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Candied Pumpkin Dessert with Walnuts, Turkish Style; Kabak Tatlisi

Turkish candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; so easy and scrumptious

Turkish candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; so easy and scrumptious

We all have pumpkins in our minds at this time of the year; I love its natural sweetness and comforting, luscious flavor. This scrumptious candied pumpkin dessert is popular in Turkey and it is so very easy to make. Pumpkin is baked here in its very own juice with sugar and the result is an exquisite dessert with the full flavor of pumpkin, also fancy enough to share with family and friends.

This lovely light dessert, Kabak Tatlisi, is wonderful served with crushed walnuts. In Turkey, it is also served with our thick clotted cream, kaymak. If you can’t get kaymak, clotted cream also complements this dessert well. You can also add a few cloves or cinnamon sticks to its juice before baking, if you’d like to spice up this dessert. Butternut squash also works well in this recipe.

Luscious candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; great for entertaining

Luscious candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; great for entertaining

I hope you can give this delicious, glistening pumpkin dessert a try; it may also be a lovely addition for your holiday entertaining and a pleasant surprise for Halloween, if you are celebrating. For a delicious variation, drizzle a little tahini over the baked pumpkin when serving.

I love our fruity desserts in Turkish cuisine; this delicious Pumpkin dessert and over 90 authentic recipes are included at my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland. Signed hardback copies are now 20 % Off via GBPublishing at this link and delivered worldwide. For lower rates of delivery to the USA, Canada and Mexico, please order Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book here,  if you like to have a copy or gift to a foodie.

Serves 6 – 8

1kg/2 ¼ lb. pumpkin flesh, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunky cubes or rectangular blocks (about 3” long)

250gr/9 oz. / 1 ½ cup sugar

225gr/1 cup crushed walnuts to serve

Turkish clotted cream, Kaymak or clotted cream to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F

Sprinkle sugar over the pumpkin pieces evenly.

Sprinkle sugar over the pumpkin pieces evenly.

Line the bottom of a large baking dish with the prepared pumpkin pieces and sprinkle sugar over them evenly. Then layer the rest of the pumpkin chunks and pour the remaining sugar evenly over them. Cover the dish and let it rest overnight.

Let the sugar coated pupmkin pieces rest overnight; even after 30 minutes, you notice the juices coming up.

Let the sugar coated pumpkin pieces rest overnight; even after 30 minutes, you notice the juices coming up.

The next day, you will notice that the pumpkin has released all its juices and that the pieces are nearly covered with all that wonderful juice. This liquid is all you need to bake the pumpkin, no need to add any extra water.

Baked, candied pumpkin, utterly delicious.

Baked, candied pumpkin, utterly delicious.

Bake the pumpkin in the preheated oven, uncovered. Every 20 minutes, spoon the syrup in the baking dish over the pumpkin pieces so that they all absorb the syrup and start glistening. After 45 minutes of baking, check the sweetness of the pumpkin; if you like it sweeter, you can sprinkle a few more tablespoonful of sugar. Also, after 45 minutes of baking, turn the pumpkin pieces around so that all pieces keep moist with the juice. Bake for about an 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours in total, until all the syrup is absorbed and the pumpkin pieces are cooked and candied.

Luscious candied pumpkin dessert with crushed walnuts; Cevizli Kabak Tatlisi

Luscious candied pumpkin dessert with crushed walnuts; Cevizli Kabak Tatlisi

Let the pumpkin dessert cool down. Decorate the candied pumpkin pieces with crushed walnuts just before serving; you can serve this delicious dessert as this way or also with Turkish thick clotted cream, kaymak or regular clotted cream aside.

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

 

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