One of the things I love most about Halloween is the chance to carve pumpkins. Although the faces I carve each year change, what remains constant is the tasty snack I enjoy during and after: roasted pumpkin seeds! Toasting pumpkin seeds is super easy. All you need are the pumpkin seeds, an oven, and a cookie sheet. Here's how you do it:
- Instead of throwing the seeds in the trash as you remove them from the pumpkin, put them into a big bowl filled with cold water. Soaking them allows the pumpkin membranes to separate from the seeds.
- Throughly drain and dry the seeds. Pour a tablespoon or two of olive oil onto the cookie sheet. Spread the pumpkin seeds on the sheet in an even layer.
- If desired, toss with the spices of your choice. Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and cayenne make nice additions.
- Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes. Enjoy now or later! Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Now that I've shared one of my Halloween traditions with you, why don't you share yours with me? What Halloween rituals do you perform each October?
L.a.p.a.
Episode
Zac Posen
I was just thinking about pumpkin seeds yesterday!
1I always want to do this, but I've never had a recipe! (Or a pumpkin in the last few years.) Yay!
2How long do you soak them?
3These bring back so many memories of carving pumpkins with my mom and dad and brother. Those were the days
4i remember first roasting pumpkin seeds with my mom when i was in first grade. every year since then, i think we have more fun roasting the seeds than actually carving the pumpkin!
5colormesticky: I soak them until I am done carving the pumpkin, about 10 minutes. Basically to get all of the goop off.
6We always, always, always roast our pumpkin seeds!!
7Yummy! I usually use melted butter rather than olive oil, and I roast them for about a half hour at 250 stirring them up a couple times.
8I was just thinking I wouldn't know what to do with them if I bought a pumpkin this year! Weird.
9I remember doing this in kindergarten! We got to stick our hands in the pumpkin and get the seeds out. Then the teachers rinsed (soaked?) them, arranged them on cookie sheets and salted them. And soon the fruits of our fun labors paid off! They were delish!
10I love toasted pumpkin seeds, and was delighted to find out that seeds from most any member of the winter squash family taste just as good. Toasted butternut seeds were delicious atop (and before and after) my pasta & squash dinner the other night!
11Heine! YOU ARE RIGHT! ALL winter squash seeds are YUMMMY!!! I do EVOO, SALT, Pepper, and cayenne and cinnamon! MMMMM DELISH.
12My favorite thing about October.
13When I was a kid, we always roasted pumpkin seeds after we carved the pumpkins.
14So that's how you roast them. Wish I saw this sooner.
There's always next year.
15I absolutely love roasting my own pumpkin seeds. This year I did a sweet and salty seed. It was so good. At first bite you got this wonderful carmalized brown sugar taste, then it mingled with a tad of salt. Yum!!
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