It's the weekend before Halloween which is the perfect time for pumpkin carving. We got our pumpkins last week and I have been so excited but have been waiting to carve. Carving time to a pumpkin is crustal. To early and the pumpkin starts to rot and the squirrels will probably eat it but wait too long and you don't get to enjoy it long enough. 3-5 days before halloween, that's the perfect time carve a pumpkin. (I am right, right?)
And what do you get when you carve a pumpkin? A free freaking snack my friends. Pumpkin seeds.
Side story here. About ten years ago I set my mons brand new stove on fire roasting pumpkin seeds. Long story short, I wanted really crunchy seeds and though if I broiled them that they would be just perfect. Well not so much. I stuck them in, walked away for a few minutes and the whole kitchen filled up with smoke. Opened the oven to a big old fire going on. Luckily once the flaming pan of seeds was removed, the fire in the oven was no longer but the stove did not make it through unharmed. The knobs and a little bit of the front of the stove melted a bit (Oops) and worst part, I charred the shit out of the seeds. So the leason here is do not stick oil covered seeds under the boiler and walk away and not expect them to catch fire.
Anyway. So we carved our pumpkins (well I started carving mine and ended up helping Judah an So carve theirs) and got a shit ton of pumpkin seeds. I pre scooped mine out and baked (not broiled) them up to a nice crunchy snack. These are coved in cinnamon sugar to entice the little who might or might not really like them, but all the adults that where here gobbled them right up.
The stuff. First you need to get the seeds. You could buy them, but this is way more fun.
Seeds full of goo, just stick them in water. The seeds float so you can scoop them out into a strainer.
Once most of the goo is gone, rinse the seeds and place them on a clean dry towel and spread them out. Try to dry them off a bit.
The seeds are going to still be a little damp so dump them on a baking sheet and place them into the oven. Turn oven on to 350
While the seeds are spending a little time drying off get the other stuff. Coconut oil, cinnamon, sugar,and salt.
Once the oven is preheated, remove the seeds. They should be dry by now. Dump warm seeds into a bowl with coconut oil and mix around until they are fully coated. Now dump the salt cinnamon sugar mixture in and mix until coated.
Place back onto the bakings sheet and evenly spread them out.
Back into the oven to get crispy.
And a half hour-ish later, the house smells all nice and cinnamony good and you got yourself a sweet spicy little crunchy fun snack.
Look at that fancy.
Now it's your turn.
Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds
Makes about 2 cups which came fro one big jack-o-lantern pumpkin
- 2-ish cups of pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 hearty tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Grab yourself a pumpkin, cup the top open ,and scoop out all the seeds. Save for jack-o-lantern.Place seeds in sink or large bowl and scoop the seeds off the top that float up. You might need to squeeze the guts to loosen the seeds. Place seeds into a strainer and once you got what you can get, give them a quick rinse. Dump the seeds onto a clean dry towel and pat them dry as well as you can. Place the seeds evenly onto a dry baking sheet and stick them into the oven. Turn oven on to 350 and leave them in there until the oven is preheated.
once oven is preheated, remove seeds and place into a a bowl. Add the coconut oil and mix around until completely melted and the seed save all coated. in a small bowl mix together the cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Dump the mixture onto the oiled seeds and mix until coated. Dump seeds back onto baking sheet and back into the oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, remove and mix around, and back into the oven for another 5-10. Check for crunchiness by either tasting of snapping one or two in half. Once the seeds are crunchy, remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet.
Dump seeds into a bowl ad snack away. Store left over seeds in an air tight jar.