. Just depends on your preference.

Toffee

1 Pound of Butter (Room Temp)

2 Cups of Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Salt

2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 Cups of Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)

Sugar Coating

1 Cup of Granulated Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon

4 Teaspoons of Corriander

1 Cup of Dried Orange Zest / Granulated Orange Peel

You will also need a good thermometer! Temperature is important for this recipe.

In a sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar, and salt.

Measure out your pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice in a separate bowl and keep nearby. You don't add this until the very end when the sugar reaches it's temperature.

Place your pan on medium high heat and cook the sugar mixture. Use a whisk to stir this - you want a happy medium mixing speed. If you whisk it too slowly, the butter and sugar won't combine properly. If you whisk it too quickly you will put too much air into the mixture and it will break.

A nice steady stir (with a whisk) will help to add nice tiny air bubbles into the toffee making it delicate and not so rock hard once finished.

Once your mixture is combined and starting to bubble like molten lava, you can start checking the temperature, though you might want to want until you are starting to see it caramelize in color a tad. I included some picture of various temps so you can see what it looks like for reference.

Note: At that final 296 Degrees F. temperature it is still super light in color. Just a hint of browning. Pull it off immediately. You can pull it off anywhere from 292-296 as it will continue to cook after you remove it.

Once you pull it off the stove switch from a whisk to a spatula, add in the spices and pumpkin seeds. Quickly, but safely please.

The reason you want to be quick is that the more time you are mixing it, the oils in the seeds will release oil and you mixing that in too much will make it too oily.

Some oil is to be expected. It helps the coating to stick too.

Once you have quickly mixed in the pumpkin seeds and spices, pour the toffee mixture onto a lightly sprayed pan or if you have silicone pads, they work fantastic too.

Let the toffee set and cool.

Once the toffee has cooled and hardened, break it apart into small one to two bit sized pieces.

At this point if you don't want to coat them you can be done and store as is in an air tight container or baggie.

In a small container, combine all the topping ingredients and stir until well incorporated.

After your sugar coating is prepped, toss your toffee pieces into it, shake of access and then done!

There you have it! Regular and Orange-Spiced Pumpkin Seed Toffee.

I highly recommend the coated toffee. The orange and Coriander pair really well and make for a yummy mix of flavors with the toffee.

Thanks for checking out this Instructable, hope you enjoyed it!