Chocolate Covered Roasted Pumpkin Seed Turtle Clusters.
So I have one of those quick and easy recipes for you today!!
I mean, I didn’t test it on my brothers, so I can’t officially call it idiot proof.
But I’m not 100% positive they can even roast pumpkin seeds…yes, I’m talking about you, Creighton, Trevor, Kai and most definitely Red. Wait, I know for sure Red can’t roast pumpkin seeds. Honestly, I don’t know if Red knows how to turn the oven on….pampered.
SIDE NOTE: Red is off in Austria snowboarding at the moment just livin up the European lifestyle. I don’t know about you guys, but when I was 15 I was sitting in a classroom praying for the bell to ring at 3:05 pm, only to then walk home, do homework, eat dinner and veg out on the latest episode of Gilmore Girls…OH BUT! Speaking of Gilmore Girls, did you guys hear that they might be bringing NEW episodes to Netflix?!?!? I mean, I mean…my excitement is through the roof!! I watch almost zero TV, but I would watch this the second it came out!
Random side note OVER.
Point is, I have an easy recipe for you that highlights the season’s best little, itty bitty ingredients – pumpkin seeds! YES, roasted in their shell with lots and lots of salt. It’s the only way to roast pumpkin seeds…salt + olive oil = amazingness! This simple method will never fail you.
So here’s my thinking behind these cute little clusters. We are literally only days away from Halloween, so my guess is that now is the time we are all starting to think about carving up those pumpkins. Am I right??
I hope so, because you really need those seeds, you just HAVE to make these! They are so simple, but still seriously delish. Basically, just combine the seeds with loads of chocolate (use your favorite, milk or dark – either will be awesome), caramel, toasted pecans and salt…ok, I used kind of a lot of salt, but again, you can’t make them without salt. You just can’t.
Also, salt + chocolate = YES. Whoever came up with this combo is a genius and I applaud you.
And truly, that’s all there is to these. They have all the flavors of classic turtle cookies, but with the awesome addition of roasted pumpkin seeds. Seams so simple, but I promise, the roasted pumpkin seeds make all the difference.
OK, and I maybe added a lot of chocolate too, but come on, there can never be too much chocolate!
In an effort to keep this recipe as easy as possible I just used store-bought caramels, but please feel free to use homemade caramel if you are feeling it. I have to admit that sometimes the thought of making caramel really just sounds, well… not so fun. Yeah, there I said it. Caramel is not the most fun thing to make. Caramel sauce is easy, but like hard caramels or caramels that hold their shape but are chewy? They are a little tricky and I’ll be the first to admit it.
No shame in taking just a little help from the store every now and then, right?!? RIGHT.
OR if you wanted to make a healthy version of these you could make this EASY date caramel and replace the milk chocolate with dark chocolate. Then look out, completely healthy and guilt free recipe… and in NO time. Then you can say, TAKE THAT Halloween candy. <–Totally trying this out this week!
Either way, these little clusters are good and quickly becoming my new favorite fall snack. OH and how cute would these be to have floating around the house during the holidays for people to nibble on?!?!?
Yup, doing that too.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Chocolate Covered Roasted Pumpkin Seed Turtle Clusters.
By halfbakedharvest
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate, clusters, pumpkin
So I have one of those quick and easy recipes for you today
Ingredients
- 2 cups pumpkin seeds rinsed and patted dry
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- sea salt for sprinkling
- 20 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate chopped (may also use dark)
- 24 caramels unwrapped I used Werther's Original
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream or canned coconut milk
- 40 whole pecans toasted
- flaked sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
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Spread the raw pumpkin seeds on a greased baking sheet. Roast the pumpkin seeds for 10 minutes to dry them out. Remove from the oven.
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Toss the pumpkin seeds with olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Return the pumpkin seeds to the oven and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkins seeds are golden and toasted. Remove and allow to cool.
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Meanwhile, line 2 baking sheets with wax paper.
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In a microwave safe bowl add 12 ounces of the chopped chocolate. Melt the chocolate on 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. It took me about one minute and 30 seconds. Dollop about 1 tablespoon of melted chocolate in a small circle (about the size of an Oreo) onto the prepared wax paper lined baking sheet. Repeat until you have made 20-30 dollops of chocolate.
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Next, take the roasted pumpkin seeds and sprinkle on top of the chocolate, covering almost all of the the chocolate. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
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While the chocolate hardens add the unwrapped caramels and the heavy cream or coconut milk to a microwave safe bowl. Melt the caramels the same way you melted the chocolate, on 30 seconds intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. It took me about one minute and 30 seconds. Remove the chocolate covered pumpkin seeds from the freezer and spoon a little of the caramel over top of each cluster, be careful not to add too much caramel, you are aiming for 1-2 teaspoons per cluster. Now press two toasted pecans into the caramel.
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Melt the remaining 8 ounces of chocolate in the microwave and drizzle over each cluster. Sprinkle each cluster with the flaked sea salt and place the pan back in the freezer for 10 minutes (or in the fridge for 20 minutes). Serve cold or at room temperature. If your house is warm I recommend storing these in the fridge so the chocolate does not melt.
Recipe Notes
*Adapted from my [Salted Chocolate Covered Pretzel + Nutella Turtle Cookies | https://dev.halfbakedharvest.com/idiot-proof-salted-chocolate-covered-pretzel-nutella-turtle-cookies/]
I’d make a lot of these Chocolate Covered Roasted Pumpkin Seed Turtle Clusters though, they seemed to disappear incredibly FAST!
i’ve always felt kind of bad about tossing out pumpkin seeds, but they’ve also never been my favorite. i have a feeling the chocolate and caramel might help that out (:
This is brilliant !!! This could very easily be my all day nibble…like everyday 🙂
You kinda had me at salt and chocolate, ya know??? I could gobble these in five minutes and come out for more!!
http://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/
You can never go wrong with tons of salt with chocolate and I love your idea of having these for the holidays! Love these Tieghan!
p.s. I’m SO excited about the new Gilmore Girls episodes too! My sisters told me about a few days ago and I was like “No way, WHAT!” I hope they do a good job picking it back up.
Oh my goodness to read this post, how easily you represented this tiff dish to make in a such a easy way.
Yay for idiot proof recipes that look messy but taste amazing! Pinning!
These look soo good! I love anything that has to do with turtle cookies.
Damn! THAT LOOKS REALLY DEliscous!!
Unfortunately the commercial banner on the left side is extremely irritating….
This is the perfect dessert to serve on halloween to balance out all the unhealthy candy bars.
Turtles are my favorite candy, so these are right up my alley! (And I, too, am excited about new Gilmore Girls episodes!)
The perfect fall candy! Yum!
idiot proof + chocolate + salt + caramel + pumpkin seeds = my kinda recipe
Chocolate, salt and caramel are pretty much the blood that runs in my veins! They look gorgeous and gooey and oh so delicious. PS I hear ya about sitting in class waiting for the bell to ring. My teenage life would never have involved Europe or anything that exotic. Homework and maybe a phone chat. As good as it got! Gorgeous post, though!
Those look awesome! What a delicious recipe 🙂
What a brilliant way to use pumpkin seeds… I never like throwing them away but I can only have so many salted ones as a snack before I get a little tired of them. A wonderful Halloween treat!
Brilliant recipe! I have been trying to figure out what to do with the pumpkin seeds after I attempt to carve my Halloween pumpkins, and this is perfect! Thanks for sharing!
WOW!! This speaks to the part of me that is very obsessed with pumpkin seeds at the moment. Such a clever and cute idea! Gosh and I love store bought caramels!! It’s so nostalgic this time of year isn’t it? And salt makes EVERYTHING taste better, hehe.
Yay for carmel-y halloween treats! Love these Tieghan! Happy (almost) halloween to you <3
Thanks Jessie!! 🙂 Totally just realized we both talk about caramel today! 🙂 Wishing I would have use the maple, coconut caramel for these. YUM!
These clusters are beyond, I so want to make these for Halloween! 🙂
Never mind halloween! These are the best kind of anywhere, anytime chocolatey treat. Complete deliciousness all over the place.
I thought of you. We need to make this. Love u
Dora
So I made these and have a bit of an ~experience~ to share for others who, like me, might skip the first step of roasting seeds because you roasted up a bunch awhile ago and have all the ingredients ready to go (spoiler: 110% MY OWN FAULT):
Don’t forget to *grease the pan* prior to dumping all of the seeds and spices and syrup on it, lest you find yourself with (by some miracle) about half a pan of clusters, and half a pan of…. well, loose seeds, really, because they stuck to the pan and getting them up resulted in lots of breakage.
However, I did find a fix: melted chocolate makes a fantastic glue. Puddles of that with seeds sprinkled on top (or seeds, chocolate, and more seeds) result in a slightly more dessert-y outcome, but it does save the day and you can totally pretend that was your intended outcome – after all, who doesn’t want more chocolate?
Delicious, and I’m looking forward to not messing up the next batch!
That is so great! Thank you so much Emjay! More chocolate is never a problem haha!