Pumpkin Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I can’t even remember the last time I ate Pumpkin Seeds. I know as a child my family used to roast and eat them every year but then somewhere along the way I stopped and now they seem a little gross to me. Why? I literally have no idea so this year after watching The Kitchen on Food Network a few weeks back I was inspired to try them again.

The episode had three different recipes for roasting pumpkins seeds so I figured I would do this the right way and actually follow one instead of just winging it. I decided to try The Pumpkin Spiced and Sugar Recipe. I’m obviously obsessed with anything pumpkin these days so it only made sense to pick the recipe which added pumpkin spice to my pumpkin seeds. DUH! Anyways this is what you will need:

• 2 cups raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika

Directions:

1. First start by preheating your oven to 300 and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. While that is heating up, it’s time to get messy! If you are using your Pumpkin for Halloween decorations, cut a lid out of the top and then scoop out seeds. (If not, it is much easier to just cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds!)
3. Wash the seeds to remove the pumpkin’s flesh and strings then pat dry.
4.  Add melted butter and maple syrup into a large bowl and toss in the pumpkin seeds  
5. In a separate bowl stir together brown sugar, Pumpkin Pie spice, salt, and paprika.
6. While mixing the pumpkin seeds, sprinkle dry mixture over to evenly coat.
7. Spread the seeds onto the baking sheet making sure they are in a single layer. 
8. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring and rotating the seeds halfway through.

The Verdict:

They were great! But then again I probably would eat anything coated with maple syrup and sugar. They were a little saltier then I expected so if you don’t like a lot of salt I would add less but I really enjoyed them! Would I make them again though? Yes! It was a quick and easy recipe to make and the result was a great balance of sweet, salty, pumpkin-y yumminess. I even caught Chappy sneaking a few handfuls.

Now I only wish I had tried more than one recipe! Maybe I’ll have to make another run to the Pumpkin Patch!