Gourmet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I love Halloween.  Not just because of the costumes and parties, but because of all the nostalgic activities there are to do that remind me of being a kid.  Pumpkin carving, roasting seeds, and watching Halloween movies on TV (like Hocus Pocus and Addams Family) are all Halloween traditions that bring back memories, and I still enjoy to this day.  

This past week, I went to Trader Joe's and bought two medium-sized pumpkins for Tony and I to carve.  Despite our busy schedules, we finally got the chance to sit down and carve our pumpkins last night, while watching the USC vs Stanford college football game.  It's been a few years since I've carved a pumpkin, but it was a lot of fun, and a nice change from our usual Saturday night activities.  I think even Tony, the self-proclaimed "non-artistic" one, enjoyed carving his pumpkin.  His came out very good, and very scary looking!

Tony's pumpkin

My pumpkin

Although pumpkin carving is fun, I think I was more excited to get the seeds out of the pumpkins than to actually carve them!  I love homemade roasted pumpkin seeds; they have a toasty flavor that you can't get from store-bought roasted pumpkin seeds.  Also, I had recently found recipes for some unique flavors on one of my favorite blogs, Dollhouse Bake Shoppe, so I was very anxious to try them out.  Lindsay, from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe, always has a lot of creative baking ideas so please check out her blog when you have the time.  I think you may find a lot of other great ideas there!

After cleaning and drying the seeds, I ended up making four different flavors:  Parmesan-Garlic, Flamin' Hot, Pumpkin Pie Spiced, and Butter & Salt.  Tony and I both thought that they were all pretty amazing, although with my sweet-tooth, I automatically favor the sugary pumpkin pie spiced seeds.  If you are planning to carve pumpkins tonight or if you already did and saved your seeds, try these recipes from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe! They provide a great variety of flavors, and are definitely delicious and addicting!

Gourmet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

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Recipe from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe

Ingredients:

Pumpkin seeds from a medium-sized pumpkin (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

*Seasoning blend of your choice:

*SWEET - Pumpkin Pie Spiced

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

*SALTY - Parmesan Garlic

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

*SPICY - Flamin' Hot

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp hot sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

*TRADITIONAL - Butter & Salt

1/4-1/2 tsp salt, depending on your taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Prepare a sheet pan by lining with parchment paper or foil.  Set aside.

Toss seeds with butter and seasonings, to taste.  Pour the seeds into the prepared pan and spread out in a single layer.  Bake for about 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool before eating.  Store in an airtight container.

Notes:

I used seeds from 2 medium-sized carving pumpkins plus one sugar pie pumpkin, and split each recipe in half to make all four flavor variations.