These soft, chewy and melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin date caramels are covered in decadent dark chocolate and sprinkled with flaked salt making a perfect candy treat for the holidays.
When I made these caramels earlier this week, I planned on bringing the batch to my theatre company meeting. Well, I have a confession to make. Not a single one made it to the theatre; I ate them all. ALL. OF. THEM. In like two days. It was worth it though and I don’t regret a thing.
These caramels can be a little tricky to work with so read the recipe completely through before starting. Once you remove them from the freezer, you have to work fast or they start to thaw again. I like to store them in the freezer because they never freeze completely or get solid but if you prefer a softer caramel, storing them in the fridge will also work.
In this recipe I used a pumpkin flavored peanut butter, however any natural peanut butter will work and if for paleo or allergy reasons, almond butter or cashew butter will also work.
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Healthy Chocolate Covered Salted Pumpkin Caramels
Ingredients
- 15 medjool dates, pitted
- 3 tbsp peanut butter, vegan if necessary Nuts 'N More
- 2 tbsp pumpkin puree
- 32g vanilla protein powder, vegan if necessary PEScience 30% off code PBCHOCO
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 c sugar-free chocolate chips, vegan if necessary
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- flaked sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Place the pitted dates, peanut butter, protein powder, pumpkin puree and spices into a food processor and blend until a sticky dough forms. You will need to stop and scrape the sides a few times. This entire processor takes a couple of minutes of blending and scraping.
- Place the caramel between two pieces of parchment paper and place in the freezer for 45 minutes. Remove and then use a rolling pin to flatten the caramel between the parchment paper. Use a knife to cut the caramel into squares. Repeat with scraps until you have used all the caramel.
- Return the caramels to the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Before removing caramels, prepare your chocolate by placing the chocolate chips and coconut oil into a microwave safe bowl and placing in the microwave for 10 second increments, stirring between each increment until chocolate is smooth.
- Remove caramels from the freezer and dip each one in the chocolate. I used a fork to dip each one and let the excess chocolate drip off then place on a piece of parchment paper. After all the caramels are covered, return to the freezer until chocolate is solid. Sprinkle with salt and serve.
- *Note: Store caramels in the fridge or freezer. They won't freezer completely so you can serve them directly from the freezer.
Hi there, Ciara.
I’m loving your blog and recipes.
These caramels look delicious and I am wondering if there is an alternative to the coconut oil used n the chocolate coating.
Thanks,
Kathy
Hi! You can actually eliminate it but just keep in mind that your chocolate will be thicker. 🙂