This recipe is my take on the traditional recipe for Dulce de Calabaza. The traditional recipe takes up to 2 days to make and is often a little too sweet for my taste. I do not have the patience or all the traditional ingredients, such as “cal”, lime powder.
This recipe makes a much lighter candied fruit. It gives you the freedom to choose the level of sweetness you prefer, and you can enjoy a perfectly sweetened piece of fruit 2 hours from the time you get that craving.
You can also substitute the pumpkin with other types of squash or use sweet potatoes, yams, or coconut chunks, instead. I used acorn squash for this recipe.
Remember that the syrup has Brandy/Cognac, do not serve it to your kids.
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Ingredients
2 Acorn squash
2 C table sugar
1 C brown sugar
16 oz piloncillo
2 cinnamon sticks
Juice of one lemon
1 Tbsp cognac
Water
Instructions
Peel and clean acorn squash (save the seeds to make pepitas).
Cut acorn squash into two halves and slice into 1” segments.
Place squash in a pot and cover with cold water.
Bring squash to a hard boil and remove from heat.
Rinse squash with cold water to stop cooking process and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400F.
In a wide stainless pot, place 4 C of water and piloncillo to boil.
Lower heat to simmer and let piloncillo dissolve.
Add cinnamon sticks to piloncillo and water when the piloncillo has dissolved to about half its size.
Remove cinnamon sticks when piloncillo is fully dissolved.
Add juice of one lemon to piloncillo water.
Add table sugar and brown sugar to piloncillo water.
Stir and mix well to remove any lumps.
Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer.
Reduce to about half of the volume, about 35 minutes.
Make sure syrup coats back of spoon before you remove from heat. If you want very sweet fruit, let it cook longer to make it thicker and coat the fruit with a thicker layer.
Remove from heat and add cognac if you want a little more depth of flavor.
Transfer syrup to a smaller deeper pot so you can fully dip the pieces of fruit in the syrup.
Dip each piece of fruit in the syrup and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Add additional syrup to fruit, to taste.
Place in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until syrup has crystalized.
Remove from oven, let it cool and enjoy!
Bottle the leftover syrup to use in your kitchen.