I am so excited that Halloween is finally here. It is my daughter’s favorite holiday and I look forward to all of our yearly traditions. Halloween means chili, bread bowls, trick-or-treating, lots of candy, watching scary movies and most of all pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are a random weakness of mine. Every year my mom would roast the seeds for our whole line of pumpkins and I would eat them all. I love them and I especially love when they are home roasted. We would carve pumpkins before Trick-Or-Treating and I would go out, knowing my favorite Halloween treat was going be waiting for me when I got home.
The secret to awesome homemade pumpkin seeds is to make sure they are cleaned really well. I try to keep them free from as much pumpkin guts as I pull them from the pumpkin in the first place. I usually end up sorting seeds while my husband carves. After you have pulled as much gunk off the seeds as possible, soak them in a bowl of water. I usually allow them to soak for about 10 minutes. I like to swirl the water around a few times during the soaking to make sure the gunk is all coming off.
Strain the seeds out of the water, without draining it first. The gunk tends to sink, so you have a better chance for clean seeds if you pull the seeds from the top where they are floating. There are two ways to roast pumpkin seeds, the long way and the short way. I prefer the long way, I think the seeds taste better that way, but I like them both ways. If you like your seeds extra salty, you can soak them in salt water overnight before roasting, or pull them out of the oven with the long method every hour for a little extra salt.
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The Long Method
Place the seeds on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 200 degrees for about five hours. The seeds don’t normally brown this way, so I usually just taste them at the five hour mark.
The Short Method
Place the seeds on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake the seeds at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. The seeds will start to brown when they are done.
So don’t waste your seeds from your pumpkins tonight. Roast them!
Happy Halloween! Enjoy being with your family. I am still not quite sure which if I am taking Captain America, Pinkalicious or a Little Witch, Trick-Or-Treating tonight, but the surprise is half the fun!
I will definitely roast my next pumpkin seeds. I should have done that with the squash seeds I threw out last night. (It would be the same, wouldn't it?? Would they taste as good?)
Have fun tonight! What a cutie she is.
I'll have to try roasting the pumpkin seeds next time!
Such cute kids!
I have honestly never done this. I am not sure I would like roasted pumpkin seeds, but they seem to be the thing. Maybe I will get brave & try it soon!
~Amber @ DessertNowDinnerLater.com
I have saved a bowl of slop/pumpkin seeds before to roast them and never got around to actually roasting them so I ended up with a very stinky bowl. This doesn't look too hard though so I definitely need to try this soon cause roasted pumpkin seeds are so yummy!
but the real question is do you eat the shells or not?