Baked Pumpkin Seeds

(a very special thank you to Jeannie Grace for the inspiration for this post)

Perhaps they should be called roasted pumpkin seeds?

I've never had them before so I don't know the proper terminology - all I know is that I bake-roasted them in the oven. 

It all began with the "carve-on";  Madison and Mummy versus Chloe and Daddy for the great pumpkin challenge (my family loves Hallowe'en Wars)

We got to gutting our soon-to-be Jack-o-lanterns.

I followed a few different recipes to make these, but one thing I thought made sense was to boil the seeds first.  It removes the excess pumpkin guts and helps them bake/roast more evenly.
I put them in boiling water and let simmer for 10 minutes.

I wanted to try a couple of versions of pumpkin seeds, so I split the batch in half.

In one half I mixed
1 1/2 tbsp butter (salted)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
and 1 cup of pumpkin seeds

In hindsight, these needed a bit more salt for my tastes, so another tsp of sea salt would have been good.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees farenheit.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

The second recipe I tried was for a sugar & spice version of pumpkin seeds.

For this batch, you roast the seeds first before adding anything else.  (275 fahrenheit for approx. 1 hour, or until golden brown)

 Once the seeds are nice and golden and crunchy, the spiced ones are done:

The sugar and spice version now needs the sugar and spice.
In a large fry pan, add 1tbsp vegetable oil.
Add in your baked pumpkin seeds and stir until coated.

Take 4 tbsp white sugar and pour over the seeds.  Keep stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved and the seeds are evenly coated.

Pour the seeds into a bowl and top with another tbsp of sugar, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.
Toss until they are all coated.

  
We had a taste-off between the two recipes and the sugar & spice won out.

The others were good, but like I wrote above, I think they needed more salt.

The great pumpkin challenge?
I'd say it was pretty close:

What happened to pumpkins with Cinderella, minions or Hello Kitty on them?  These two have gone ghoulish on me!

Have a great one!
  
 




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Between Naps on the Porch